European delegates hail the Maltese Opera-Film BLAT: The Island Fortress while in Poland

EASY TOWNS II, an acronym which stands for European Accessible Sustainable Young TOWNS, is a project funded by the European Programme “Europe for Citizens.” 

The Mikiel Anton Vassalli (MAV) College represented by Head of College Network Victor Galea and Dr Reuben Pace teacher assigned to this College, took part in organised workshops and guided visits in Niepolomice – a town close to Krakow Poland. Twelve European Towns forms part of this network. 

The delegations discussed and expressed their views on the influence of the Corona pandemic and the difficulties in planning events to promote projects of inclusion, integration and peace through culture and the arts. 

The Maltese delegation explained how in such circumstances, the College managed to “look out of the box and instead of a one-off theatre production, the executive team came up with an idea of creating the first ever Opera-Film in the Maltese Language: BLAT – The Island Fortress” explained Reuben Pace the Composer and Artistic Director of the production. Indeed, the Maltese delegation shared the movie trailer with the European delegates present. 

Head of College Network and the Executive Producer of the Maltese product Victor Galea, explained and justified why an educational College for the Visual and Performing Arts took upon its responsibility such a demanding initiative. “This experience of creating an Opera-Film, brought forward a paradigm shift in our College where Administrators of these specialized schools for Art, Music Drama and Dance took some further roles, mainly that of motivating their teachers as well as students from their respective disciplines to take up such roles outside their normal tasks, and together with professionals from the Entertainment Industries came up with such a high level production.” 

During the stay at Niepolomice, the delegates learned and saw how this Polish town is facing the new reality, that of the Russian war and invasion on their neighbouring country Ukraine. The Polish representative Przemek Kocur explained several initiatives taking place in this town to help with the 1^st and 2^nd waves of Ukrainian refugees.