The low-budget movie Godspeed, which was shot in Malta earlier this summer, pumped about €1.2 million into the economy in the space of eight weeks, the executive producer of the German production company Orange Pictures, Stephan Barth, told The Times Malta was chosen for the filming of the entire movie for one reason alone - the water tanks, he said.

Originally, Orange Pictures was looking at Spain, which is in the process of building "massive" tanks and sound stages.

"They were cheaper since they are just starting off and are trying to attract movies. The only problem was that they were not finished in time - they will be ready by the beginning of next year," Mr Barth said, warning of the stiff competition Malta would be facing once they started operating.

"The Spanish are also very aggressive in their marketing and are getting a lot of money from the government to promote the movie industry there."

Having said that, Mr Barth strongly praised the facilities at the Mediterranean Film Studios, describing them as "perfect".

"I came here first in February and was not surprised at what I saw because I had heard from others who had shot here. This is a high-tech studio area, with good manpower, boasting lots of experience. The workers are not afraid to do anything.

"You can do whatever you want here; it is close to the sea; and you even have a deep-water tank" - which may not have been functioning for three years but was immediately back in action when the production needed it at the eleventh hour.

The movie's original budget was around €2 million, which is "nothing" for a cinema movie, Mr Barth said.

But that figure was heavily increased because of the hiccups the production encountered - mainly due to the fact that its director of photography, Bernhard Jasper, broke his leg two weeks into shooting.

Nevertheless, the show did go on and even though the incident brought about delays, caused logistical complications, ruined plans and pumped up the budget, the film was completed - with the director of photography working from a wheelchair.

"In a low-budget project, you have to follow certain rules; you have to stick to the exact schedule even if you have bad weather; you can never postpone anything. In our case, we went over the schedule by two weeks, which is not very good."

Although Mr Barth is pleased with the end result, the making of Godspeed was not free of problems. One of the main ones was the fact that it was shooting at the same time as Steven Spielberg's Munich and, therefore, all the resources were blocked.

However, this situation is not unique to Malta and happens in other countries, where there is only one "A" crew, Mr Barth specified.

"Then again, Prague and even Lithuania, for example, have come a long way, and several movies can now be made simultaneously. They worked on it; they have good film schools and took trainees onto productions to learn from experience.

"But it is your typical vicious circle: you need to have several movies to train people and you need to have trained people to attract movies."

Prices are another problem, according to Mr Barth, who admits that the German way is to "make big movies with little money... In the end, it is always a question of price and Malta is more expensive than Lithuania and Prague".

Labour and equipment are limited in Malta and, in some cases, it makes more sense to bring them from overseas, even cost-wise, Mr Barth continued.

The quality of the workers is good but they are limited and expensive, he said, understanding that "they cost more because they do not know if they will have another job in the course of the year.

"When more movies start coming to Malta, things will change. It is yet another vicious circle."

The only prop used in Godspeed was a €4million, high-tech, 60-foot yacht which, due to the director of photography's mishap, had to be transported and moved around more than planned - from the open sea to the shallow-water tank, into the deep tank and back again.

"To transport a vessel 10 kilometres, or 600 metres, requires the same procedure. In Malta, unfortunately, there is only one 300-ton crane, which was necessary for the operation. That means you have to pay whatever the owners want.

"The thing is they do not think ahead but just take what they can get, without considering the long term," he said.

Godspeed was eligible for the financial incentives, introduced recently by the government, in the form of a cash rebate of up to 20 per cent on its expenditure in Malta.

But Mr Barth was hoping things would not get complicated. "What we know is that we spent the money very quickly and we expect to get it back quickly too," Mr Barth said.

Mr Barth praised the Film Commission for being "very helpful and showing us around the locations, saving us a lot of time. In the space of a week, during the recce, it was very clear what Orange Pictures could and could not do in Malta and, with the Film Commissioner's hands-on approach, it seemed everything was possible," he said.

As regards the overall experience, Mr Barth said the crew had a good time in Malta: "The weather is warm; there is a good atmosphere and lots to do in the evening. It is relaxing and the people are very nice. But," he added, "sometimes they can have a 'pirate' mentality when it comes to money and they need to work on that. If they know you are under pressure and desperate, they can kill you".

The movie

Godspeed is a thriller that is destined to keep viewers on the edge of their seats. It tells the story of six young friends, played by young, up-and-coming, American actors, who are invited on a yacht.

The scary part starts when they all end up in the water and, after frolicking about and having fun, they realise they forgot to put down the ladder.

And the worst part is that a baby is left behind on board.

One by one, the friends start dying off, unable to climb onto the yacht, which is a mere 1.6 metres above the water line.

"That's all it takes to make it impossible for someone to get up," Mr Barth said.

This kind of tragedy occurs frequently everywhere, "wherever you find a boat out at sea, with no one on board, you can be sure this is probably what happened.

"The situation is so frustrating because you can touch the boat, but you cannot get up; it is so easy to jump off a boat and go back up on a ladder, and yet..." the consequences are tragic if you forget to put it down.

Do they all die? "Yes," he says, appearing to give the story away. But there's always a twist. The last scene depicts a fishing boat sailing into the frame in the open sea, with a fisherman calling out. The cameras turn onto the yacht and the baby is heard and then seen crying...

Between them, the six American actors clocked 3,000 hours in the water, each spending about 10 hours a day in the tanks or the sea.

In order to do that, they were put through severe training by a German stunt coordinator, who instructed them on how to move in the water, how to stay afloat, how to preserve energy, what to do if they were getting cold, what to eat and what sort of exercises to do on their own.

"That is why all actors managed to shoot until the end, with no injuries," Mr Barth pointed out.

Godspeed was shot in English because it is destined for worldwide release, scheduled for spring, or summer of 2006.

In it, Malta acts as Mexico - yet another country in its vast portfolio of guises.