The National Book Council is proud to announce that the winner of the NBC PBS Short Film Contest for 2016 is Ryan Gatt with his proposal to adapt Walid Nabhan’s short story ‘Il-Kompliċi’ from the collection of short stories ‘lura d-dar u ġrajjiet oħra li ma ġrawx’ (Klabb Kotba Maltin, 2009).

This is a contest open to film-making teams making short films in Maltese of a duration of 15 to 20 minutes based on a published Maltese short story. To apply, the team must submit a script along with a Project Plan which includes a breakdown of the budget. The chosen proposal will receive €7,000 in funding from the National Book Council (NBC) and logistical and technical support, in the form of crew and equipment, for the production of the film from Public Broadcasting Services (PBS). NBC will also allocate a €1000 grant to the author of the original short story as compensation for the use of his story.

The winner of the contest is decided by an adjudication board composed of judges appointed by the NBC. Judging this year’s submitted proposals were Charles Calleja Storace, Andrei Vella Laurenti and Ruben Zammit (representing PBS). Throughout the production period, the team must be in contact with NBC and PBS to ensure that the project is developing according to the proposal and in line with the application criteria and rules.

The short film ‘Il-Kompliċi’ will premiere during the Malta Book Festival this coming November (9th – 13th, MCC Valletta).


Share Article