Titles To Talkies, Charlie Cauchi

Description

Titles to Talkies, researched and written by Charlie Cauchi, is Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti’s new publication: a book which dips into the largely neglected early history of cinema culture and industry in Malta, tracing its development from the turn of the nineteenth century until the break of the Second World War.

Drawing on extensive archival research, Cauchi reconstructs how film became embedded within Maltese cultural life, set against the backdrop of a society negotiating identity, modernity, colonial rule, and technological change.

Through newspapers, visual material, trade journals, and official correspondence, the narrative reveals the vibrancy and tension of a nation in formation: the battle over language and titling in silent films, censorship and moral debate, the transformative allure of picture houses, the introduction of sound, and cinema’s role as both entertainment and propaganda.

Richly illustrated and contextualised within European, especially Italian and British, and American film history, this publication offers an indispensable foundation for scholars, practitioners, and anyone interested in Malta’s cinematic heritage.  More than a historical survey, it is a call to preserve fragile film legacies and to re-examine how moving images have shaped, and indeed continue to shape, the Maltese cultural imagination.