Mario Azzopardi

Mario Philip Azzopardi (born 1950 in Malta; resident of Toronto, Canada), is a television and film director and writer. He has worked on such shows as The Outer Limits, Stargate SG-1 (including its two-hour pilot), and Stargate Atlantis. In 2008, he directed all eight episodes of the highly acclaimed and award winning HBO Canada/TMN miniseries ZOS: Zone of Separation, which he co created and produced.

In 1971, while still a student at the Royal University of Malta, he directed Gaġġa, presumed to be the first full-length feature filmed entirely in Maltese. Transferred to digital format and enhanced, the film was re-released in Malta in March 2007. He left his native Malta for Canada in 1978, following a dispute with local censors and theatre authorities who, in 1977, had cancelled his play, Sulari Fuq Strada Stretta, on the grounds that it was too offensive; the play was eventually presented at the Manoel Theatre in January 2008.

Mario Philip Azzopardi should not be confused with Maltese poet, short story writer, and columnist Mario Azzopardi (born 1944), who is also involved in theatre and directs the Malta Drama Centre.