DOI Notte Bianca DVD objective, eclectic (1)

I refer to Victor Laiviera's letter March 31 Missing In Notte Bianca DVD (October 20).

I shall not be entering into any needless controversy, where there is room for none, in reaction to his unfounded allegation that the "selectivity was deliberate" and that the production of this DVD was part of some imaginary campaign that I am not aware of.

I leave judgment on the quality and content of this DVD to the 1300+ visitors who thronged to the screening during the Notte Bianca, and to the over-800 people who have so far bought it, and had nothing but praise for this department's initiative.

Suffice it to mention that the end of each screening session at the Aula Magna of the Old University, whether of the first part or the second part, brought forth spontaneous hearty applause from the packed hall every time.

However, since Mr Laiviera chose to refer to my quick reaction to his comment posted on the online article heralding the screening, may I add what he seems to have forgotten to mention, namely that he had alleged that we had omitted Republic Day (1974) footage, when in fact this footage provides the climax to the DVD.

The online article in question was accompanied by a short three-minute clip, giving a taster of what the whole production had to offer. This taster also included footage of December 13, 1974, when Malta became a Republic, which event concludes the second part of the DVD with the voice of the late Sir Anthony Mamo taking the oath of office, and the subsequent applause of the Parliamentary Assembly. This was thought to be a fitting end to the selection based on footage which the department still has available.

In reaction to the appearance of this article, Mr Laiviera, within minutes, posted a comment wherein he stated that this was a partisan production, as it had excluded Republic Day and Freedom Day. For the sake of correctness, I posted a comment whereby I informed readers that Republic Day was, in fact, there.

I also stressed that the selection is objective, is eclectic, and is based on the footage which the department has available and had previously not been publicly shown.

The post-war section includes not only events of national importance and moments like Independence Day and Republic Day, but also lighter events such as the 1962 Carnival, the first export of tomato products, the old Valletta Putirjal and the building of the present City Gate.

Readers might wish to note that there are also excerpts from the 1971 football match between Malta and England at the Stadium in Gżira. Does this mean that I am to expect some comments for not having included footage of the Malta-Italy match in 1992, just to make sure that no supporter of Italian football feels that there is some campaign or grand design to promote English football over Italian football?

Of course not! (Incidentally, I would belong to the latter group of fans).

From the comments and response we have received so far, it seems that the choice we made had the right mix, and was considered to be an objective snapshot of two important periods of our history - the war years and the period 1960-1974.

But there will always be those, like Mr Laiviera, who will try to put a fly in the ointment, marring the pleasure and satisfaction that the staff members of the DOI who worked on this project got from the almost universal acclaim their work received, and from the daily trickle of people who are coming in to our offices near the Upper Barrakka to acquire this DVD which they heard about from friends and acquaintances.