Applications for the Malta Literary Short Film Contest 2018 are open

The National Book Council has opened the call for applications for the Malta Literary Short Film Contest 2018. The contest calls on film-making teams to submit a screenplay, together with a project plan, for a film based on a published Maltese short story. The proposed film should be of a duration between 15 and 20 minutes and the screenplay must be in Maltese. It is imperative that the project plan includes a complete breakdown of the budget and the time-frames for the production process.

The winning entry will receive €20,000 in funding from the National Book Council (NBC), which include expenses of logistics, lighting and electricity. NBC will also allocate a €1000 grant to the author of the original short story as compensation for the use of their story. An adjudication board consisting of three judges will be appointed by the NBC for the purpose of selecting the best entry, which will receive both funding and consultation in order to produce the film in time for its first screening during the Malta Book Festival 2018 (7-11 November 2018).

The teams submitting their proposal must have previous experience in film-making and the proposal must be based on a Maltese text that has been published in book form. The original text of the story can be in both English or Maltese but the screenplay, excluding the dialogue, must be in Maltese.

Applicants are asked to download a copy of the application and send it, together with the script and the project plan to Joe Debattista by March 30th 2018 at National Book Council, Central Public Library, Prof. J. Mangion Street, Floriana, FRN 1800. Four hard copies of the application and the other documents must be receieved in order for the application to be processed. For more information regarding the selection process please read the selection criteria here.