Construction started in February and involved around 60 workers. The movie stars Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz and Max Minghella. Oscar-winning director Alejandro Amenábar is trying to bring ancient Alexandria back to life, "allowing the audience to see, feel and smell a remote civilisation as if it were as real as today". Not only has an entire film on such a scale never been shot here before but many Maltese are being employed in roles and crew positions that are usually taken up by foreigners.

“Agora” is Amenabar’s second English movie following the acclaimed horror film “The Others” with Nicole Kidman.

The movie revolves around the religious revolts of Roman-ruled Alexandria, where Hypatia battles to save the wisdom of the ancient world enclosed in the city’s famous library.

“Agora” is the result of three years background work by Amenabar, producer Fernando Bovaira and Mateo Gil, who co-wrote the screenplay with Amenabar.

The film also stars Max Minghella, from "Syriana," Rupert Evans ("Hellboy") and veteran Michael Lonsdale ("Munich," "Ronin" and "Moonraker").

The Spanish film has a budget of €50 million, with more than €20 million directly into the Maltese economy.

In the last weeks the set was built at Fortification of Ricasoli and more work involved the partaking of more than 400 Maltese workers.

Besides work with the building of the set, at the moment more than 600 Maltese workers are working on different jobs, with pays reaching up to a total of €5 million.


Muscat Azzopardi and Associates are legal advisers to the project.