Location International 2023 Cannes Special Edition

INTERNATIONAL 2023 CANNES SPECIAL

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THE PERFUME FACTORY, SEILLANS, FRANCE

The Perfume Factory, in the village of Seillans, is now a post-production studio, not far from Grasse and Cannes and a short drive from Nice airport

Film commissions and flm ofces featured in this edition of Location International

Abu Dhabi Film Commission

AFCNet

Andalucía Film Commission

Antelope Valley

Apulia Film Commission

Argentina

Ausflm

Bilbao Bizkaia Film Commission

Bolivia

Brazil

British Film Commission

Busan Film Commission

Calgary Film Commission

California Film Commission

Cambodia

Canada

Canary Island Films

Castilla-La Mancha Film Commission

Chile

Ciudad de la Luz

Costa Rica Film Commission

Creative Scotland

DeKalb County Georgia

Dubai

Film AlUla

Film France

Film in Iceland

Film Kauai

Film London

KwaZulu-Natal Film Commission

Latin American Film Commission

Network

Liverpool Film Ofce

Los Angeles

Madrid

Palm Beach County Film and TV Commission

Palm Springs

Palmdale

Panama

Peru

Screen Queensland

Screenwest Australia

Seoul

Serbia

Singapore

Film

Miami, Miami-Dade County Ofce of Film and Entertainment

Film Shasta

Film Simi Valley

Film Tehama

Film Yuba-Sutter

Georgia Film Ofce

Glasgow Film Ofce

Hellenic Film Commission

Humboldt and Del Norte

Huntington Library and Art Collection

Ile de France

India

Iskandar Malaysia Studios

Japan

Jordan

Kazbegi, Georgia

Kent Film Ofce

Kern County

Malaysia

Mallorca Film Commission

Malta Film Commission

Manitoba Film and Music

Melbourne

Mexico

Montana Film Ofce

Monterey County Film Commission

Navarra Film Commission

Neom

Netherlands Film Commission

New Caledonia

New York

New Zealand, North Island

Northern Ireland Screen

Norway

Oklahoma

Ontario Creates

Placer-Lake Tahoe Film Ofce

Polish Film Institute

Portugal Film Commission

Puglia

Reunion

Riverside County Film Commission

San Diego

San Francisco

San Luis Obispo County Film Commission (Film SLO CAL)

San Sebastian-Gipuzkoa Film Commission

Santa Anita Park

Santa Clarita Film Ofce

Saskatchewan Film Commission

Saudi Arabia

Savannah Regional Film Commission

Screen Brussels

Slovak Film Commission

South Korea

South of France Film Commission

Southern Kentucky Film Commission

Spanish Film Commission Network

Taipei Film Commission

Thailand

Tokyo Film Commission

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

Upstate California Film Commission

Ventura County

Victoria Australia

Vienna Film Commission

Vilnius Film Ofce

Visit Savannah

Western Australia

‘As the Osage told me, it’s about greed’

THE 76TH CANNES FILM FESTIVAL PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF MARTIN SCORSESE’S KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON AND WELCOMES THE CAST AND DIRECTOR ON THE RED CARPET, MAY 20. THE EVENT MARKS THE FIRST TIME SCORSESE HAS BEEN IN OFFICIAL SELECTION SINCE THE PRESENTATION OF AFTER HOURS BACK IN 1986. JULIAN NEWBY REPORTS

THE CANNES Film Festival welcomes to the Croisette members of the cast of Killers of the Flower Moon, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion, Tantoo Cardinal as well as the film’s director Martin Scorsese and members of the production team.

The film is screened on Saturday, May 20 in the Grand Théâtre Lumière.

Based on David Grann’s best-selling book and adapted for the screen by Eric Roth and Martin Scorsese, Killers of the Flower Moon is set in 1920s Oklahoma and tells of the serial killings of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror — and the FBI investigation that followed.

Scorsese says the film is an exploration of “the nature of a whole way of thinking as being complicit in genocide. It’s dehumanising people. Ultimately, as the Osage told me, it’s about greed.”

The film is adapted from journalist

Lily Gladstone as Lollie Burkhart and Leonardo Di Caprio as Ernest Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon

Photo: Apple TV

David Grann's book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI. It’s the account of a five-year period in the 1920s during which 20 indigenous Americans, all of the Osage tribe, were murdered for their cash-rich oil shares. There was prejudice against this group of people — considered the wealthiest people per capita in the world at the time — with the press referring to them as “the red millionaires” living in “terracotta mansions” and other such racist-tinged epithets.

It's ironic that their plight was not born of poverty — as with so many Native Americans — but of riches, because underneath their reservation was an ocean of oil. This wealth made the Osage attractive targets for murderous con men who sometimes even married their victims, took their money and then their lives.

Grann's bestselling book reads like a murder mystery as J Edgar Hoover's FBI takes on its first murder investigation — and also takes a dark journey into the racism that enabled white people to view Native Americans both as sub-humans and people undeserving of such fabulous wealth.

SCORSESE INSISTED ON MAKING IT IN OKLAHOMA BECAUSE OF A COMMITMENT HE MADE TO THE OSAGE NATION

Scorsese made the film out of a desire to bring this story to an even wider audience — and out of respect for the Osage people. “Marty joined me in Oklahoma in October 2019 and we looked at a bunch of locations,” the film's location manager Mike Fantasia says. “He insisted on making it in Oklahoma because of a commitment he made to Geoffrey Standing Bear, the principal chief of the Osage Nation. You know, we could have saved millions of dollars by going to Georgia, because of the incentive, but he said, ‘Well, how can I make this in Georgia?’”

But the film was able to utilise the Oklahoma state film incentive programme administered by the Oklahoma Film

+ Music Office. “The Office began strategically working to recruit this project to Oklahoma immediately following the industry announcement of the acquisition of the novel’s film rights by Imperative Entertainment in 2017,” Oklahoma Film & Music Office director Jeanette Stanton says. “Scouting for the film began in 2019 with production representatives meeting with Osage Nation Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear as they sought to create an authentic portrayal of the Osage Nation and indigenous peoples. It was through the collaborative efforts of state, tribal, city and community leadership as well as the studio, that Killers of the Flower Moon was successfully produced in Oklahoma throughout 2021.”

The film stalled because of COVID and scouting re-started in September 2020. The bulk of the filming had finished by October 2021 and then the crew went back in May 2022 to shoot the opening of the movie: “It was a seasonal shot Marty wanted. He wanted it shot in the springtime with green grass,” Fantasia says.

Almost exactly one year on and Killers of the Flower Moon gets its world premiere in Cannes. “I did speak with one of the

MIKE FANTASIA

producers a couple months ago and he had seen the frst cut and he said it's amazing," Fantasia says. "He said: ‘This is a Martin Scorsese epic of the Old West and it’s going to blow people's socks of’.”

Scorsese’s insistence on flming in Oklahoma did bring some problems. “We were in a relatively remote location in Oklahoma, far from really any production support. Everything had come from LA or New York or Atlanta — some stuf came from Texas,” Fantasia says. “We shot in an area that really hadn't seen much flming. They’d had a couple of flm projects in the past but not much. And we went from prepping in a horrendous snowstorm and ice storm in March, to 113º and 100% humidity in August. Rain, thunder, tornadoes, lightning — terrifc challenges as far as the production was concerned but, you know, we never missed a day. We could always flm somewhere and working with the Osage Nation was fantastic. They were heavily invested in the flm and Marty did an incredible job of working with them

On location with Killers of the Flower Moon. Photo: Apple TV

and co-ordinating with them. I don't know how many meetings he had with the chief and elders before we ever launched into production. We had elders on set virtually every day.”

Discomfort and bad weather didn’t deter Scorsese from being at almost every shoot. “We had some very difcult locations. I mean, we were on ranches, we were out in the woods — we were in a lot of places that were difcult for a 78-yearold guy to get to and motivate around. I mean, he insisted. And, you know, we put it in some tough spots. He didn't take easy locations and he loved every day of it,” Fantasia says. “I mean, he had a smile on his face. Every day. You could see that he was having a lot of fun. If you could call it

that — but you could also see that he felt the gravity in the places we were.”

He adds: “The whole crew, I think, respected it. I mean, a lot of people on a flm crew are big old lugs but the whole company felt the weight of what we were doing and where we were doing it. People were very, very respectful.”

And the old divisions and memories of the Reign of Terror are still very much alive. “One day I was walking down the street in Pawhuska — where we were flming — with a local woman and she grabbed my arm as she was about to go across the street,” Fantasia says. “She said: ‘See this guy coming? Well, his great, great, great, whatever killed my great, great, great grandfather — he was Henry Roanhorse in the book.’ I was with Addie Roanhorse, his great granddaughter. And she said, ‘You know, I've got nothing against this guy. But I just don't deal with it. There's still some bad blood and there's still discrimination.’”

"The production was in Oklahoma for nearly a year accounting for 304 days including pre-production, principal photography, and post-production,” Stanton says. "This number does not include a small segment of flming in 2022 which included additional photography and reshoots." She adds: “We applaud the production for how intentional they

were in working with the Osage Nation throughout the entire process. We also value how much the visiting cast and crew took interest in exploring our state’s culture and attractions during their time here, including visits to the First Americans Museum, the Philbrook, Woolaroc and the Outsiders House Museum.”

Director, screenwriter, actor and producer, Martin Scorsese has dedicated his life to cinema and the Cannes Film Festival has forever been a supporter of the veteran flmmaker. He was awarded the Palme d'or in 1976 with Taxi Driver, which was presented In Competition. He has come back to the Ofcial Selection on a regular basis and won Best Director in Cannes for After Hours, 10 years after the success of Taxi Driver

In 1998, he was president of the Jury that presented the Palme d'or to Greek director Theo Angelopoulos for Eternity and a Day — and four years later he chaired the Jury for the Cinéfondation and Short Films alongside the Iranian director, Abbas Kiarostami.

Since 1990 Scorsese has been a director of The Film Foundation, an organisation dedicated to protecting and preserving the world's motion-picture history and through which he has presented numerous flms at Cannes Classics.

On location with Killers of the Flower Moon.

Photo: Apple TV

MAKING

SCENE KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

SEE THIS GUY COMING? WELL, HIS GREAT, GREAT, GREAT, WHATEVER KILLED MY GREAT, GREAT, GREAT GRANDFATHER”

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From sunrise to sunset and all the moments in between, fnd picture-perfect production days in The Palm Beaches

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HAMERSLEY RANGE, PILBARA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The Hamersley Range sits within Karijini National Park, one of Australia’s largest national parks. The Pilbara area features contrasting environments including the expanses of deep-red soil — known as pindan country — as well as deep canyons, tranquil pools and white sandy beaches. The Pilbara is also a dark-sky wonderland for stargazers — the dry air and lack of light pollution provide for a dazzling display of detail in the Milky Way.

Films shot here include: Red Dog (2011); Sweet As (2022); and Rabbit Proof Fence (2022 ). TV shoots include: Aussie Gold Hunters (2016 -) and Shipwreck Hunters Australia (2022)

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Hugo Blick's Western TV series – set in the US, but flmed in Spain 18

This country has so much to ofer to the budget-conscious producer 34

On location at the extraordinary E.1027 house on the Côte d'Azur

112 AUSTRALIA

Coming out of COVID the UK is enjoying record investment

What is it that attracts flmmakers to Australia again and again?

119 ASIA

The LatAm Film Commission Network reaches out to the world

A guide to flming across the world's largest continent

127 GEORGIA

Exploring flm-worthy locations from around the world

The Peach State breaks its own record for hosting productions

134 CANADA

A continent that ofers the whole world to any production

Striking locations, world-class talent and an international reach

Real locations and CGI wildlife combine in a story of extinction

Shooting a new flm on location in the Saudi Arabian oasis city of AlUla

An ambitious frst feature flmed across Europe and Africa

‘It’s all about the light…’

ONE OF 2022’S BIG TV MOMENTS, LIMITED SERIES THE ENGLISH WAS SET MAINLY ACROSS KANSAS AND WYOMING BUT WAS FILMED PRINCIPALLY ON A BEEF FARM NOT FAR FROM THE SPANISH CAPITAL, MADRID. HERE HUGO BLICK, AND LEAD ACTORS EMILY BLUNT AND CHASKE SPENCER, SPEAK ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF SHOOTING A CLASSIC WESTERN FOR A 21ST-CENTURY AUDIENCE.

BY JULIAN NEWBY

THE ENGLISH is set in the American West of 1890, on the cusp of the frontier’s closure. It tells the story of an English woman and a Native American man. Brought together by chance and each seeking to avenge personal loss, surrounded by danger and driven by tragedy, their quest for revenge and resolution becomes an unusal and compelling love story.

Series creator Hugo Blick drew on teenage experiences to bring together elements of the story that places an unlikely relationship in a classic Western setting.

“I was sent to Montana at 18 as a stabilising infuence. I lived with a family friend, a retired USAF captain, Olympic Gold Medalist and avid outdoorsman. He taught me how to hunt, shoot, spin a horse — a sort of Will Geer to my Jer-

emiah Johnson,” Blick says. “We also cut wood commercially. Our contracts came from the government to supply those most in need. Sometimes this involved the Blackfeet Reservation and other Native people’s communities.

“We made a hunting buddy I called Chief. He wasn’t a chief. He called me English. We were easy with this casual racism, but pretty soon I got to see it was a one-way street — with all the heavy traffic heading his way. Back then the reservation seemed hard and isolated, particularly in winter. I had never seen such difculties. Then one day he took of, leaving a couple of bags with us for when he came back. He didn’t. Nothing to come back for. I never knew his real name, nor he mine. I regretted that. This was a kernel for The English.”

Written and directed by Hugo Blick ( The Honourable Woman , The Shadow

Line) and produced by Drama Republic and Blick’s Eight Rooks company in association with All3Media International, The English is a limited TV series where race, love and power combine to tell a story focusing on the themes of identity and revenge.

Aristocratic English woman, Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt), comes across Native American former US army soldier Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer) by chance, as she sets out to avenge the murder of her young son.

A terrifying journey leads them to a town in Wyoming where they slowly learn what the future holds for them. Emily Blunt describes the series as “an epic romance and at the same time, a propulsive chase thriller. Cornelia is seeking a blood revenge and Eli is seeking a gangland claim,” she says. “They both see these end goals as being a part

The opening scene of The English

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of reclaiming their identity and an awakening for themselves.”

Blunt’s first appearance is striking — climbing down from a horse-drawn carriage onto scorched landscape while seemingly dressed for some kind of up-market society event. “She looks like a complete fsh out of water when she first arrives. She's in this beautiful pale, lacy pink dress. She is gussied up and looks ill prepared for what awaits her in this dustridden environment,” Blunt says. “But in this violent, masculine world, her costumes go from pink to red to purple, like the bruising of her journey that she goes on that’s symbolised in what she wears. And it's like an awakening for her. It's an awakening for who she is. When you frst meet her, you think, Oh, she's never going to make it. It's over. By the end, she's had this remarkable transformation, what she discovers about herself is that she's a force to be reckoned with. It is a voyage of what she's truly capable of — the violence, the revenge, the physical duress and trauma that she can overcome.”

“It's a beast of a role to me,” Chaske Spencer says. “I saw Eli as a modern-day biker, an ex-veteran, someone who has seen war and been through tragedy. If

he were alive today, he would be riding a Harley-Davidson with a big beard and tattoos. And he probably would have met Cornelia at a truck stop. He suffers from PTSD and loneliness. And throughout the story, you see those walls start coming down with both characters, Cornelia and Eli.”

Blick says he placed the story in a Western setting because “at its best the Western allows us to escape the reality of who we are and how we live today. Something about its huge landscapes, mythic heroes and villains, the epic violence and love they pursue, can speak directly to our souls,” he says. “For me the most interesting Westerns tend to explore the themes of personal loss and consequent restoration of justice. Perhaps what’s unusual about The English is who it chooses for its heroes, a Native American man and an English woman, and the precise kind of justice they’re both looking to restore.”

He says that Blunt — an executive producer on the series — was on board the moment she saw the frst draft of the story. “She read the frst script and has been with me every step of the way since. What she ofered to the consequent scripts and

following production has been incalculable. Beyond all that — and above it — is a performance of exquisite delicacy and strength.”

And Blunt’s co-star Spencer gave an extraordinary performance from a relatively inexperienced position: “That Chaske managed to inhabit the elevated Western persona of a cinematic hero, historically the preserve of a Wayne or Lancaster, Eastwood or Newman, with all the nuance and dexterity of that inheritance — and for him to do so as a Native American playing a Native American, felt pretty ground-breaking to all involved.”

Spencer’s involvement began with a read-through with Blick and Blunt: “They were very fun scenes to do because, once I read them, I got how the language and the dialogue was going to be in a rhythm,” Spencer says. “I was very nervous — I think I told them that — and they decided to take a chance on me.”

He says his own personal experience as a Native American played a lot into the character of Eli Whipp: “I tried to bring that to life and to represent the image as genuinely as I possibly could."

As a Native American man and an actor and artist, it's pretty rare to be a lead in a project like this. I have to say I had amazing support from Hugo, Emily, the whole crew. It made me feel comfortable to take risks in this character.”

Blick’s first Western, it was always

SHE LOOKS LIKE A COMPLETE FISH OUT OF WATER WHEN SHE FIRST ARRIVES EMILY BLUNT

Emily Blunt as Lady Cornelia Locke

A BEEF FARM IN AVILA PROVIDED A MYTHIC SPACE FOR THIS WESTERN

BLICK

going to be a challenge to make it look and feel authentic. “I had heard, I think it was Jimmy Stewart, say 'The frst clue to a good Western is a slim script' — I took him to heart. These were slim scripts, made even slimmer in the edit. Whenever I could, I honed them down. They started at an hour each, we got them down to 50 minutes. Emily had a lot to do with this, as did the Amazon team. The last episode is just over an hour but I feel it earns it. The key to the story’s rhythm is in the character of Eli. He speaks to it; the less said, the more an audience can hear what is.”

And, of course, most important is the look: if it doesn’t look like a Western, it’s not a Western. “It’s all about the light, how it falls on landscape and character. Cinematographer Arnau Valls Colomer and I studied the genre carefully, particularly its mid-20th century period,” Blick says. “On location we scheduled for the

late afternoon when the dust was up and the sun low. Back-lit by sun and front-lit by arc light, I found the results impressive, although it could be blinding to the actors. We shot 2.39:1 CinemaScope using a limited selection of Panavision Anamorphic lenses. I didn’t want to move the camera, so spent a good deal of the time fguring out where best to place it so we wouldn’t have to.” And he drew inspiration from past greats: “It’s pretentious to say I picked this up studying Kurosawa — but so what? I did. And George Stevens. And Eastwood. And Anthony Mann. I want to say John Ford but every time I hit up against The Searchers ([956] and see Chief Scar played by a blue-eyed German, I just know we’re in trouble… It’s the same for Audrey Hepburn in John Huston’s The Unforgiven [1960]. There’s actually quite a bit to admire in the picture — issues of

prejudice and intolerance — but then the casting kind of turns that on its head.”

As Blick says, Westerns are all about the light — and also the locations. And The English gets that right from the outset. "In the striking opening few minutes, the locations load the viewer with both context and emotion: and at no point does the viewer think, ‘Hey that’s not America, that’s Spain!’

“The actual period of the classic cowboy was approximately 30 years; the following 130 years has been almost entirely myth, built as much by our televisions and cinema as by the Chisholm trail itself [the post-Civil War route to drive cattle overland from ranches in Texas to Kansas]. The Western lives in our imagination — and it can travel,” Blick says. “So when COVID chased us frst out of Kansas then Alberta, I was intrigued to look to Spain. As it turned out, we got lucky. I can see, and hear, in every frame just how lucky we were to make this with such an experienced and committed crew whose involvement in the genre often stretched back through generations.”

Blick says he was aware from the outset that Sergio Leone’s and Clint Eastwood’s preferred region, Almería, wouldn’t work for a story set in Kansas and Wyoming. “Luckily our location scout took us to a huge beef farm in Ávila outside of Madrid. With the grasses, rock formations and horizontal light, it provided a perfect mythic space for this Western.”

Back to the opening scene and the only building in the vast wide landscape is a tiny, run-down wooden hotel, in the middle of nowhere. The questions that are raised in the viewer’s mind are many: 'Who works there? How do they get there?, And where from?' “The designer, Chris Roope, understands by research and intuition that one structure within the landscape can read so much more powerfully than many. This outlook also renders him very popular with producers — it’s our third, and hopefully not last, time of working together. The hotel was our build — as were almost all of the location sets seen in the production.”

The vast majority of the series was flmed on location. “You just wouldn’t get that light or landscape any other way,” Blick says. “Taking this level of circus to that environment presented great logistical challenges to our producers. But under the management of the simply genius horse-master, Hernan Ortiz, the whole pace of the production was dictated by the rhythm of the horses. This was an entirely benefcial experience.”

HUGO

Chaske Spencer as Eli Whipp

SHOOTING THE WORLD IN SPAIN

WHEN EVEN A HINT OF THE POSSIBILITY OF A RECESSION MAKES COMPANIES NERVOUS ABOUT THEIR FINANCES, IT IS REASONABLE TO ASSUME THAT THE COMING MONTHS WILL SEE PRESSURE TO REDUCE PRODUCTION BUDGETS. WHILE THE COST OF LIVING IN SPAIN IS SOME 25% CHEAPER THAN MOST OF EUROPE, ITS INFRASTRUCTURE AND VARIETY OF INSPIRING, ACCESSIBLE LOCATIONS IS SECOND TO NONE. GOOD NEWS FOR BUDGETCONSCIOUS FILMMAKERS… GARY SMITH REPORTS

PERHAPS the easiest way to control production costs is to reduce international travel by shooting multiple scenes within the same region or city, leveraging sites that feature architecture or landscape-looks that would normally be associated with other countries. Take, for example, Mallorca, whose diversity of locations means it can double for both other Mediterranean countries — for example Greece, Italy, Malta and Algeria, all of which were seen in the hit BBC series The Night Manager that shot there — but also more remote areas of the world, for example Cuba or New Zealand.

“Mallorca has been Paris in the feature flm Of the Rails, Ibiza in the Netfix series White Lines, the Atacama desert in Chile for Kleo and the Caribbean island of Mustique in a recent shoot for The Crown,” Mallorca Film Commission’s Pedro Barbadillo says. “Perhaps more surprisingly, Mallorca has played itself in the German series König von Palma, which just fnished shooting its second season; in the British series The Mallorca Files; and in the Bollywood blockbuster Pathaan. Some of the roads on the Serra de Tramuntana can double as

Gran Canaria doubled as Cuba in Netfix movie The Mother, starring Jennifer Lopez

29,2 acres of back lot

120.125 sq ft divided in 6 soundstages 300 sunny days a year 86.112

the Alps or other higher mountains and are frequently used for commercials. Also there are numerous beaches, farms and old mansions that could double for anywhere.”

Barbadillo and his team always do their utmost to ensure a smooth shoot: “It was a 3am start, with the flming of a scene for Pathaan featuring more than 300 dancers scheduled to start at 8am, but a crane had been parked on the set. It took us a bottle of wine to convince the driver to get out of bed and drive the crane of the set,” he says. “Cost-wise, Mallorca ofers a range of local subsidies for scouting and familiarisation trips, also for feature and series development.” And the commission is contstantly developing new ways in which to assist productions: “We’re launching a new fund this year for co-productions and another to support sustainable practices under our Green Film Shooting Plan."

Bilbao Bizkaia ofers an impressive array of locations including 150 kilometres of coastline, historic city centres and monuments, varied landscapes and industrial ruins, plus three natural parks including mountain areas. All this sits alongside Bilbao’s unique buildings, its late 19th- and early 20th-century urban expansion and sophisticated infrastructure, as well as museums and cathedrals. “In 2021 a scene from the series Boundless was flmed on the beach of Aizkorri in the Getxo region. The location perfectly simulated the Bay of San Julián in Patagonia, Argentina, where the pioneering expedition that sailed around the world in 1522 landed,” says Xabier Ochandiano, councillor for economic development, trade and

employment at Bilbao City Council.

“Carmen Alessandrin's Interrail is another example of the opportunities that Bilbao Bizkaia ofers. In the flm, Bilbao and the surrounding area were transformed into London, Paris and Prague. Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño’s Giant, which won 10 Goya Awards [the Spanish national flm awards], was flmed in and around the Palacio Foral de Bizkaia, simulating a snowy London street in the early 20th century; while the Palacio de Artaza, in Leioa, was transformed into the interior of an English castle," Ochandiano says. "For Balenciaga, the halls of the Chávarri Palace in Bilbao were turned into an elegant and luxurious Parisian apartment. Also in Bilbao, we have a neighbourhood that resembles Notting Hill in London, and San Juan de Gaztelugatxe is internationally recognised as Dragonstone in Game of Thrones.

Bilbao and greater Bizkaia have numerous photogenic landmarks to ofer productions. “There are the emblematic spaces such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Azkuna Zentroa Contemporary Culture Centre — an old wine warehouse transformed by Philippe Starck — and the Bizkaia Bridge, built in the 19th century, and the oldest ferry bridge still in use in the world,” Ochandiano says. “Alongside that, we have fshing villages and ports, lighthouses, centuries-old beech forests, and towns with an industrial tradition such as the left bank of the Nervión estuary.”

Subsidies and tax breaks in the region include a tax credit of up to 60% if the expenses and investments made in Bizkaia

Aitor Arregi and Jon Garaño’s Giant was flmed in and around the Palacio Foral de Bizkaia, simulating a snowy London street in the early 20th century

exceed 50% of total budget.

Also used as a double for Paris, Gipuzkoa is home to some remarkable locations such as La Concha beach and San Sebastian’s concentration of Belle Epoque buildings. For the series on Cristobal Balenciaga, the streets of San Sebastian became Paris. For Game of Thrones, the producers chose Zumaia and its extraordinary rock formations, for a dramatic disembarkation scene in Westeros.

“San Sebastian has buildings and streets reminiscent of Paris, but it also has modern, futuristic buildings that are often used for advertising shoots,” the Sebastian-Gipuzkoa Film Commission's Marta Zabaleta says. “Gipuzkoa also has a number of traditional fshing harbours and an industrial port, in which Alejandro Amenábar’s series La Fortuna recreated a naval battle from 1804 in which the treasure-flled boat La Fortuna was sunk.”

Gipuzkoa also features beaches and mountains that could be anywhere, alongside villages with an industrial aesthetic that can simulate European city neighbourhoods; and being a relatively small territory with 60km of unspoilt, varied coastline, simplifes logistics. “As well as tax incentives, there

are also exemptions from municipal taxes in the city of San Sebastian, a city that hosts many festivals,” Zabaleta adds. “And we have 20 years of experience in facilitating procedures, fnding locations and sorting out permits.”

The name Castilla-La Mancha is indelibly associated with Don Quixote, but there’s so much more to this unique region than windmills and endless vistas. “Our territory has two main advantages for the national and international flm industry. We are literally the heart of Spain's mainland, surrounding two thirds of Madrid where more than 60% of the Spanish audiovisual industry is based, and which has the best infrastructure including high-speed trains, freeways and an airport. We also ofer a huge diversity of landscapes, including 12 natural parks, as well as two world heritage cities, Toledo and Cuenca,” says Migual Angel Villanueva Munguía of the CastillaLa Mancha Film Commission. “At the beginning of 2022 we hosted a shoot for The English, a Western in which La Mesa de Ocana in the province of Toledo doubled for the US. Other examples of our territory doubling for other locations include being Tenerife in Red Sky, and more surprisingly, The Vatican in HBO’s 30 Coins

Sub-tropical jungle in La Palma

Following a recent familiarisation trip organised by the Spain Film Commission for a group of nine international location managers, the feedback was that Cuenca and the whole province has a lot to ofer, especially to big productions. “One of the places they were particularly impressed with was The Enchanted City near Cuenca, and the spectacular roads through the mountains,” Villanueva Munguía says. “We’re keen to spread the word about a new location called Camarilla's Rails, an eight-kilometre-long railway line in perfect condition, with tunnels and bridges sitting in an unspoilt natural location. The council of Hellin administers the track and is keen to ofer its full support to visiting productions. Generally speaking, if someone asked why they should shoot here, I would say that if it is in Spain, we have it here. If it is part of our country, your strategic place is Castilla-La Mancha.”

The diversity of versatile locations Andalucía ofers is huge, with The Crown a perfect example. “Every time the Royal Family has to be seen to travel out of the UK they come to Andalusia, to locations in Malaga, Almeria, Sevilla and the province of Cádiz playing an important role in the series,”

Piluca Querol, of the Andalucía Film Commission, says. “They doubled for Australia on the trip Charles and Diana made, the US for a visit made by Princess Margaret in the late 60s, where Margaret Thatcher stayed on a trip to South Africa, street scenes in Greece, the Caribbean island of Mustique, and in the last season, an archaeological site in Italy in the 90s, plus the streets and palaces of Alexandria in Egypt. Andalucía's eight provinces have also served as Planet Naboo in Star Wars, and the Kingdoms of Dorne and Meereen, plus the Dothraki Sea in Game of Thrones.”

This location-rich and habitually sunny region has also doubled for China, Africa and Havana. “A lot of projects choose Andalucía for the diversity of locations, plus we have highly qualifed technicians with huge experience, and infrastructure that allows you to move throughout the region quickly," Querol says. "For example, in Andalucía you can spend the morning touring the largest desert in Europe in Almería and in less than two hours you can be skiing in Sierra Nevada where Alejandro Bayona doubled-up for the mountains of Chile for his upcoming flm Society of the Snow. Then you fnish the day on

Seville's Plaza de Espana has been featured in several flms, including in Star Wars as the Naboo Kingdom, doubling as Egypt in Lawrence of Arabia and again more recently for the comedy Kaos

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the beaches of Cádiz, seen in the last season of Killing Eve and the upcoming Bollywood Film Pathaan. Andalucía is a land of natural sets: deserts, high mountains, landscapes, forests, tropical sites, beaches and clifs, but also with a large range of historical and modern cities, whitewashed villages, castles, Baroque mansions and fabulous Moorish palaces.” Madrid and its surrounding region have a rich variety of locations, with everything from cozy traditional streets and business areas with skyscrapers, to natural spaces and high mountains, all of which are proven to be highly versatile as locations and have been used to recreate other countries on numerous occasions. “Terminator: Dark Fate used the streets of Madrid to recreate neighbourhoods of Mexico City and scif show Soulmates used diferent locations in the city to double for New York and Mexico. Spanish historical drama series

Dime Quién Soy: Mistress of War used locations to double as Buenos Aires and its port,” says Rafael Cabrera of the Region of Madrid Filming Promotion Ofce. “Netfix spy thriller series In From the Cold used Madrid as a double for Moscow; the second season of the series The Warrior Nun was flmed entirely in and around Madrid, with the town of Navacerrada standing in for Switzerland; and Wes Anderson came to Madrid last year, flming in Chinchon and Colmenar de Oreja, where he recreated the Arizona desert.” In the Madrid region, there are rural areas, lakes, mountains and myriad natural settings, varying from a leafy northern look, to more desert-like areas. “We also have a lot of historical heritage, with castles, palaces and other architectural elements that can simulate any place in the world,” Cabrera says.

NETFLIX SPY THRILLER SERIES IN FROM THE COLD USED MADRID AS A DOUBLE FOR MOSCOW

RAFAEL CABRERA

Víctor Aertsen of the Madrid Film Ofce says: “The city and surrounding region can double for a wide variety of cities or regional locations. In addition to specifc interior locations, such as the Railway Museum or the Fernan Nunez Palace, both of which have been used countless times to recreate train stations or palaces in cities across all fve continents, Madrid has diverse urban areas such as AZCA [the business district] and Cuatro Torres, with skyscrapers that could be any big city in the world. Then there are emblematic neighbourhoods like Salamanca, regularly used to recreate cities like London or Paris, plus we have several old, single-storey house neighbourhoods that resemble the sorts of neighbourhoods you fnd in Latin America. Across this city and the region, the possibilities are endless.”

During 2022, the City Council and the Region of Madrid dedicated €5,400,000 to economic support for the audiovisual sector. Last year, the Region of Madrid reinforced its support with various lines of subsidies, allocating a total of €2,400,000, 9% more than the previous year. The City Council came on board in 2021 with a new line of audiovisual subsidies for the production and promotion of flms, TV series and documentaries linked to Madrid, for which a budget of €3,000,000 was allocated in 2022.

For Carlos Rosado, president of the Spain Film Commission, Spain has always been a highly attractive country for flming, from Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago back in the

1960s, through to Star Wars and Game of Thrones. “As Spanish production service companies say, you can replicate up to 60-70% of the world’s locations in Spain, and traveling by road, it’s easy to access a huge variety of landscapes, architecture and cultures.”

Traditionally, Spain has been a favourite of flmmakers because of its multiplicity of excellent locations, hospitality, talent, highly professional crews and production services, plus its safety. “But then in 2020, while COVID was hitting hard our government took two important decisions for our future as a flming destination: to launch the Spain Audiovisual Hub and to increase tax rebates for flming,” Rosado says. “Our aim being to make Spain a leading destination for flm and TV production. On top of that, the local Spanish flm industry is currently experiencing an extraordinary moment of global success, which represents the perfect opportunity for us to position ourselves as a globally respected leader in both quality and professionalism. Artistic and technical teams of the highest level are proving that cinema can be written in capital letters in Spain through flms and series that showcase our talent, identity, culture and language, including in ofcial regional languages such as Catalan, Basque and Galician."

Rosado points to the wave of emerging domestic cinematic talent that is beneftting from the country’s world-class production infrastructure: “We are living in an important moment for new young directors, especially women — for example Carla Simón (Alcarràs), Estibaliz Urresola (20.000 Especies de Abejas), Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (Cinco Lobitos), Carlota Pereda (Cerdita) and Pilar Palomero (La Maternal). The fact that all have won prestigious awards, alongside other new names such as Rodrigo Sorogoyen (As Bestas) and Fernando Franco (La Consagración de la Primavera), tells me that our future as a global cinematic and audiovisual mainstay could not be more promising. Our entire network of flm commissions and flm ofces is focused on supporting and collaborating with productions that carry the Spanish label. They best represent our potential as a preferred flming destination and are key to attracting international audiovisual projects.”

Veronica Sullivan, senior vice-president and head of global production, external afairs and state and local government at NBCUniversal, is one of several global ambassadors for the Spanish audiovisual industry. “We are honoured to include Veronica among our Honorary Ambassadors together with former HBO executive and US ambassador to Spain, James Costos; legendary DoP Javier Aguirresarobe; Indian location manager Ramji Natarajan; actors Emily Blunt and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón; director Terry Gilliam; and Sony Television executive Brendan Fitzgerald,” Rosado says. “In 2018 the Spain Film Commission began to name important fgures from the audiovisual industry as Honorary Ambassadors. Their work in promoting Spain as a key destination for flm and TV shoots is invaluable.

"Alongside that, the constant support from the national and local governments and flm commissions, has fuelled opportunities for the latest group of emerging and highly talented professionals such as Carla Simón, winner of the Golden Bear at the 2022 Berlinale," Rosado adds.

Pontevedra is a region in northwest Spain whose capital city of the same name is known for its perfectly preserved old town and the Gothic Basilica of Santa María la Mayor, as well as the Ruinas de San Domingos, the remains of a 14th-century convent. According to Guillermo Gonzàlez Izaguirre of

Turismo Rias Baixas: “There have been several locations that have doubled up as other countries over the last few years. The two I would pick as particularly interesting are The Unit (La Unidad), a police thriller for TV that used locations in the province to double up as Syria; and A Man of Action, a drama in which Vigo — the biggest city in our province — and its beautiful modernist buildings, became Paris," Gonzàlez Izaguirre says. "It’s defnitely one of our strong points that this sort of modernist architecture can easily become any one of many European cities.” He adds: “Our islands and beaches can also be anywhere in the Atlantic and so can our forests. We also have plenty of Eucalyptus forests that have a certain Australian look, a surprising phenomenon that has been remarked upon by several visiting producers. Currently, we’re undeniably beneftting from the fact that Spanish Tax Incentives for international productions and co-productions have been increased this year, particularly for TV series. This is having a positive impact on our attractiveness as a location.”

Alongside the fact that Spain's Canary Islands have increased the maximum tax relief on a single flm entirely shot there to €36m per movie, making it one of the highest movie shoot caps in Europe, the Canary Islands are known for the many possibilities ofered by their unique locations, where an impressive range of countries — and even continents — can be doubled on a single island. Just a few of the productions shot on these islands include the fourth season of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, where Gran Canaria doubled for Thailand and Myanmar, while in Tenerife they simulated Mexico and Thailand. Gran Canaria has also doubled as Cuba in Netfix movie The Mother starring Jennifer Lopez; and as a Californian desert for El Zorro.

“The series El Zorro is a big production for Amazon Prime and although the story does not take place in the Canary Islands, it is defnitely a promotion for the island, its crew, infrastructures and range of locations,” Gran Canaria Film Commission’s Nuria Guinnot says. “The main location is Sioux City, a Western theme park located in the south of Gran Canaria. Apart from that, the series has been shot in exterior desert locations in the south and north of the island. Another important location has been the Gabinete Literario, a beautiful building from the frst half of the 19th century.”

This same multi-facetted island also doubled for Andalucía in The Curse II, and Lanzarote and Tenerife were an imaginary, inhabited planet in another galaxy for Foundation. Norwegian thriller series Ammo, about the arms industry, was shot in various areas of the north and centre of Fuerteventura, simulating Mali, while Tenerife was Mauritius for Amor de Madre, and Equatorial Guinea for Dos Vidas.

And according to Natacha Mora Yanes of Canary Islands Film, there’s much more: “Risco de San Nicolás and San Juan in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, as well as Las Moraditas and San Andrés in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, are neighbourhoods in both capital cities that could double for Brazilian or Colombian Favelas. We also have sub-tropical rainforest, where [areas covered in] laurel that look like the Amazon or The Philippines can be found on several islands including La Gomera, La Palma, El Hierro and Tenerife, while Fuerteventura’s long white-sand beaches — some with vegetation — look like the Caribbean or Malibu. Minas de San José in Teide National Park is a unique location, a multi-hued volcanic landscape where you don’t need to do anything to be on Mars, or in an apocalyptic situation. The BBC’s Doctor Who has shot there, for example. The Parque Natural de los Volcanes on Lanzarote, where Marvel's The Eternals was shot, is also a perfect place to shoot Mars, with its red and black volcanic features.”

The sand dunes of Jandia on Fuerteventura and Maspalomas in Gran Canaria can double for the Sahara, Dubai or Nigeria. Fishing villages Mogan and Agaete in Gran Canaria — with their white and blue low-rise houses — simulate Greece, and Fuerteventura’s endless highways can double for Texas or Arizona. For futuristic locations, Roque de Los Muchachos

Hannah Ware and Zoë Tapper in The One, shot at the Iberostar Grand Mencey hotel in Tenerife

THE LOCAL SPANISH FILM INDUSTRY IS CURRENTLY EXPERIENCING AN EXTRAORDINARY MOMENT OF GLOBAL SUCCESS

CARLOS ROSADO

San Sebastian-Gipuzkoa is one of the privileged enclaves in Europe. Due to its proximity to several countries, its landscape diversity, its experience with more than 2000 shoots and recordings, because of its industry and local professionals, its quality of life standards, safety, employment, qualification and because it has established itself as a welcoming and friendly region.

WWW.SANSEBASTIAN-GIPUZKOAFILMCOMMISSION.EUS

Visitor Center and the Observatory in La Palma are the stand outs. In terms of housing crew, hotels in Tenerife, including Baobab Suites, Gran Hotel Bahia del Duque, Hotel Taburiente, and The Terraces Luxury Penthouses are all actively flmfriendly. Certain hotels have also served as the set for flms or TV series, for example the Barceló Tenerife hotel, where the UK TV series Crossfre was mainly shot. The Iberostar Grand Mencey hotel in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, served as the set for Netfix series The One; and the Spanish flm La Piel en Llamas used Royal Garden Villas as a main location. In Gran Canaria there are several flm-friendly hotels that are used to working with production companies and who ofer special rates, conditions and facilities for crew and directors, right up to the most demanding of flm stars.

In terms of creating bespoke spaces, other worlds and other places, Ciudad de la Luz Studios in Alicante ofers an impressive array of facilities. The studios occupy an area of 300 hectares, with 11,600 sq m of soundstages, as well as 10,000 sq m of workshops and storage, plus 118 hectares of backlot. The studios were inactive for 10 years by order of the European Union due to a sanction that was supposed to be in place until 2027. However, the Regional Government of Valencia — responsible for the construction and management of the cinematographic complex — managed to get this lifted last year, fve years ahead of schedule, and was able to retake full control of the facilities with the aim of returning them to full activity. The return of Ciudad de la Luz Studios — considered one of the best in

the world due to their unique characteristics and privileged location on the shores of the Mediterranean — represents a real boost for the national and European sector. The facilities include six sets, three production support buildings, workshops and warehouses, outdoor flming areas and a large water tank for underwater flming, among others.

The exterior aquatic moat has a natural horizon and is the most attractive asset of the complex, one that has aroused the interest of numerous national and international producers and has hosted major international productions including The Impossible by Juan Antonio Bayona, starring Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland. This aquatic space is equipped with wave-generating machines, water cannons and tip tanks. It also has a spillway on the south side and partially on the east side, an extendible green screen and ample space on either side to allow for set construction. Alongside the national tax incentive, the Government of Valencia — through the IVAC (Valencia Film Institute) — has a budget for cinema aid when a production takes place in the region, is co-produced with a local production company and Valencian professionals are hired.

Seville, the jewel in the crown of Andalucía, somewhat poetically hosted The Crown in 2019 at the Hotel Alfonso XIII, where they recreated Los Angeles in the 1960s. “Also in 2021 they shot at Plaza de América and Casa Pilatos Palace using these locations to double for places in Egypt that featured in Al Fayed's childhood,” Saida Segura of Seville’s Film Commission,

The Playa de Alcudia on Mallorca

says. “And the series Sin Limites used the Old Artillery Factory in Seville to recreate the port of Cape Verde in the 16th century.”

The city’s Plaza de España has been featured in several flms, including in Star Wars as the Naboo Kingdom, doubling as Egypt in Lawrence of Arabia and again more recently for the comedy Kaos. “The Royal Palace, (Reales Alcazares) is the perfect setting for recreating an Arab or medieval palace,” Segura adds. “It was already used for Kingdom of Heaven and as a fantasy world in Game of Thrones, where it was in the Kingdom of Dorne. In terms of commercial shoots, the bridges of the Guadalquivir river, the new headquarters of the Congress and the Convention Center (Fibes) and Cartuja Island, have been featured often due to their contemporary aesthetics.

"Also, Seville has several palaces that can double for an ancient Italian or Greek city, and then there’s the interior of the Casino de la Exposición, which has been used to recreate the 1920s, Arab palaces, and even mythological kingdoms. The Port of Seville, one of the largest in Spain, can double for any port of today or even one from centuries ago since it has a very interesting natural riverside zone,” Segura says.

A host of international productions have used Navarra to recreate other parts of the world, both real or imaginary. “The

American series Vampire Academy, for Peacock, recently used several locations across Navarre over a six-month period. But mainly the series was based around the town and castle of Olite to create the vampire academy and the village into a place that could be anywhere in the world,” Sara Sevilla of the Navarra Film Commission says. “Netfix chose the village of Lekunberri — featuring solid, white-washed stone-built buildings — to shoot Tú No Eres Especial in its entirety, mainly because the look represents a multitude of rural settings. The same goes for Llegaron de Noche, which used Pamplona's old airport. Currently closed due to the construction of a new airport in the city, it ofers great possibilities for productions, with a construction aesthetic straight out of the 1970s and 1980s. This airport, like any of our interior locations, could easily be absolutely anywhere in the world. The soon-to-be-released flm Irati used the second largest beech forest in Europe. And lastly, we can’t overlook Bardenas Reales. Over the years it has proven to be an extremely versatile location that has represented the desert, Mexico and even distant planets including Mars. One of the special qualities of Navarre is that it features landscapes ranging from desert to forest, allowing any part of the world to be represented within our region.”

Buitrago de Lozoya on the Lozoya River, just outside Madrid

Natalie RadmallQuirke as Eileen Gray in Life is Everything

‘It’s a really beautiful place to be’

DRAMA-DOCUMENTARY FILM LIFE IS EVERYTHING IS A STUDY OF THE IRISH DESIGNER AND ARCHITECT

EILEEN GRAY. PART OF THE FILM IS SHOT AT THE MODERNIST E.1027 VILLA ON THE MEDITERRANEAN COAST, JUST EAST OF MONTE CARLO. DESIGNED BY GRAY, TODAY THE HOUSE IS CONSIDERED AS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT EXAMPLES OF THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE.

JULIAN NEWBY VISITED THE SHOOT

PHOTOGRAPHY BY YANN COATSALIOU

DESIGNED and built between 1926 and 1929 by enigmatic Irish architect and interior designer Eileen Gray, E.1027 is today designated a French National Cultural Monument by the French government.

Perched close to the foot of a rocky clif that leads down to the Mediterranean in the commune of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the villa was recently restored over a number of years and opened to the public in the summer of 2021.

It was Gray’s first house, created in collaboration with her lover, Romanianborn architect and magazine editor Jean

Badovici. The name of the house, E.1027, is an alpha-numeric representation of the couple’s names: ‘E’ was for Eileen, and the 10 and 2 represented Badovici’s initials — according to their place in the alphabet — and the 7 was for G, Gray’s initials efectively embracing his.

There were at least three people who stamped their names on this building: Gray, Badovici and Swiss-French architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, who added wall paintings to parts of the interior and built his own Cabanon de vacances — a holiday chalet — in the grounds of E.1027.

That Gray’s relationships with these two men were problematic is well doc-

umented, but Life is Everything isn’t all about that.

For the flm’s writer and director, SwissGerman Beatrice Minger, the flm’s initial focus was Le Corbusier, which she was researching on behalf of producer Philip Delaquis. “While I was in the process of that, by chance I discovered this house and began to look into the story of the architect, Eileen Gray,” Minger says. “We quickly realised what a fascinating artist she was and that her story — and the story of the house — were much more interesting. So I started to write.”

Early on Minger and her colleagues realised that, if possible, they had to use the actual house as a location, so a great deal of efort went into seeking permission at the start of the project. It’s a treasured building, a national monument and so this process was not straightforward.

Development of the project started back in 2018 and the directors — Minger and fellow writer-director Christoph Schaub — started to visit E.1027 in 2019.

“A lot of the early research involved coming down here from Switzerland to see the house,” says Frank Matter of Basel-based Soap Factory, which co-produced the flm. “And we soon found out that getting the right permits was a little complicated — but every flm project is like that. You start with ideas and have to adapt to reality, all the government rules and so on.”

“It was always clear that we needed to

be there; to make a flm about Eileen Gray and the link with Corbusier, for me it was always important really from the outset to understand Eileen Grey as an artist and as an architect and to understand how she built the house. How her architecture was diferent from Le Corbusier’s and wanting to understand it intellectually, but also to be able to portray the experience of being in that house and living in that house,” Minger says.

“To start with, we were thinking about maybe just flming it to depict the architecture. But the more I got into the project as a director, I realised, ‘No, we really need to be there with her’ — and also with the other characters. Because, for example, when Le Corbusier enters the house, he looks at it very, very diferently to her, which gives

an interesting contrast.” She adds: “Also to have the opportunity to show it from different perspectives and angles — female gaze and male gaze — I think is really interesting.”

Natalie Radmall-Quirke, the star of the flm — of Irish heritage like Gray — turned down the part during her first audition. Although perfectly suited in so many ways, not least being an Irish woman who speaks French, she felt something of an imposter; that her French wasn’t perfectly fuent and that she was possibly taking on a part for which she wasn’t suited.

“So, I said ‘Thank you so much for giving me this time. I've so enjoyed spending time with Eileen and preparing for this, but I don't think I'm the person that you're looking for.’ It’s not something I’ve

Inside E.1027 looking out onto the Mediterranean, with furniture designed by Eileen Gray

Filming on the terrace facing the Mediterranean outside E.1027

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Get a 33% cash rebate on expenses spent on film or TV production in the Slovak Republic. Minimum local spent requirement for a feature film is € 100,000, for documentaries and animations it is € 50,000 and for TV series € 300,000.

Get a 33% cash rebate on expenses spent on film or TV production in the Slovak Republic. Minimum local spent requirement for a feature film is € 100,000, for documentaries and animations it is € 50,000 and for TV series € 300,000.

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No budget limit on eligible costs. Registration of the projects is open all year round. If registered by mid-August 2023, the cash rebate is payable in 2024.

No budget limit on eligible costs. Registration of the projects is open all year round. If registered by mid-August 2023, the cash rebate is payable in 2024.

ever said at an audition before and I don't know if any of them have had to deal with an actor saying that at audition — but they just went, ‘Okay. Well, we'll just continue with the audition anyway, shall we?’ And as a result of having said that, I did one of the best auditions of my life, without any expectations for myself to be any good.”

“You can’t really intellectualise these things sometimes,” Minger says. “Natalie struck me as capturing some nucleus of Eileen Gray in a way, the Eileen Gray that I had in mind, who I thought I was connected to through all my research. We always said we didn’t want someone to be 101, we wanted some space for interpretation, otherwise it would be just re-enactment.”

A mix of drama and documentary, scenes with dialogue were shot in a studio in Basel, using white walls and projections of various moving scenes relating to Gray’s life and work — “a space of debate and refection about architecture and art”, Minger says. “The actual house is more a memory space, because she remembers the house and revisits it for the frst time in the flm. It’s a diferent approach to the studio and it will give another view. It’s very clear when we are in the studio that we are in an artifcial space.”

“We also did some documentary shooting out on location,” Matter says. “The crew travelled through France and up to Holland and other places, to shoot cer-

tain buildings that inspired Eileen Gray — landscapes, architectural stuf, images from Paris. We are also going to use archival footage. We have old flms from the time, creating atmosphere.”

Back to the house, where scenes of silent contemplation are flmed — no dialogue — principally featuring Eileen Gray and also scenes with Le Corbusier (Charles Morillon) and Jean Badovici (Axel Moustache). E.1207 is comparatively small when you compare it with other Mediterranean villas. Its design doesn’t shout ‘extreme wealth’; instead it shows an extraordinary understanding of how a building should relate to its surroundings. All the rooms are designed so you can see and feel a part of the sea, the light and the nature outside. And the house is laid out so that people move from room to room in a way that corresponds with how Gray believed the space should be used. The furniture is also designed by Gray, so you have somewhere that refects a person’s personality and psyche like nowhere else.

I LET THE HOUSE DO THE TELLING OF THE STORY

NATALIE RADMALL-QUIRKE

“Nobody can say anything certain about anybody and we certainly can't say anything certain about Eileen — but the house seems to exemplify her desire for freedom and solitude,” Radmall-Quirke says. “At the same time the house is very playful. It both conceals and reveals diferent aspects of Eileen — and of you — as you travel through it. It's a really beautiful place to be. Quite breathtaking.”

And she says that to shoot at the actual house was essential to her role and to the flm: “Sometimes with acting you get a lot for free. Like when you're working with a really brilliant actor who just gives you everything to respond to, the house is a very big character in the story. The space gives you a lot back, so I actually didn't feel like I had to do an awful lot. I had already done a huge amount of research when we were in Switzerland and so I kind of let the house do the telling of the story. To be honest, there wasn't a lot to do but show up and try not to tumble into the very beautiful furniture.”

Life is Everything hits the festival circuit in early 2024 and later in the year will be broadcast by Franco-German culture channel ARTE and Swiss television, before distribution to channels and platforms around the world.

Natalie Radmall-Quirke as Eileen Gray in Life is Everything

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Damien Chazelle’s Babylon, a lavish homage to the 1920s silent era

RECENTLY-released feature flms including Nope, Don’t Worry Darling, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans and Babylon ofer the perfect showcase for both California’s stunning vistas and its remarkable production design expertise.

Top Gun: Maverick, The Gray Man and Bullet Train, meanwhile, are proof that The Golden State can handle the logistical complexity required to create theatrical and streaming blockbusters.

For California Film Commission (CFC) executive director Colleen Bell, 2022 was a year that “really demonstrated the richness of the state’s ofering. The range of locations, stateof-the-art equipment, world-class crews and flm-friendly authorities continue to be a major attraction to both US and international flmmakers.”

Locations are a particular attraction, Bell says: “California is like an entire nation in one state. Recent high-profle productions showcase our incredible topography which includes mountains, coastline, deserts, and the spectacular Redwoods in the North of the state. California can double for many diferent locations — with the added bonus that we have 300 days of sunshine a year.”

Then, of course, there is California’s resoundingly successful flm & TV tax credit — frst introduced in 2009 and now in its third cycle. Credited with reversing long-term decline in California’s competitiveness, the current edition of the fve-year programme provides $330m every fscal year (July 1 to June 30) to productions that meet eligibility requirements. So far, the credit (worth 20-30% depending on the nature of the project and the criteria it meets) is reckoned to have generated $6.2bn in direct in-state spending since edition three launched in 2020. “The competition today is global, so it’s wonderful to see our state’s commitment to maintaining our status as the world’s flm and TV production capital,” Bell says. “The tax credit is an incredibly efective tool, and is working precisely as intended.”

Despite challenging macro-economic conditions, overall in-state spending by projects in the tax credit programme grew by $200m, from $2.1bn to $2.3bn, during 2021-2022. For the current fscal year, spend for the frst six months is provisionally estimated to be $1.6bn, suggesting the growth trend will continue despite the tougher fnancial climate. “What’s really exciting for us is that Governor Newsom also recently announced that the tax credit programme is being extended until 2030 — programme 4.0 will run from 2025-2030,” Bell says. “That extended runway provides studios and vendors with the consistency and stability they need to make longterm decisions about infrastructure investment. It gives them certainty.”

For Bell, one of the great successes of the programme is the way it has helped California achieve a range of strategic objectives. A case in point is the return of blockbuster movies which, prior to the introduction of the tax credit scheme, had started deserting the state for rival production hubs. Netfix’s The Gray Man, for example, flmed in California for 62 days and generated $100m in qualifed expenditures, employing 300 crew. Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt, shot for 60 days and generated $86m in spend. Set on board a high-speed train travelling from Tokyo to Kyoto, California also successfully doubled as Japan through the use of digital LED screens and a meticulous set build on Sony Pictures Studios.

According to Bell, this momentum will be maintained as the latest additions to the programme come online. Among

the new wave of big-budget productions shooting in California are Beverly Hills Cop 4, Unfrosted and Atlas, a Netfix sci-f thriller starring Jennifer Lopez. Also on their way are the hotlyanticipated Joker: Folie à Deux and Thomas Crown Afair “There’s also Netfix production Rebel Moon: Part 2, which is bringing 150 flming days to the state,” Bell says.

Commenting on his decision to bring Joker: Folie à Deux to California, director/writer/producer Todd Phillips says: “Having spent several years flming in iconic locales here in the US and around the globe, I’m looking forward to returning to work in the place I call home and to serving the state by bringing a project of this scope to California. No other city has more resources than LA when it comes to our industry, and to have this kind of support from the tax credit programme is a nice welcome.”

NO OTHER CITY HAS MORE RESOURCES THAN LA WHEN IT COMES TO OUR INDUSTRY

TODD PHILLIPS

The programme also continues to be efective at persuading TV productions to relocate from other flming destinations: “The entire programme has a done a great job attracting series from other production hubs,” Bell says, “but for Programme 3.0 we allocated an extra $30m to this area and widened the defnition so that more productions could be eligible for the credit.”

The result has been dramatic, with nine series taking the bait. Among these, Amazon Originals Hunters relocated from New York, Peacock’s Killing It moved over from New Orleans and HBO Max’s Rap Sh!t swapped out Florida. Commenting on the decision to relocate Killing It, Dan Goor, co-showrunner and executive producer, said California “not only has amazing crews and the best facilities but is also where our children are located.”

Another key dimension of the tax credit programme is its ongoing efort to get producers to embrace the entire state of California, not just the Thirty Mile Zone (TMZ) around LA where the bulk of production takes place: “The state has 33 million acres of forests, seven million acres of desert, 840 miles of coastline, 482 cities, and 58 counties,” Bell says, “so there is huge scope for producers beyond the boundaries of the TMZ. That’s why we introduced an additional 5% tax credit for outof-zone flming. Producers can also get bonus points during the application process if they commit to flming outside the TMZ — so that provides them with a boost in getting into the programme.”

So far, out-of-zone spending under Programme 3 has hit the $5m mark, with San Diego (Animal Kingdom), Ventura County (Promised Land) and Orange County (Kimi) among benefciaries. Previously — with funds allocated under programme 2 — Don’t Worry Darling spent 19 days in Barstow and Riverside Counties, generating $2.1m in local spend. It’s worth noting also, says Bell, that several productions have also uncovered location gems across the state even without tax credits.

“We know flming is important to local communities and businesses,” Bell says, “because of the revenue it brings in, so it’s important for us to try and spread production across the entire state.”

In Bell’s opinion, another factor that helps that state stand

out as a filming making hub is its people-centric approach to the business. “The current tax credit programme encourages training and diversity, creating career pathways for the state’s underserved communities. But more than that, California has a unique spirit and respect for personal freedom and diversity that is deeply cherished by people in the production industry.”

Drilling down into California’s on-the-ground performance, the city of Los Angeles saw 36,792 filming days in 2022, welcoming TV dramas including Bel-Air (Peacock), Bosch Legacy (Freevee), Fatal Attraction (Paramount+) and Snowfall (FX); and movies like Netflix’s Atlas and Beverly Hills Cop 4 This comes on top of all the work that takes place in the city’s numerous studios.

Commenting on LA’s appeal, location manager Mandi Dillin says: “Los Angeles is really a city without limits. My career is a testament to the variety of locations and projects you can make here — 1930s LA, future LA, future China and Singapore, the Wild West, New York countless times (in the 1980s and modern day) and let's not forget Mars and other intergalactic locales. In terms of California as a whole, we have it all and we have the experienced film crews who set the bar for professionalism.”

Within the vicinity of LA, Dillin says she has been able to work on so many diverse projects “because of the availability of over 100 years of architecture to choose from — some of the oldest and newest buildings in California are in LA. We also have a variety of landscapes which allow for non-California stories to film here. We're known for beaches and palm trees but we have diverse neighbourhoods with deciduous trees that

can double for nearly anywhere. We also have a commitment to preservation which allows pre-war buildings and original neighbourhoods to thrive.”

Dillin says one of the most noticeable impacts of the tax credit from her point of view has been a resurgence in movies in the $20m-$30m budget range. “I'm personally excited about this. Bringing more small and mid-level features home to Hollywood can be a gateway for some of those bigger feature films to follow.”

In terms of her own work, Dillin says, “2022 was one of the busiest years of my career. In January I began principal filming for season two of Perry Mason. I had a short ‘vacation' during which I moved into a new home and then I began prep on season three of The Morning Show before I could even unpack. We're in the final days of filming The Morning Show right now. Both projects take viewers on very different but all-encompassing journeys — back in time in LA and in modern-day New York City.”

2022 WAS ONE OF THE BUSIEST YEARS OF MY CAREER

MANDI DILLIN

The story is equally upbeat in the filming hubs that have grown up around the edges of LA’s Thirty Mile Zone — the most well-established being the city of Santa Clarita. Located around 30 miles north of downtown LA, filming generated an

Bullet Train, starring Brad Pitt, shot for 60 days in California and generated $86m in spend

economic impact of $38.5m — up 2.2% year-on-year. “Since the Santa Clarita Film Ofce began issuing permits for flming in 2003 there has been growth every single year and 2022 was no exception,” says city mayor Jason Gibbs. “Home to dozens of sound stages, a multitude of studios and movie ranches and unique settings for location flming, Santa Clarita is one of the most flmed communities in California, helping to boost our local economy and provide quality jobs.”

Picking up the story, Evan Thomason, economic development associate at the city of Santa Clarita, says the growth in California’s production business has “given investors the confdence to build additional infrastructure. Here in Santa Clarita, we’ve seen the arrival of LA North Studios, which focuses mainly on feature flms, and the expansion of Santa Clarita Studios, which typically targets high-end television. LA North, for example, hosted both The Fabelmans and Don’t Worry Darling.”

As for TV series to visit Santa Clarita Thomason picks out a wide range including Your Honor, CSI: Vegas, Bosch Legacy, Lincoln Lawyer, The Patient, Mayans MC and Curb Your Enthusiasm. “I think the real key to Santa Clarita’s success is that we ofer a complete package — studios, ranches, locations, expertise and a community that embraces the arrival of new productions.”

There are also plans for a major new complex in Santa Clarita, adds Thomason adds. The Rye Canyon Studios project, recently approved, is planning on building 28 new sound stages (470,000 sq ft) and 255,000 sq ft of ofce space.

In addition, he adds, ranches have invested in infrastructure and facilities to meet the growing demand from producers.

“Santa Clarita is home to several well-known movie ranches,” Thomason says, “and I think this is one of the factors that really sets Southern California apart as a production hub.”

It’s a compelling argument. While flm and TV studios are being erected all around the world, there’s nothing that really replicates California’s long-established movie ranch model.

The likes of Disney-owned Golden Oak, Melody Ranch and many others provide flmmakers with wide open expanses where they can shoot spectacular scenes or build elaborate sets in peace. Some, like Blue Cloud, have standing sets that can be used to recreate Mexican pueblos or Middle-Eastern backdrops. Many ofer ample parking, ofce space and workshops.

A recent endorsement of the California ranch model was flmmaker Jordan Peele’s thriller Nope, which was shot at two

ranches, located on the border of Santa Clarita and Agua Dulce. A hugely ambitious production, Nope involved the construction of a three-storey ranch house and a theme park, which was later taken down and rebuilt at Universal Studios. Describing the flm, Peele says a core underlying theme of the story is the human addiction to spectacle: “Nope stands apart from my other flms in that it’s a bigger adventure than I’ve ever tried to tell. From a flmmaking perspective, it is by far my most ambitious. I purposely wrote something without any regard to how possible it was. Thankfully my director of photography Hoyte van Hoytema responded positively to the script and its challenges.”

Such is the surge in production that Santa Clarita is not the only spot in the LA vicinity that is enjoying a production boom. Antelope Valley and Palmdale have become busier since the creation of a secondary studio zone in 2015 — which efectively extends the Thirty Mile Zone by 10 miles. Recent visitors include TV series The Rookie and Westworld and feature flms The Forever Purge, Fall and Mile 19. Among popular haunts is the Four Aces Movie Ranch, which ofers an eerie roadside diner and gas station. In the case of Fall, a vertiginous movie about two young female mountaineers stuck up a remote telecoms tower, the production team also utilised striking locations out in the Mojave Desert.

Location manager Mandi Dillin says: “I'm getting more calls than usual about smaller ranches in the outskirts of LA and Ventura counties. People seem to be educated about the tax credit awarding points for work outside of the Thirty Mile Zone. I know that producers are motivated to work outside of the Thirty Mile Zone because of the tax credit. It opens up more location flming options.”

On another positive note, she says: “I'm waiting for the National Park Service to break ground on rebuilding Paramount Ranch, destroyed in the 2018 Woolsey fre. Rebuilding one of our prized Western Towns will bring another asset back to the flm community. I often get calls about standing Western Towns.”

Alongside Santa Clarita, Simi Valley has also become a key flming hub, hosting TV series including Westworld and Bosch Legacy, and breakout movie Everything Everywhere All at Once. Starring Michelle Yeoh the latter based most of its tightly budgeted 38-day shoot in Simi Valley. The flm then went onto secure a host of Oscars at 2023's Academy Awards.

In a sense, the flm is a good illustration of how California’s tax credit can nurture career development. The movie was

gardens, architecture, statuary | 20 minutes from downtown Los Angeles

created by filmmaking duo Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who received a tax credit for both this project and their previous production Swiss Army Man. Off the back of Everything Everywhere All at Once, they have signed a five-year partnership with Universal.

Simi Valley also hosted Damien Chazelle’s Babylon — a lavish homage to the 1920s silent era. Blue Sky Movie Ranch hosted a major sequence where director Jack Conrad (Brad Pitt) oversees the chaotic ‘cast of thousands’ shoot of a movie epic.

Like Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, Chazelle’s Babylon doesn't just showcase California’s wide array of location options; it also illustrates how talented the state’s craft base is when it comes to recreating lost eras on screen. Babylon production designer Florencia Martin says: “With its sound stages, 900-person battlefield and six high-end homes, Babylon is at the scale of the mythical movies of the past.”

Chazelle told Martin he wanted the film to look as historically accurate as possible — but he acknowledges that this was a major design challenge. “Florencia had this insane challenge. Not only did her team have to create the Los Angeles of its time, but within that she also had to recreate each movie studio experience and within that each of the fictional movie sets. So we were looking at sets within sets within sets. An empty field was used as basis for building an outdoor silent movie studio with six or seven sets running at all times. It was extraordinary.”

Location manager Chris Baugh had the good fortune to work on both Babylon and Don't Worry Darling. Underlining the way in which California filmmakers continue to push back boundaries, he says: “It was exhilarating. I’ve been a location manager for 30 years but the logistical scope of these films was beyond anything I’ve done. These films really pushed me to the limit.”

The scale of Babylon was one of the biggest challenges, he says: “It was a 180-page script set in period LA, with 70 locations, 300 crew and 500-1,000 extras. A key issue we had was shooting in remote locations during summer with COVID protocols.”

Shifting focus away from LA, San Francisco is another key filming hub. Some 380 miles north of LA, the city offers beautiful, distinctive architecture and access to the geographically splendid Bay Area.

“San Francisco is one of the most cinematic cities in the world,” says Manijeh Fata, executive director of the San Francisco Film Commission. “Between the architecture, hills and coastline, the city has a look that can’t be replicated. I often say that it’s like a character in the story, it’s always trying to steal the close-up.”

At the same time, however, the city has a surprising capacity to double. “Movies like Hemingway & Gelhorn demonstrate the city’s ability to stand in for other cities around the world.”

The location is supported by a talented crew-base and the city’s film-friendly approach to production: “I’ve worked here for eight years,” Fata says, “and there’s a real desire within the city to make things happen for producers. That can be anything from important statement pieces like The Last Black Man in San Francisco through to logistically complex blockbusters like The Matrix Resurrections. That project involved shutting down the financial district for several weekends in succession, and shooting incredibly intense scenes. But all the city’s stakeholders and the community came together to make it work — because we recognise how important filming is to the local economy.”

Fata herself has only recently taken up her post, replacing the long-serving Susannah Robbins. Her appointment was

Daniel Kaluuya as OJ Haywood in Jordan Peele’s Nope, which shot at two ranches on the border of Santa Clarita and Agua Dulce.

Photo: Universal Pictures

widely welcomed by stakeholders and creatives: “In many ways, our film was a love letter to San Francisco,” says Khaliah Neal, producer for The Last Black Man in San Francisco. “It was always key to our creativity that we filmed there and Manijeh was instrumental and pivotal in making this a reality for us.”

Filming was affected by COVID-19 but is now starting to recover, Fata says. “The year 2022 saw a lot of indie films and TV series including Blindspotting season two. The big news in 2023 is the arrival of The Thomas Crown Affair and it looks like autumn will be busy.”

A key agenda for the city is to encourage productions to stay for longer. One way of achieving this is San Francisco’s local $600,000 incentive, which can be used in conjunction with the state tax credit. Running since 2006, qualifying productions can use the money to offset fees that pay to city agencies. The real gamechanger, however, would be a studio in the city: “We are talking to partners about developing a state-of-the-art facility,” Fata says. “Having sound stages and office space here would give producers a base and allow them to stay for longer.”

Further infrastructure development around San Francisco would also make it easier to access adjacent counties like Solano, Marin, Sonoma and San Mateo. All of these are blessed with their own unique locations, but also have the ability to play ‘anytown America’ — as illustrated in the popular Netflix series Thirteen Reasons Why, which shot in Solano and Marin.

Logistics dictate that most film and TV production is based near California’s urban hubs, but set off on a road trip and it soon becomes obvious why location mangers rarely have

to step out of the state in search of elusive money shots. For spectacular coastline there is Monterey while for majestic Redwoods filmmakers can head up to Humboldt and Del Norte counties in the North. Across the state, location managers can find a range of architectural styles for both doubling and recreating anytown America.

The Mojave Desert is just three hours from LA — as are the sumptuous agricultural landscapes of Kern county.

Blockbuster movie Top Gun: Maverick provided a picturepostcard summary of the state, ranging between oceans, mountains and forest. Lake Tahoe, up in the northern reaches of the state, was the backdrop to the film’s thrilling snowcovered climax.

Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling secured a tax credit for filming outside the Thirty Mile Zone — with Palm Springs a key location. One of the most intriguing tasks, says location manager Chris Baugh, was “finding wide-open landscapes and unusual geographic formations”, with one of the key sequences involving a dramatic car chase across a desert. Equally memorable to audiences, perhaps, was the exquisite and unusual array of mid-20th century architecture on show. Scenes set around the iconic Kaufman House, Canyon View Estates and Barstow County’s Volcano House were especially memorable.

Typifying the options available in California is San Luis Obispo County (SLO), three hours north of LA. Visit SLO CAL communications manager Eric Parker says the county is home to “3,600 square miles of varied terrain: beautiful beaches, lush

Bosch Legacy visited Santa Clarita and Simi Valley

vineyards, rolling hills, picturesque landscapes, rural barns, swinging western saloons and flat lands. SLO CAL’s most popular film location, the Oceano Dunes, give off the feeling of being in the middle east or Sahara Desert, perfect for previous shoots with Nick Jonas, Beyonce and Rihanna, in addition to scenes from Pirates of the Caribbean. Filmmakers also like the fact that we typically get around 315 days of sunshine per year.”

Recent projects have included NBC’s This Is Us, which filmed its season finale in Paso Robles at Allegretto Vineyard & Resort and CaliPaso off Highway 46. In addition, “a plethora of cars have been filmed for commercials, both along Highway 1 and inside the Oceano Dunes,” Parker says, including Honda, Ford, Buick, Jeep and Toyota. “Film scouts are always on the hunt for the most idyllic rugged and rural spot to shoot their product, and SLO CAL offers the variety they are looking for.”

Identifying the right location in California is made easier by FLICS, an association of 40+ film commissions and offices that are based across the state: “We’re very collaborative,” says FLICS president Sabrina Jurisich, “because we know that the absolute priority for all of us is keeping production in California. Between us we can help producers find the right location and then tell them what infrastructure is in place to support them.”

As for her day job, Jurisich is head of the Upstate Film Commission, a body that facilitates filming across Shasta County, Tehama County and Yuba-Sutter Counties. “I was originally head of Shasta County film commission, but it became clear that there were advantages in offering producers a point of contact and support for neighbouring counties which didn't have such a formal infrastructure for filming. We all benefit economically if we can provide producers with more options and availability.”

North of state capital Sacramento, Jurisich’s enlarged jurisdiction offers iconic landmarks including the Sundial Bridge, national parks, access to a local air force base, ranches, rodeo grounds and a range of distinctive small- to mid-sized

towns. “We had a great year in 2022,” says Jurisich, “with 41 projects across film, commercials, music video and student productions. That generated $4.1m in local economic impact which is a record.”

The big highlight of the year was the arrival of feature film The Dresden Sun, starring Christina Ricci. A hi-tech heist, Jurisich says: “It’s the biggest project we’ve had here in a long time and it was based primarily in Shasta County. There were 23 locations — a lot of which were very public — like the city hall and civic centre. That really reflects how film-friendly the Upstate region is.”

The level of production in Upstate is perhaps surprising when you realise that none of it came with state tax credits. “I think that tells you how cost-effective it can be to shoot here,” Jurisich says. “Our hotels, crews and location fees are competitive and we now have low-cost direct flights from Burbank into Redding. When you add in our own regional incentive ($25,000) and the infrastructure we’ve built here, then you can see why shooting in California isn't just about the state incentive.”

Looking ahead, the CFC’s Bell says there is a key change coming in tax credit programme 4.0 that she expects will boost its efficacy. Referring to it as “refundability”, she says it is a relaxing of criteria relating to tax liabilities that will make it possible for more companies to participate in the scheme. In simple terms, this means that several major studios that are currently unable to utilise the tax credit will be able to do so from 2025.

Don’t Worry Darling spent 19 days in Barstow and Riverside Counties, generating $2.1m in local spend. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures

WE KNOW THAT THE ABSOLUTE PRIORITY FOR ALL OF US IS KEEPING PRODUCTION IN CALIFORNIA

SABRINA JURISICH

30-35% REFUNDABLE

COME SEE WHAT SOUTHERN KENTUCKY HAS TO OFFER!

Our region offers a wide array of location options and opportunities. We are home to one of the most diverse rivers in North America, the longest cave system in the world, the famous Corvette, one of the nation’s oldest race car tracks, Civil War battlefields, historic neighborhoods, miles of scenic farmland, large manufacturers, small cottage industries and so much more. It’s not surprising that we are one of the fastest growing tourist regions in the state. But it’s our friendliness and southern hospitality that brings people back again and again. As the Southern Kentucky Film Commission, we are here to make the business of film making easier. Whether your next production is a feature film, television series, commercial or music video, our office serves as your liaison with the local communities. We’ll help you make connections and find the services and resources needed to make your project a success. Come discover for yourself why we’re the perfect region for your production.

‘This is as good as we can make it’

SURVIVING EARTH IS BEING BILLED AS ONE OF THE MOST AMBITIOUS, CINEMATIC AND DRAMATIC HIGH-CONCEPT SERIES TO DATE, VISITING EIGHT MASS-EXTINCTION MOMENTS THROUGHOUT THE EARTH’S HISTORY TO SEE WHAT THE PLANET’S PAST CAN TELL US ABOUT ITS FUTURE.

JULIAN NEWBY SPOKE TO SHOWRUNNER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR TIM HAINES

natural-history programme that you’ve ever seen, full of animals that you’ve never seen before and incidents that you won’t have experienced”.

The aim of each show is to go back to a moment in history when there was a mass extinction and to try to understand and explain the reasons for that. “Often these things take place over thousands of years, but we use the lives of individual creatures as a sort of parable for what’s going on. Natural history works well when it’s got a really good story — people like stories, they like to buy-in to subjects with good stories. In our case we can create those stories; everything that we want to happen can happen, unlike natural history where you have to wait for the animal to turn up — in our case it turns up on time.”

And a good story can help viewers to forget that — locations aside — what they’re looking at isn’t real. “No matter how beautifully you make it, people know that they’re looking at CGI. But we want them to immerse themselves in it and the way we do that is to produce a story and then emotionally engage them with it, so half-way through you realise that you’re rooting for a tiny little armoured fsh with a funny expression.” He adds: “Buried in all of that is a huge story about how the relationship between life and Earth works, and that’s what concerns everyone nowadays. Everyone is asking questions about the efects of mankind, and ‘Are we going through mass extinction?’ So we look back and say, OK, what is a mass extinction and how does life cope with it?”

SURVIVING EARTH is a coproduction between Tim Haines’ UK-based Loud Minds and Universal Television Alternative Studio and will blend location filming at 12 destinations around the world — starting with New Caledonia in the South Pacifc — with CGI, to tell the dramatic stories of extraordinary creatures trying to survive against all odds. VFX studio Milk is creating the spectacular digital environments, landscapes and creatures that will bring the series to life, while crews go out to fnd and flm locations closest to how they were thousands or even millions of years ago. From the ‘Great Dying’ 252 million years ago, when the world overheated and 95% of life died out, to a massive food just 12,000 years ago, which plunged the planet back into an ice age, every episode will immerse viewers in a specific moment in the

Earth’s history and recreate the drama of a specifc mass-extinction event. Haines is the man behind previous hits Walking with Dinosaurs and Primeval, and he says that Surviving Earth goes beyond what those series achieved.

“I’ve made these types of shows before where you’re recreating the past and using CGI to make it look as real as possible in a photo-real, not hyper-real way. And actually a lot of things have shifted since I last visited this, which made it a really compelling proposition,” Haines says. “The CGI had improved no end, the amount of money people are prepared to pay, because of the advent of streamers, meant you could get better quality and indeed, what scientists knew had changed. The ambition of naturalhistory flmmakers had changed, so the whole thing meant that you could tell this story in a way people hadn’t seen before.”

Haines says Surviving Earth will be like “diving in to the most spectacular

But Haines stresses that this is not a Hollywood movie; it’s not science fction: “We haven’t said ‘Let’s give it really angry eyes to make it into a baddie!’ We’re trying to recreate the creatures as they were. That’s the bedrock of the storytelling.”

And to do that there can be between 20-30 scientists working on one show. “Because scientists specialise. If you want to talk about a carboniferous coal forest there’ll be an expert on the lycopsid trees; and there’ll also be an expert on the amphibians, or one type of amphibian. And you need to chase them all down and essentially fnd out about what the latest thinking on each creature is. You work with a paleo artist for each creature and they get approved by the scientists, who all agree that that’s what we think it is.” He adds: “The promise to the audience is that this is as good as we can make it. So we take all the research really seriously.”

Part of keeping that promise is to shoot in the right locations. “The point about photo-real is that we want people to feel

they’re looking at something that is real. If you go into a studio and basically build a digital environment, or if you make the whole thing in Unreal Engine, the audience just peels of. They think game, they think cartoon, no matter how good your animation is. However if you are looking at a huge shot of a forest, which is a real forest, and in the middle is a little creature smiling at you, you believe that that creature is real — and it’s a big diference to the way people perceive what they are watching. They’re not aware of the diference between hyper-real and photo-real, but innately they understand it. It’s a bit like the diference between flm and tape — tape came from news and flm came from films — people look at tape and think, that looks a bit cheap, and they don’t know why.”

So the choice of locations is crucial for the truthful telling of these stories. “We have a very particular brief, which is to try and fnd places where the plants concerned are old enough — not the individual plant, the species,” Haines says. “The further back we go, the more difcult that gets. We’ve had to admit defeat

with one time period — the coal forest — because none of those things exist anymore. The giant horsetails that now grow in a scrubby part of a garden, used to be 30 metres high and we can’t fnd them, they don’t exist. In that case we had to build a set and digitally extend, but that’s the only one.”

In another episode the crew shot in a part of Iceland where nothing lived on the land. “In parts of Iceland there are mossy rocks, fields of rock with no vascular plants, just low mosses and that’s quite a good analogy for life’s frst steps onto the land. So Iceland is good for the very earliest times.”

Surviving Earth even revisits one of the locations that featured in Walking

with Dinosaurs: “New Caledonia in the Pacifc. It has just the most bizarre vegetation. It’s a French dependency and they’ve done a lot of mining there, heavy metals from the ocean floor,” Haines says. “Not many plants can adapt to that, there’s hardly any grass. Yet it has 12 of the 14 species of araucaria in the world, so it has all these diferent species of ancient conifers. We went to a particular place on top of a mountain where you have these bizarre tall, thin trees with lichen on the ground and ferns and red soil, and it is just like nothing you have seen before. That works really well when we’re stretching back 270 million years ago. Most of those plants as a family are accurate.”

All flm crews — fact or fction — have to tread carefully on location and often try to leave the place better than they found it. That happens regularly in fction flms where buildings have to be restored or repaired to make them flmworthy.

And up to a point the same applies to natural history: “Funnily enough years ago in America there was a really unpleasant confrontation with a man with a gun, but that was only because they were terribly protective of that particular environment and he didn’t know what we were doing,” Haines says. “But mostly, as in New Caledonia, they were happy I came back because actually they were quite proud of what they have and this is what the programme celebrates really, the uniqueness of the environment. Most places that people protect, they are equally proud of and if you are not going there to chop it down or dig holes or pull up plants, then they’re quite happy.”

Surviving Earth will be delivered at the end of 2024 and plans at the moment are for it to be premiered on NBC and then move to Peacock.

New Caledonia has 12 of the 14 species of araucaria in the world

WE HAVEN’T SAID ‘LET’S GIVE IT REALLY ANGRY EYES TO MAKE IT INTO A BADDIE!'

TIM HAINES

Filming the past in New Caledonia

2023’s Empire of Light, shot in the Kent coast resort of Margate

BRITAIN IS BOOMING

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS AND STREAMING DRAMAS HAVE BROUGHT RECORD INVESTMENT TO THE UK WITH ALL THE NATIONS AND REGIONS FEELING THE BENEFIT. CLIVE BULL REPORTS

BACK IN 2019, just prior to the COVID hiatus that led to studios falling silent across the globe, UK flm and TV production had hit new heights. It was a record-breaking year and then, suddenly, it all stopped as the industry grappled with the impact of the pandemic and established new protocols. But the downtime proved shortlived as production soon fred up again, in part driven by the pent-up demand for high-end TV from a growing number of streamers. And if 2021 was the bounce-back year for the UK, 2022 —according to the latest ofcial fgures — has been an extraordinary one. The BFI puts combined spend on flm and high-end TV for the year at £6.27bn — the highest ever reported — surpassing the pre-pandemic peak by £1.83bn.

The majority of the spend on flm production was inward investment. US-studio-backed flms included Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey17; the frst part of the flm adaptation of the musical Wicked ; the latest from the Fast & Furious franchise, Fast X; the Jason Statham thriller The Beekeeper; Alex Garland’s Civil War; Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two; and Magic Mike’s Last Dance.

High-end TV accounted for £4.29bn with productions including The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power season two; House of The Dragon season two; Good Grief, from Schitt’s Creek creator Dan Levy; Apple TV’s Slow Horses season two; Netfix’s Treason, Bridgerton and season six of The Crown; period drama The Buccaneers; The Woman in the Wall; Top Boy, season fve; and Paramount+’s The Flatshare.

“It’s the biggest transformation I've ever seen in the industry,” says Adrian Wootton, chief executive of the British Film Commission and Film London. “I can remember back to

1985 and tumbleweed blowing through our studios. Everybody desperately trying to get people back in the cinema, trying to get people to come and shoot here and it's almost like a diferent world we're looking at over that 40-year period. But particularly since the 2007 flm tax credit and the increase to the tax credit in 2013, the growth cycle has just kept going up and up and up.”

That has led, Wootton says, to a new wave of investment in infrastructure. In London and the South East there has been an unprecedented increase in studio space which includes: the expansion of the iconic Shepperton Studios to provide approximately one million sq ft (93,000 sq m) of new production accommodation, thanks to a long-term deal with Netfix; the recently opened Wharf Studios in London suburbs Barking and Dagenham and the nearby Eastbrook Studios development — a 22-acre site with 12 sound stages; Shinfeld Studios in Reading, west of London, a new production hub that will eventually comprise 18 purpose built sound stages; Hollywood’s Sunset Studios £700m ($863m) project at Waltham Cross, north of London; and the £6m upgrade to Three Mills Studios in East London.

The capital itself is also proving a hugely popular backdrop for high-end TV dramas. Wootton cites “massively exciting television series like the Apple show Slow Horses which has got London absolutely in its DNA and is shooting in almost every part of London; and Bridgerton — period but, using that sort of alternative-version reality”.

Independent British flms are also choosing London as a setting. “The new flm Rye Lane is just fabulous. A kind of independent rom-com, backed by the BFI and the BBC, set in and around Brixton (south London), and it's like a visual love poem to London. So, flmmakers are clearly recognising that

Felicity Jones in the Sky original action thriller Borderland

Photo: Mark Mainz/Sky

Top image: Loch Leven, Kinlochleven. Middle image: John Street, Glasgow. Bottom image: Ardverikie Estate (photo by Emma Woodcock).

we have this vibrant, shifting, changing backdrop. We have the history, we have all of that in London, but there's also the contemporaneity. London's always evolving, always changing.”

But the increased investment and studio developments stretch much further than the capital. “We have now got not one, not two, but seven diferent production clusters around the UK, with infrastructure and the crew base also expanding. The expansion across not just London and the South East, but across the whole of the UK nations and regions, has been remarkable,” he says.

In Liverpool, the opening of The Depot, comprising two new purpose-built studios, has had a very positive impact on production in the area, according to Lynn Saunders, head of Liverpool Film Ofce. Paramount+ hired both units on a long lease for Sexy Beast. “In 2021 and 2022 in excess of £21m of inward investment was attracted into the Liverpool City Region and we expect 2023 to be higher still,” Saunders says. The Batman was the frst feature flm in the world to flm on location after COVID, bringing its 500 crew and 600 extras to Liverpool. “From then onwards the amount of high-end content hasn’t stopped. We have housed amazing dramas such as The Responder, The Ipcress File, The Tower (series one and two), Funny Woman, Maternal and Sexy Beast.”

One of the attractions of Liverpool is its ability to double for other cities around the globe. It has more recently stepped in for London (Sexy Beast, Cobra, Peaky Blinders, The Tower); New York (Fantastic Beasts, Florence Foster Jenkins, Captain America); Washington (The Crown); Philadelphia (Outlander); and Moscow (Jack Ryan).

It has been a similar story in Scotland where the postCOVID bounce-back has led to some of the busiest production levels in the country’s flming history, with a backlog of projects waiting to be made, new projects being commissioned and

THE EXPANSION ACROSS NOT JUST LONDON AND THE SOUTH EAST, BUT ACROSS THE WHOLE OF THE UK NATIONS AND REGIONS, HAS BEEN REMARKABLE

ADRIAN WOOTTON

returning series being recommissioned.

“The diversity of projects shooting in Scotland’s studios and built space over the last year have been game-changers for the industry here,” head of Screen Commission at Screen Scotland, Cheryl Conway, says.

“Prime Video choosing Scotland as a base for three productions, Good Omens two, which shot at the Pyramids in Bathgate, and The Rig and Anansi Boys, which shot in Leith’s FirstStage Studios, has meant that Scotland has been busier than ever with production,” she says.

This is also supported by Scotland’s fagship series Outlander recently completing its seventh series in Wardpark Studios in Cumbernauld. BBC Studioworks has had great success with the launch of Kelvinhall Studio in Glasgow where several unscripted shows have flmed, as well as the building being used by Channel 4 prison drama Screw for their prison set. Further north to the islands, Gaelic series An Clò Mòre flmed in the re-opened Alba studio on the Isle of Lewis. Also shooting in Glasgow and Edinburgh was the Sky Original action thriller Borderland.

“This year is looking extremely busy again with both returning series Screw, Outlander and the recently confrmed The Rig, and new projects which shoot from now onwards such

Sam Heughan and Caitríona Balfe as Jamie and Claire in Sony Pictures Televisions’ Outlander

as BBC and Euston Films’ Nightsleeper shooting in Glasgow,” Conway says.

Jennifer Reynolds, film commissioner, Glasgow Film Office says enquiries over the past 12 months have been dominated by high-end TV, with Glasgow playing itself in some instances — for example the BBC’s Mayflies — but often representing another city. “A lot of times they are looking to replicate London and we are one single local authority which makes it a lot simpler than filming in London itself. Also, having a production-friendly approach, the local authority knows the ins and outs of filming and so the department that deals with requests from visiting productions have experienced staff there. We know what’s expected and we can work together,” Reynolds says.

The locations that have been most popular recently have been the main thoroughfares through the city; the grid system of the streets helps with filming because it allows for diversions to be planned quite easily — and the grid system is a bonus if you are doubling for an American city.

The international HBO hit Game of Thrones was caught by the first wave of the streaming boom and was crucial to the growth of Northern Ireland’s film industry, with the series based at Belfast’s Titanic Studios. The prequel House of the Dragon’s main HQ is at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in Watford, north of London, where the interior sets were constructed, and where a ground-breaking LED screen was

used to add real-time backgrounds to scenes. A number of location shoots took place across England including at Cornwall’s Holywell Bay in the southwest — a huge sweeping sandy beach, that was also a setting for BBC’s period drama Poldark.

Despite the departure of Game of Thrones, Titanic Studios remains in demand and is booked out untill Spring 2024, as is Belfast Harbour Studios, according to Andrew Reid, chief content officer at Northern Ireland Screen.

“It could be argued that Northern Ireland started the boom in high-end television in the UK,” Reid says. “We brought Game of Thrones to Northern Ireland years before the [2013] tax credit existed. We wrote the case study that [then Prime Minister David] Cameron used to bring in tax credits for high-end TV. We incentivised at our own cost with HBO for several seasons on Game of Thrones and made the case of how tax credits could benefit other areas of the UK.”

2023's Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, starring Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez, was shot entirely in Northern Ireland, taking advantage of the wide range of forests, beaches and castles.

Also shooting in Northern Ireland is the forthcoming Four Letters of Love starring Pierce Brosnan, Helena Bonham Carter and Gabriel Byrne. TV dramas filming in Northern Ireland include The Woman in the Wall (BBC/Showtime); Dalgliesh season two (All3Media); and season two of World on Fire

Universal’s Ticket to Paradise, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, lmed at Queensland’s Airlie Beach

(Mammoth Screen). Northern Ireland will also host Blade Runner 2099, Amazon Studios’ sequel to the cult sci-f classic. So why are flmmakers choosing Northern Ireland? “I suppose our USP is that was we ofer a wide range of locations, but in a very, very accessible and small area,” Reid says. “So we are 5,196 square miles in Northern Ireland, which is actually slightly smaller than the area of Greater Los Angeles. But we have some 10% of the population. Just about 1.8 million people in Northern Ireland and great road infrastructure. So you can be inside on stage in the morning and up a mountain in the afternoon. Or the other way around: you can be in a forest in the morning and on stage in the afternoon. It's just it's easy to get around — the down time is minimal.”

In the south of England it has also been a busy period for the Kent Film Ofce, with a particular focus on the south coast seaside town of Margate. Empire of Light, starring Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Colin Firth and Toby Jones is almost entirely flmed in Margate. After seeing the art-deco Dreamland cinema, director Sam Mendes chose the town as the flm’s lead location and dressed the building as the Empire Cinema. The amusement park and roller disco also make an appearance. Thanks to the availability of an empty lot nearby, a sound stage was erected with interiors facing the beach. “It was lucky that right next door was an empty lot where they could build the stage,” Kent flm ofcer Gabrielle Lindemann says. “It was quite spectacular. You have the seafront there and then the rest of the cinema literally 30 yards away or two houses down. So the view that you get is almost identical.”

While Empire of Light showed the faded elegance of an 80s seaside town, Dreamland (Sky Studios) takes a totally diferent approach. Based on Sharon Horgan’s 2018 BAFTA-awardwinning short of the same name, the six-episode comedy stars

Freema Agyeman and Lily Allen.

“It couldn't be any more diferent,” Lindemann says, noting that one town can provide such contrast. “It’s very brash and very bright. Both in the same location, but being very diferent in feel and in look and in content. Margate is not just the faded

seaside town, it's also something that's very modern.”

The Dreamland amusement park also makes an appearance in the detective series Whitstable Pearl (Acorn TV) based on the much-loved series of novels The Whitstable Pearl Mysteries by Kent resident Julie Wassmer and starring British actorcomedian Kerry Godliman. The series is almost exclusively shot in Kent with locations including Whitstable itself, Canterbury, Faversham, Herne Bay, Margate, Ramsgate, Detling, Dover, Sevenoaks and Rochester.

Forthcoming eight-episode Amazon Prime Video drama, My Lady Jane, was recently shooting in the medieval Dover Castle, which overlooks the southern cross-channel port and which Lindemann says is a popular choice of location. “Dover Castle, and the keep in the centre, always gets used for the Tower of London, so there's a lot of beheading going on,” she says.

Known for hundreds of years as the garden of England, productions are attracted to Kent because of its proximity to London and its combination of varied coastline, historic buildings and its rolling countryside. “The only thing we haven’t got is mountains and skyscrapers,” Lindemann says.

Wales has welcomed a number of high-end projects including the Disney+ series Willow, a television follow-up to the original movie which showcases picturesque Welsh villages, medieval ruins and one of the world’s longest stretches of beach. World Production’s true crime drama Delia Balmer has also been shooting in Wales, along with historical fantasy series The Winter King; season four of Netfix’s Sex Education; and season three of His Dark Materials

“DOVER CASTLE ALWAYS GETS USED FOR THE TOWER OF LONDON, SO THERE'S A LOT OF BEHEADING GOING ON”

GABRIELLE LINDEMANN

Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen in House of the Dragon

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

SELLING THE SOUTH

THE REMIT OF THE LATIN AMERICAN FILM COMMISSION NETWORK RUNS FROM MEXICO VIA CENTRAL AMERICA DOWN TO ARGENTINA AND CHILE IN THE SOUTH. IT RECENTLY ESTABLISHED A BASE IN CALIFORNIA TO BETTER SELL THE REGION TO THE WORLD. ANDY FRY SPOKE TO COSTA RICA FILM COMMISSIONER AND LAFCN VICE-PRESIDENT JOSE CASTRO

The salt plains of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, a location for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Photo : Luca Galuzzi

LATIN America and the Caribbean have always been recognised as home to an array of unrivalled tourist destinations. But as the global production business gets back to normal after COVID-19, local film commissions are keen to reinforce the appeal of the region as a perfectly-equipped place to shoot movies, TV series and commercials.

“This region has it all,” says Jose Castro, Costa Rica film commissioner and vice-president of the Latin American Film Commission Network (LAFCN) — a group of 13 film commissions that is seeking to promote the many benefits of the region as a collective. “Many people know Latin America and the Caribbean for its spectacular locations and diverse architecture, but the region is also home to a highly creative and dynamic production industry. Right across the region, you can find amazing crews, great studios and all the infrastructure needed for a successful shoot.”

The LAFCN was formed in 2010, but has really upped its game in the last few years — with Castro moving from his native Costa Rica to California to pitch the region to producers. Explaining the rationale for the LAFCN, he says: “It allows us to speak with a unified voice, acting as a first point of contact for anyone wanting to film in the region but not sure where to begin. It is also a way for us to support each other — improving and developing our skills so we are able to receive the best projects.”

Drilling down into the specific advantages of shooting in the region, Castro says: “It starts with the geographic locations. One message we want to get out there is that North American producers don’t need to fly around the world for deserts, forests, rivers, waterfalls, coastlines, mountains and glaciers — because they are all here.”

High-profile examples of movies that have used locations in the region over the years, have included the Atacama Desert in Chile (Quantum of Solace), the Iguazu Falls in Argentina (Black Panther) and the salt plains of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia (Star Wars: The Last Jedi). The hugely successful Pirates of the Caribbean franchise also made excellent use of exotic locations including the Dominican Republic, St Vincent and the Grenadines. “Our locations are perfect for recreating imaginary worlds,” Castro says, “but they are also great for doubling. If you need to replicate the Middle East, Hawaii or Vietnam, we have those locations here. And it’s easy to fly around within the wider region, if your production is looking to achieve a number of different locations.”

At the same time, Castro says, the region offers diversity: “Our footprint extends from Mexico via Central America all the way to Argentina and Chile in the South. Within this mix are the many islands that make up the Caribbean. Across these areas you can get different styles of architecture, diverse communities and various climate zones — including the tropics. The LAFCN also stretches across the North and South Hemisphere, which provides options depending on the production’s time of year.”

As for production infrastructure, titles like Narcos and Roma demonstrate the consummate skills of regional crews and talent. A major vote of confidence saw Netflix open an office in Bogota, Colombia in 2021 — with plans to spend $175m locally. “Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina and Chile all have very developed industries,” Castro says, “but beyond these you’ll find a real depth of local expertise. In my own country, Costa Rica, we have 16 universities training people to work in this industry. You’ll find a similar commitment in fast-growing hubs like the Dominican Republic, which has a 25% filming incentive and a state-of-the art studio, including water tanks.”

Castro says the LAFCN membership is not prescriptive about the work that comes to the region, noting all categories have their benefits. “Blockbuster movies offer a huge budget in a short time, but series are good because they improve the industry and provide work over an extended period. Commercials have also been a very lucrative area. And in Central America we have seen some great examples of reality series which shoot across borders, showcasing our ability to collaborate.”

He says one of the key benefits of having a centralised body like the LAFCN is that “we can keep producers informed of any changes in tax incentives and help them understand filming requirements at a local level. Every country in the region has a different way of structuring its film commission network, so we can act as a gateway — helping with introductions to the key people on the ground. In turn, these people can facilitate permits and advise on local production services partners.”

On the subject of incentives, Castro says several jurisdictions across the region have introduced measures to encourage production. “A good example is the Brazilian city of Sao Paolo which offers 20-30% cash rebates for productions on eligible expenditures. Colombia has a very attractive 40% rebate while Costa Rica recently enacted a law that will create a range of incentives for producers.”

Other countries that have made serious moves to attract production include Chile with its 30% tax rebate and Panama, which upped its incentive to 25% in 2021. To date, the Central American nation famous for its shipping canal has hit the headlines by hosting DC movie franchise Suicide Squad and Netflix hit series La Casa de Papel (Money Heist). The latter filmed on the beautiful Guna Yala islands during season three. Panama has now announced plans for a studio complex near capital Panama City. Uruguay is also pulling out all the stops to support production — introducing a 25% incentive. Recent credits include Netflix movie Conquest, starring Keanu Reeves; Amazon Prime’s Yosi, The Regretful Spy; and HBO series Amsterdam.

Another country which could be about to experience a seachange in its production work is Peru, which recently hosted Paramount’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The film, which shot extensively around Cusco and Machu Picchu, is reckoned to have generated more than $10m for the local economy — and led to a relaxation in customs rules that may pave the way for further high-profile productions.

All of this is creating a buzz around the region, which the LAFCN is keen to embrace: “We have just agreed our first-ever legal constitution, which will make it easier for us to build relationships with production partners,” Castro says. “We have also appointed six members to our board that are representative of the entire region — two from Central America, two from the Caribbean and two from South America. It’s an important part of our mission to make sure we are representing everyone. We want to draw attention to the region as a whole, so that our countries, states and cities all have an opportunity to benefit from the current boom in production.”

IF YOU NEED TO REPLICATE THE MIDDLE EAST, HAWAII OR VIETNAM, WE HAVE THOSE LOCATIONS HERE

JOSE CASTRO

PORTFOLIO

LOCATION IN PICTURES

LOCATION INTERNATIONAL HAS TEAMED UP WITH FILM COMMISSIONS, LOCATION SCOUTS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS TO BRING IMAGES OF STUNNING LOCATIONS AROUND THE WORLD. SOME ARE WELL-TRODDEN BY FILM CREWS, OTHERS ARE STILL TO BE MADE FAMOUS ON THE BIG AND SMALL SCREEN

THE HUDSON-ATHENS LIGHTHOUSE, HUDSON RIVER, NEW YORK, US

Of the dozens of lighthouses that could once be found on the shores of the Hudson River, only seven remain. The Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor is the eighth, at the mouth of the river. The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse, which is also known as the Hudson City Light, lies between the city of Hudson and the town of Athens on opposing banks. The area is lm-friendly, with competitive prices and numerous under-used locations.

A famous studio lm to shoot in Hudson was Nobody's Fool (1994), with Paul Newman. In Athens the most well-known shoot was for War of the Worlds (2005). Recent lms and TV shows that shot in the Hudson Valley include: A Quiet Place (2020); HBO's I Know This Much Is True (2020); and the upcoming White House Plumbers (2023).

THE RIVER NERVION, PORT OF BILBAO, SPAIN

The River Nervión runs through Bilbao on its course to the Bay of Biscay in northern Spain. This spot in Erandio, a town on the river north of Bilbao, is between the historic Vizcaya Bridge 4.5 km away, built in 1893 and declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, and the Guggenheim Museum, 6 km in the other direction, a symbol of the modernity of Bilbao. On the left bank are the historic shipyards and the right bank features the architecture of a modern city.

This river has been a location for many productions over the years, including: short movie La Caída del Vencejo (2021); and music video Soldadito Marinero (2004) by Fito & Fitipaldis.

LAKE CLEMENTINE STATE PARK, PLACER COUNTY, CALIFORNIA, US

Lake Clementine is a reservoir in the North Fork American River Canyon. Also known as North Fork Lake, it stands above the town of Auburn, which dates back to the Gold-Rush era. The central feature of this location in northern California is the iconic dam and the dramatic steep landscape which includes many trails around the lake. Close by is a boat-in, boat-out campsite. As this is a state park permitting is easy.

A variety of car and clothing commercials have lmed here, and movies shot in Placer County include: The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (2000); and Almost Famous (2000).

PHOTO, COURTESY ERIK BERGEN, PLACER COUNTY

PHOTO, COURTESY BILBAO BIZKAIA FILM COMMISSION.

GERGETI TRINITY CHURCH, KAZBEGI, GEORGIA

Located on a mountain above the village of Stepantsminda in the Daryal Gorge, Gergeti Trinity Church stands at over 2,000 metres, against the backdrop of Mount Kazbek. Begun in the 14th century, the church and separate bell tower can now be accessed by road. Georgia is known for the Caucasus Mountains, Black Sea coast, ancient Orthodox mountain churches and Soviet-era architecture. Possible locations include corn and wheat felds, tea plantations and vineyards. Industrial locations include manganese, copper and gold mines, as well as steel mills.

Films shot in Georgia include: Tangerines (2013); Tbilisi, I Love You (2014); The Amazing Race 28 (2016); My Happy Family (2017); And Then We Danced (2019); and Fast & Furious 9 (2021).

JUMEIRA LAKE TOWERS, DUBAI, UAE

The skyscrapers and huge hotels in this location make for interesting city shots, and just outside the city there are vast, unspoilt areas. Filming in Dubai o ers a variety of architecture, an experienced crew base, multicultural experiences and sunshine all year round.

The movie Star Trek Beyond (2016) was shot in Dubai, with some scenes inside one of the buildings at Jumeira Lake Towers. Among the many other productions shot in the city are: Fast & Furious 7 (2015); The Mis ts (2021); and Dune (2021).

ATACAMA SALT FLATS, CHILE

In northern Chile, a short drive south from the local capital of San Pedro, is the Atacama Salt Flats area. It is one of the driest regions in the world — it hardly sees more than 1 mm of rainfall per year. The area, which includes several volcanoes, is bordered on the east by the Andes mountains while to the west lies a secondary mountain range, Cordillera de Domeyko. Film projects that used this unique environment include: Spy Kids (2001); The Motorcycle Diaries (2004); Quantum of Solace (2008); and The 33 (2015), the docudrama about the 2010 Chilean mining disaster.

PHOTO, COURTESY PETER GLUCK, LMGI

MERCHANT CITY, GLASGOW, UK

This image was captured by drone above the Merchant City area of the Scottish city. George Square features Glasgow City Chambers to its right, Queen Street station and Glasgow’s Met Tower. The roads from the square give long straight runs which are very popular for stunts. The architecture and grid system have doubled as many US cities and London. The grid system also helps with road closures and diversions.

The area around George Square, and particularly Cochrane Street and St Vincent Street, have been used by the following: TV productions Outlander (2014-) and Patrick Melrose (2018); and movies World War Z (2013); Hobbs & Shaw ( 2019); and upcoming The Flash and Indiana Jones 6.

COURTESY SIERRA DE GUADARRAMA, COMUNIDAD DE MADRID

LOXAHATCHEE RIVER, FLORIDA, US

The Loxahatchee River, which translates in the local NativeAmerican Seminole language as River of Turtles, runs 12 km near the southeast coast of Florida, one of only two designated National Wild and Scenic Rivers in the state. The environment includes freshwater and saltwater habitats that provide homes for a wide variety of wildlife; and large areas are still intact and publicly owned. The river was the inspiration for Florida lm producer Elam Stoltzfus' project

Our Signature: the Wild and Scenic Loxahatchee River (2005), a lm made in conjunction with the Loxahatchee River Preservation Initiative. Feature lm Empire of the Ants (1977) lmed here; and TV projects include Hooked on the Palm Beaches (2017-2020).

SIERRA DE GUADARRAMA NATIONAL PARK, SPAIN

PHOTO, COURTESY KIM SENG, AKA KIMO

CASTLE BUTTE, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA

In the Big Muddy Badlands of south-west Saskatchewan, close to the US border, stands Castle Butte. At 70 metres high it has been a landmark for First Nations people and early settlers. Now home to ranchers and cattle, the area is perfect for flmmakers seeking Western locations or an otherworldly backdrop. Although the stunning vistas of open prairie, rolling hills and ice-age-old rock can be seen for miles, the location is not far from small towns — Regina is a two-hour drive away, home to the John Hopkins Regina Soundstage.

Movies shot in Regina include: The Tall Man (2012); and Tales from the Loop (2020).

PHOTO, COURTESY TOURISM SASKATCHEWAN

TYBEE ISLAND’S SOUTH BEACH, SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, US

Tybee Island’s versatility has provided backdrop options to replicate beaches around the US, including New York, California and Florida. The Tybee Pier and Pavilion have always been popular flm locations as well as being landmarks of the Tybee coastline. The current octagonal pavilion has alternating doublearched exterior supports that ofer panoramas of the beach and historic district called The Strand.

Zac Efron rode his motorcycle along the pier in Baywatch (2017), and there was a karate fght sequence underneath the pavilion in the frst season of Cobra Kai (2019). Other productions include: TV series Living the Dream (2018) and The Girl From Plainville (2022); and movies Dirty Grandpa (2016); Love at the Shore (2017); and The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019).

THE CROWN LIQUOR SALOON, BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UK

The Crown, in Belfast’s Great Victoria Street, dates back to 1826, a gem of the Victorian era that still boasts many of its original features, including gaslighting. Now owned by heritage conservation charity The National Trust, the pub has been sympathetically restored by specialist conservators. There is a long altar-style bar

topped with red granite, divided by columns and with a heated footrest, which stands against a backdrop of huge casks ftted with polished brass taps. The windows are etched with fairies, pineapples, feur-de-lis and clowns.

The interior was recreated for Carol Reed's classic flm Odd Man Out (1947); it also featured in Divorcing Jack (1998); and upcoming comedy-heist movie for Netfix, Lift, flmed here in 2022.

ABRA MALAGA PASS, PERU

In the southern highlands of Peru, in the Cusco Region, runs a road to the summit of the Abra Malaga Pass, more than 4,000 metres above sea level and 121 km long. After the Inca town of Ollantaytambo, the paved road climbs via numerous hairpin bends, each ofering a still more spectacular view of the Sacred Valley.

The latest flm project to have completed shooting in the region is Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023).

PHOTO, COURTESY JANICE POLLEY

777 THIRD AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY, US

Numerous shoots have used this rooftop, including commercials for Tiger Beer, DKNY, JC Penney, Hewlett Packard, Hugo Boss and Armani. Some of the many feature films using this location include: One Fine Day (1996); Picture Perfect (1997); Maid in Manhattan (2002); and John Wick (2014 ). TV shows include: All My Children (1970-2011) and America’s Most Wanted (1988 -2021).

Built in 1964, 777 Third Avenue is located in the Turtle Bay neighbourhood of Manhattan island in New York, a masterpiece of mid-century modernism. The rooftop provides a unique vxiew of landmark cityscapes, including direct unobstructed views of the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building and the new One Vanderbilt Building.

DISCOVER EUROPE’S OTHER WORLDS

ACROSS ITS 44 COUNTRIES AND ITS ASTONISHING VARIETY OF ARCHITECTURE AND HUGELY VARIED LANDSCAPES, EUROPE CAN PRETTY MUCH OFFER THE WHOLE WORLD TO ANY PRODUCTION. AND A LOT OF OTHER WORLDS TOO. GARY SMITH REPORTS

Greece ofers the volcanic landscape of the island of Milos, the perfect flm set for another world

UP TO 65%

FILM COM MISSION VIENNA

OVER THE last decade, the Lithuanian capital Vilnius has been used to double for Rome, Berlin, Paris, Vienna, London, Washington, Oslo and more; it recently hosted the shoot of the frst and second seasons of TV series Sisi, depicting 19th-century Austria, including the Hofurg — the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty. “The series were flmed in the old town of Vilnius, using the exteriors of Vilnius University and the Lithuanian National Philharmonic, among other locations,” Vilnius flm commissioner Jūratė Pazkaitė says. “Sisi has since won the Jupiter Award as the best German TV series and Best Series at the Bavarian TV awards.”

Mini-series Clark, based on notorious Swedish criminal Clark Olofsson's autobiography, was also flmed in Vilnius, which stands in for 20th-century Sweden, Denmark and Hamburg, in Germany. “The streets of Vilnius' old town became Hamburg's red-light district, and the hippy utopia of Christiania in Copenhagen was recreated in the courtyards of the Užupis district. An important role was also played by the Lukiškės Prison, which was transformed into fve diferent Swedish prisons,” Pazkaitė adds. “Also, part of the fourth season of Stranger Things was flmed in Vilnius and its

surroundings. One of the main locations was again Lukiškės Prison, which is in the centre of Vilnius. Other TV series shot in the capital include Welcome to Texas; Rise of the Nazis, where it doubled for Germany; and Young Wallander, set in Sweden. The movie Nothing to Laugh About, set in Norway, also shot here.

“THE STREETS OF VILNIUS' OLD TOWN BECAME HAMBURG'S RED-LIGHT DISTRICT

JURATE PAZKAITE.

“Trakų Vokė Manor is another interesting location. Its architecture is marked by elements of Neo-Gothic and classicism, alongside a range of eclectic styles. The Royal Mob, War and Peace and The Last Czars were all flmed there.” Pazkaitė says.

From 2014-2021, 286 productions benefted from the Lithuanian Film Tax Incentive, receiving €50.77m in investment. Meanwhile, international production spend in the country in 2021 reached a total of €141m, with investments

The Lukiškės Prison, which was transformed into fve diferent Swedish prisons for the mini-series Clark

FULL SET CONSTRUCTION SERVICES

highly skilled and experienced team

COSTUMES, FURNITURE AND PROPS over 500 000 items on-line catalogue

DUBBING STUDIOS

complete language dubbing services

for flm production being granted in amounts ranging from €1,000 to over €1.6m.

Iceland is deservedly renowned for its stunning and diverse landscapes. It‘s also convenient that these landscapes are often located a few kilometres apart with good access for flm crews. Despite being a relatively small country, Iceland‘s powerful geological activity contributes to its vastly difering terrains. Some of the most extraordinary locations include black-sand beaches, the barren otherworldly landscapes of the highlands, lava felds, waterfalls and glaciers. Beautiful small towns are also scattered around the coast and Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital, is increasingly becoming a flming attraction in its own right due to its unique atmosphere and architecture.

“Iceland ofers over 8,000 sq m of sound stages. RVK

Studios ofers three diferent stages and Fossa studios has two, both with production service facilities,” flm commissioner at Film In Iceland, Einar Hansen Tomasson, says. “Shooting days in Iceland in 2022 were around 500 and 2023 is looking similar if not better.” Iceland ofers an incentive of up to 35% on all production costs incurred in Iceland.

According to Bui Baldvinsson, producer at Hero Productions, several feature flms in the past few years have used Iceland as a stand-in for other parts of the world. “In the 2020 flm The Midnight Sky, Iceland was used to double for the Arctic. In the flm Greenland, the scenes in that country were shot it Iceland, and Game of Thrones used Iceland for a number of exterior scenes serviced by production services company Pegasus Productions, including scenes at The Wall and The North, in Westeros. And right now, HBO is flming

CASH-BACK IN SLOVAKIA

“BERLIN,

of castles from medieval to 19th century, plus we can ofer post-modern and Soviet-era architecture, wild rivers and a variety of forest and woods.” Slovakia also ofers a 33% cash rebate on expenses spent on flm or TV production in the Slovak Republic.

New York City and Budapest were all shot in our capital city Bratislava, for Shira Piven’s The Performance and Oregon

was shot in the Zahorie region in the western part of Slovakia,” flm commissioner at the Slovak Film Commission, Zuzana Bieliková, says. “Slovakia doubled-up for Transylvania in the Dracula mini-series and as Estonia, Eastern Europe and Russia for Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan. We also have a number

John Krasinski as Jack Ryan in Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, shot in Slovakia for Russia

the fourth season of True Detective starring Jodie Foster, with Iceland doubling as Alaska. This country has an endless variety of landscapes and can double as many other locations or even distant planets.”

ICELAND... UNSPOILED, WITH SURPRISINGLY GOOD WEATHER

BUI BALDVINSSON

Some of the most popular locations include the black-sand beaches representing otherworldly landscapes and postapocalyptic scenes. “Then there are the glaciers,“ Baldvinsson says. “Iceland has several, including Vatnajökull, the largest in Europe. They can all be used as a stand-in for the Arctic or Antarctica. We also have many volcanic landscapes, including the Reykjanes Peninsula, which is covered in lava felds, and Eldhraun that is covered in a blanket of thick moss and can be used as a stand-in for otherworldly scenes, or

just as a fantastic backdrop. On top of that, Iceland has a lot of impressive waterfalls, including Gullfoss, Skógafoss and Seljalandsfoss which can be used as a stand-in for a variety of diferent locations either in summer, or in winter when they’re frozen. Of course, Iceland is home to several geysers and geothermal areas, plus highlands including Þórsmörk and Landmannalaugar, which can be used as a stand-in for mountains, tundra and more.”

Iceland’s capital Reykjavík has been used for a number of diferent urban locations by virtue of varied architecture and colourful buildings. “Iceland's landscapes are truly unique and unspoiled, with surprisingly good weather,” Baldvinsson adds. “Temperatures are cool in the summer and cold in the winter, allowing for easy flming with comparatively few weather-related interruptions. And this is a relatively small and compact country, which makes it easy to travel around and flm in multiple locations. Iceland has a rich cultural and historical background that flmmakers can take inspiration from and overall, the country's natural beauty, diversity of locations, good weather, accessibility, supportive government

Vilnius hosted the shoot of the frst and second seasons of TV series Sisi, depicting 19th-century Austria, shooting here at Vilnius university

and industry, and cultural history, make it an outstanding destination for flm productions.”

Lying to the south-east of Iceland is Norway, known for its stunning fords, but perhaps less well-known as a stand-in for India: “Mission Impossible: Fallout had Norway doubling for Kashmir,“ flm commissioner for Norway, Meghan Beaton, says. “And more recently, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One, features Tom Cruise’s most daring stunt yet, driving a motorcycle straight of a Norwegian mountain. In this scene, the mountains, scenery and railway are doubling for locations in Eastern Europe. We can also do otherworldly, with Dune using Norway to double as Caladan, the home planet of House of Atreides.”

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT HAD NORWAY DOUBLING FOR KASHMIR

MEGHAN BEATON

Norwegian locations can double for anywhere in the Nordics and any other countries and regions with snow, ice, mountain and fords — for example Canada, New Zealand, Alaska, Russia, the Alps and more. But compared with most of these regions, Norwegian nature is highly accessible. “Norway doubles brilliantly for the Colorado Rockies, Canada and Alaska,” says Andrew Macdonald, producer of Alex Garland's directorial debut, Ex Machina. “It felt a bit like Scotland, where I’m from, but Scotland on super drugs. There are these incredible vertical hills, waterfalls everywhere and deep, deep fords.” The Juvet Landscape Hotel, an architectural marvel surrounded by untamed pristine wilderness — and where Ex Machina was flmed — is ranked as one of most strunning movie locations in the world and is located in the Valldal valley surrounded by fords, forests and waterfalls. Similarly the Kistefos Museum, which comprises ultramodern architecture and one of northern Europe’s biggest contemporary sculpture parks, ofers a futuristic look that people might not consider to be typically Norwegian.

“Urban areas of Oslo can double for modern European cities — and the hyper-modern architecture in Oslo and so much of the Norwegian landscape are together becoming well-known for stories set in the future,” Beaton adds. “What producers who have flmed in Norway really appreciate is that everything just works. We ofer stunning locations, experienced crew with a can-do attitude — and infrastructure that makes the natural locations easily accessible. Norway boasts over 50 airports and frst-rate mobile and internet coverage throughout the country, even in remote areas.”

Panos Kouanis, CEO of EKOME, the Greek National Centre of Audiovisual Media and Communication, believes that Greece has something for any and every production. “Greece ofers a variety of locations such as mountains, canyons, deserted areas, sandy beaches, medieval castles, urban landscapes and ancient monuments," Kouanis says. "It provides an ideal blend of urban as well as rural landscapes, and it’s all bathed in the unique Greek light all year round. Moreover, the distances between locations are small, allowing flming in a variety of locations over a short time frame. A natural flm set, Greece ofers the volcanic landscapes of the islands of Milos and Nisyros, the waterfalls in Thasos and

HOLLYWOOD LOVES SERBIA

“SERBIA has excellent mountain and rural areas, plenty of urban locations including some classic brutalism, as well as classical interiors and exteriors,” Ivana Miković, managing director at Firefy Productions in Belgrade, says. “Also, our new studio will be fully operational around June 2023, which will enable us to host much more prominent, high-budget productions.”

Thanks to a broad range of architectural styles and highly competent crews, Belgrade regularly doubles for Paris, Moscow and Berlin and hosts a regular stream of high- and low-budget productions — both flms and TV series, some featuring Hollywood A-listers, with Daniel Craig in Serbia last year flming scenes for Glass Onion

VIENNA IS JUST VIENNA

YOU PROBABLY wouldn’t be surprised to hear that one place that doesn’t do much doubling is Vienna. Given that its look is so globally known and defnes a historical epoch, a lot of productions want to leverage its period charm. “In the last three years we’ve only had international productions flming in Vienna where Vienna was being Vienna,” the Vienna Film Commission’s Marijana Stoisits says. “But looking beyond the classic city centre, there’s modern architec-

ture along the waterfront on the Danube, where flming for Sam Hargrave’s Extraction II took place. We also have several palaces that could be anywhere in Europe and vineyards right next to the city that also ofer a great view over Vienna. Plus there’s the supermodern University of Economics campus designed by Zaha Hadid and we have residential areas that are emblematic of the 19th century, and could be anywhere in central Europe.”

Serbia has excellent mountain and rural areas

Vineyards right next to the city that ofer a great view over Vienna

Papigko, the canyon of Samaria and Crete’s exotic beaches, alongside the Peloponese, the historic centres of Corfu or Rhodes and their surrounding villages, which can be adapted to be pretty much anywhere you want.”

Locations that have been used to double for other places include Athens doubling for Tehran in all three seasons of Apple’s espionage series Tehran; and Attica standing in for Mallorca for the series Backstrom. “There’s also the action movie Dirty Angels, where the city of Thessaloniki doubled for Afghanistan and also for Miami in director Richard Hughes’ mob movie The Enforcer,” Kouanis says. “The Thessaloniki region also doubled for a US army base in The Expendables 4, and David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future turned Athens into a dystopian city of the not-so-distant future.”

And then there are the crews, facilities and more: “As well as the competitive incentives, the variety of locations and sunlight throughout the year, Greece ofers high-end studios, great hospitality and infrastructure, well-trained and multilingual crews, a network of flm ofces supporting productions’ needs, a safe working environment and, of course, exceptional gastronomy and the chance to combine work with leisure. David Cronenberg and Rian Johnson [Glass Onion] have spoken very positively about Greek crews and

professionals, while they also enjoyed the benefts of Greek hospitality,” Kouanis says. “An unexpected bonus of this country is that anyone wishing to write scenes set in Greece will discover endless possibilities. The country, its history, heritage and modern culture are an amazing source of inspiration that many productions have beneftted from, including Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Mama Mia, Mediteranneo and Le Grand Bleu to name just a few. In fact, US production company Millennium Media’s upcoming flm The Bricklayer, starring Aaron Eckhart and Nina Dobrev, which shot in Thessaloniki, is actually about Greece and takes place in Thessaloniki.”

DAVID CRONENBERG AND RIAN JOHNSON HAVE SPOKEN VERY POSITIVELY ABOUT GREEK CREWS

PANOS KOUANIS

According to Jonathan Mees of the Netherlands Film Commission, doubling for Dunkirk in Northern France — for Christopher Nolan’s 2017 flm Dunkirk — was one of the

The Kistefos Museum in Norway ofers a futuristic look

biggest challenges his team has had to face in the last few years: “It required a complete rewrite of the airworthiness certifcates for the original Spitfres to have them be allowed to fy in Dutch airspace. On top of that, the approach routes for civil aircraft landing and taking of from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport go right over Lake IJsselmeer where the Spitfres would be fying. Following consultations with the various responsible ministries and authorities, we had their full co-operation and they issued the ofcially required documents without a problem.”

Unsurprisingly, Amsterdam as a cityscape is the most sought-after location in the Netherlands, both for general shots and specifcally for scripts in which Amsterdam serves as a backdrop for the unfolding story. “Amsterdam ofers totally unique architecture dating back to the early 17th century,” Mees says. “But since the city is nearly always congested with tourism, conferences, delivery vans and flm shoots, the mayor of Amsterdam has drawn up a new Protocol

SWARM OVER PUGLIA

“THANKS to its richness of colours, Puglia — a southern region of Italy that forms the heel of the country’s “boot” — has reproduced a range of very diferent places and periods, for example for the international thriller series The Swarm. It was flmed in various countries including Italy and, specifcally, in Puglia, in two Apulian cities," Apulia flm commissioner Toni Cavalluzzi, says. "Trani doubled for a French seaside village and Otranto for scenes set both in Norway and in Scotland’s Shetland Islands. The Promised Land, the upcoming flm by Michael Winterbottom, is set in Palestine in the late 1940s and Puglia was chosen for most of the scenes. It’s a region with many diferent looks including an enchanted place for fantastic stories such as the TV series The Wheel of Time, or for Matteo Garrone's Pinocchio. Puglia has also been the wasteland in which the Western series That Dirty Black Bag is set. Puglia has also showcased its castles in Tale of Tales and Wonder Woman. The scene in No Time to Die, where James Bond falls from a bridge, was flmed on the bridge of the aqueduct at Gravina in Puglia.”

for Filming in the city, with fewer permits being issued due to the high impact on residents and businesses. This has led to the new policy, where the Netherlands Film Commission is now working alongside the city authorities to make the most popular and requested flming locations in Amsterdam's central canal district available in a virtual production studio.”

And while Amsterdam is genuinely a unique place, it’s the skies above that Mees and many flmmakers love the most. “Everyone knows Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh. And one thing that inspired them all is the magnifcent and uniquely luminescent Dutch light,” he says. “Those painters are no longer with us, but the Dutch light is still an inspiration for flmmakers and DoPs from around the world. Over the IJsselmeer, you fnd skies that are interspersed with soft light and cloud formations the likes of which you never see anywhere else. And down below, there’s the IJsselmeer, a non-tidal lake that’s only 12 feet deep, making it the largest freshwater outdoor studio in Europe.”

THE GODS BLESSED GAME OF THRONES

YOU OFTEN hear the term otherworldly in relation to Iceland, so no surprise that Game of Thrones shot multiple scenes there. "HBO came to Iceland for seven years in a row to shoot big scenes and sometimes also plate shoots, so Iceland's locations featured in many episodes" Elli

Cassata of Pegasus Pictures says. "Of all our clients, they were the luckiest with weather and 99% of the time got what they wanted. Even when it had been dry for weeks, suddenly three days prior to their arrival snow fell. Somehow the gods were looking out for them."

On set in Iceland with Game of Thrones

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SKIES...THE LIKES OF WHICH YOU NEVER SEE ANYWHERE ELSE

JONATHAN MEES

France offers a rich variety of shooting locations, with a broad variety of both natural landscapes and period architecture, including Rustrel in Provence, which is also known as France’s Colorado. “The red-orange rocks in Rustrel are spectacular, and then there are buildings like the Chateau de Chantilly, in the Hauts de France region, which doubled for Croatia; and Cannes has doubled for Los Angeles in a US production that we can’t yet name,” digital director at Film France, Vincent Florant, says. “Looking at the bigger picture, many of our local film commissions have formulated offers to meet a wide range of needs including doubling. The Pays de la Loire region, for example, features a large selection of locations ranging from urban and rural through to coastal, industrial and historical. The richness and variety of French heritage sites and natural landscapes is enduringly attractive to filmmakers and this can be complemented by a wide range of simple, adaptable locations that can pass for many other places. Period drama The Serpent Queen — an eight-part series based on Leonie Frieda's

book Catherine de Medici: Renaissance Queen of France — was filmed in several locations, mostly castles, throughout the whole of France, and also at Provence Studios, in Martigues, southwest of Marseille. France has a well-earned reputation for professionalism and adaptability and increasingly for the quality of its VFX specialists. The Serpent Queen executive producer, John Bernard, says: “In France, the expertise of the VFX crews is very high. Also working both on location and with VFX in France saves us time and energy. We shoot and produce the effects in the same places, which creates a strong integration between the work on set and the digital work that comes after, mainly because the exchange of information is so much more fluid than if we had chosen to outsource the VFX. Obviously, it is also interesting from an economic point of view, since you recover 40% of the tax credit on the expenses here after the shoot — provided of course that you fulfil certain criteria.”

Due to the incredible variety of Poland's locations, the country could be called ‘Europe’s chameleon’: “Whatever you need to recreate in your production — the Middle Ages, the realities of World War II, the communist era or a modern city — you can easily find all this in Poland. But just as important is the fact that such places are very close to each other,” the Polish Film Institute’s Pola Strój says. “The film Silent Twins required

Rustrel in Provence, known as France’s Colorado

a meticulous recreation of interiors and exteriors of Britain and Wales in the 70s, 80s and 90s, which was achieved using facilities over almost the whole of the country. It was extremely demanding, but our amazing set-builders and crews rose to the challenge. Also, the Polish-New Zealand co-production Joika, about one of the most famous American ballerinas, Joy Womack, shot in Warsaw, which was doubling as Moscow for the purposes of the production.”

Aside from the capital city, one of the most easily transformed Polish cities is Wrocław. The city imitated Prague in Petr Kazda's and Tomás Weinreb’s I, Olga Hepnarová; coldwar Berlin in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies; and in Paweł

Pawlikowski's Cold War; as well as Rotterdam in Mike van Diem’s flm Character

“Gdansk, one of the most beautiful Polish cities, featured in the Oscar-winning adaptation of The Tin Drum, as well as in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, where the Gdansk quay housed a secret CIA headquarters,” Strój adds. “Then there’s Przemyśl, a small town on the Polish-Ukrainian border with a rich history and a concentration of well-preserved original buildings, where you can shoot stories set in the past. History has left a clear mark on the city's architecture, hence the similarity to Lviv, but the 19th-century style also allows Przemyśl to double for places such as Vilnius.”

GLOBAL DRAMA SERIES CHOOSE GREECE

“SERIES ONE of Tehran shot with Athens doubling for Iran, and series two where Glenn Close joined the show, was also flmed in Athens. Tehran series three flmed in our capital from January to July 2023. The thriller Do Not Hesitate chose the mountains on the island of Crete to showcase Syria. More specifcally, they used the Nida Plateau in this suspense drama, which was produced by

Lemming Film and US production company Heretic Films, Greek Film Centre's Stavroula Geronimakisays. Leontine Petit, the flm’s producer, says: “We did not expect to fnd such great locations in Greece, or even in Europe, for this project. The shoot went beyond our expectations and we’re looking forward to coming back with new projects.”

“Millennium Media’s gangster

movie The Enforcer — a.k.a. Barracuda, starring Antonio Banderas — was shot in summer 2021 and had Thessaloniki doubling as Miami,” Geronimaki says. “The BBC’s The Little Drummer Girl series used Elefsina to double for Lebanon and also Nikaia in Athens for Palestine. That shoot took place in 2018 with the flmmakers also securing scenes at the Acropolis in Athens.”

Florence Pugh as Charlie Ross at the Acropolis of Athens for the BBC’s The Little Drummer Girl

ON THE EAST COAST OF AFRICA

LIES THE BEAUTIFUL PROVINCE OF KWAZULU-NATAL.

On the East coast of Africa lies the beautiful province of KwaZulu-Natal (Otherwise known as KZN).

KwaZulu-Natal is a subtropical region of lush and well-watered valleys, washed by the warm Indian Ocean. One of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, the province stretches from Port Edward in the south to the borders of Swaziland and Mozambique in the north.

The province is riding on the waves of the positive feedback and recognition it has received from hosting the successful shooting of the international blockbusters “The Woman King” and the “Mission Impossible” franchise which were flmed in the region - a fete that highlighted KwaZulu-Natal as a premium and affordable flming location. Local talent and crew were also provided with an opportunity to glean knowledge and skills from leading expertise.

KEY FACTS (kznflm.co.za)

FAMILIARISATION TOURS TO SHOWCASE LOCATIONS

KZNFilm offers familiarization tours to local and international flm production houses where we showcase all spheres of KwaZulu-Natal based on what the production needs to achieve. KwaZulu-Natal provides a unique tapestry of backdrops for the big screen all within a 2-hour radius of the King Shaka International Airport. The interior of the province consists largely of rolling hills from the Valley of a Thousand Hills, the Meandering Midlands, the incredible range of the Drakensberg mountains and the waterfalls set in the south coast of the province. Other breath-taking sights include the:

• St Lucia Estuary - a world heritage site

• Kosi Bay on the northeast

• Red Desert in the south coast

• Indigenous coastal forestry along the coastlines

Northern KZN is also home to African savannah, and several game parks boast rich wildlife, including the Big Five.

SCENIC SPLENDOUR

It’s all about fnding the right location - from beach, berg to bush

With its resplendent natural scenery, year-round warm climate, a perfect mix of urban and rural settings, and incredibly welcoming communities, the province of KwaZulu-Natal has become a fast-growing flming destination and an affordable location within which to shoot. A land of diversity and natural beauty, the region has a variety of cross-disciplinary appeals to flmmakers. This ranges from the year-round good weather and long summer days through to the beauty and ease of access to the natural attractions from the beach, berg and to the bush.

Its western part is marked by the dramatic Maloti-Drakensberg Mountain range, with several peaks well over 3 000 metres. The range has been awarded a World Heritage status for its dramatic natural beauty and the wealth of San Bushman rock art found in its caves is the most extensive and richly concentrated rock art in the world.

Between the mountains and the humid subtropical coastline is savannah grassland and there are also areas of indigenous forest along the coast. The largest of its many rivers is the uThukela River. It is a summer rainfall area, with a climate that ranges from extremely hot along the coast in summer, to heavy snow on the mountains in winter. With the ambient backdrops of the vast coastlines, mountainous ranges, lush vegetation, historical battlefelds, bustling cities, and old-style towns, KwaZulu-Natal delivers diversity that produces the perfect scenery.

The old British colony of KwaZulu Natal is home to the Zulu monarchy and one of the largest Indian populations outside of India. This cultural melange creates a vibrant atmosphere and mix of African, Eastern, and Western cultures making for an impressive visual feast.

The province’s biggest metropolitan is the city of Durban. It is located on the East Coast of South Africa looking out upon the Indian Ocean. Durban also has a natural harbour which is the busiest port in South Africa. Over the years, the port has become a popular flming destination due to the amenities and backdrop that the facility offers.

The coastline is dotted with small towns, many of which serve as seasonal recreational hubs. The climate of the coastal areas is humid and subtropical, comparable to the southern Florida climate in the United States, but not quite as hot and rainy in the summer. As one moves further north up the coast towards the border of Mozambique, the climate becomes almost purely tropical.

Beaches of world-class quality are to be found along virtually every part of South Africa’s eastern seaboard, with some of the least-developed gems found in the far southern and far northern ends of the province.

INFRASTRUCTURE

KwaZulu-Natal offers an array of accommodation options including internationally renowned brands. The King Shaka International Airport caters to international connectivity with direct fights into Durban (British Airways, Qatar, and Emirates Airlines). The province also has world-class IT systems with Durban being within 150kms of 3 major cable landings and fbre optics connectivity through broadband at Dube Trade Port.

KZNFILM SERVICES

The KZNFilm offce is also a one-stop-shop for all enquiries for flm production, offering the following services:

• Packaging of production specifc locations, facilities, and talent

• Advisory services for flmmakers

o Assisting production in gaining access to locations for flm production

o Facilitating regulatory and operating processes in South Africa

o Extensive databases and connectivity with all relevant stakeholders in the industry

o Databases of the best local service providers, general crew, and trained flmmakers tiered according to their experience

o Referenceable resume’s and showreels of previous work of crew and talent

o Partnerships with flm friendly municipal offces for the issuing of permits and coordinating approvals

KZN Borders

KwaZulu-Natal borders the following areas of Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho:

• KwaZulu-Natal borders on the following areas of Mozambique, Swaziland, and Lesotho:

• Maputo Province, Mozambique (far northeast)

• Lubombo District, Swaziland (northeast, east of Shiselweni)

• Shiselweni District, Swaziland (northeast, west of Lubombo)

• Mokhotlong District, Lesotho (southwest, north of Thaba-Tseka)

• Thaba-Tseka District, Lesotho (southwest, between Mokhotlong and Qacha’s Nek)

• Qacha’s Nek District, Lesotho (southwest, south of Thaba-Tseka)

Blockbusters flmed in KwaZulu-Natal.

• The Woman King (2022)

• Mission Impossible (2022)

• Spud (2010)

• Cry the Beloved Country (1995)

• I dreamed of Africa (2000)

• Blood Diamond (2006)

• Tarzan and Lost the Lost City (1999)

Norah

TO MAKE SENSE GEOGRAPHICALLY OF THE AMBITIOUS PLANS TO ESTABLISH ALULA AS A GOTO FILMING SPOT, REPORTER LIZA FOREMAN DROVE OVER LAND FROM TEL AVIV TO NORTHWESTERN SAUDI ARABIA, HEADED FOR ALULA, WHICH HOSTED THE PRODUCTION NORAH, THE FIRST SAUDI FILM TO BE SHOT THERE

THERE IS plenty to recommend AlUla. Complementing the neighbouring UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hegra, with its 111 Nabatean tombs — a treat to explore, undisturbed, compared to the overrun capital of this ancient civilisation in Petra — is a community of new designer resorts, hipster restaurants, boutiques and museums, alongside the main attraction of this famous burial site, the desert and the starlit scenery. For flmmakers, in addition to the proactive new flm commission, a state-ofthe-art studio complex is opening this year.

Although flying is possible via a number of nearby airports, the 900-kilometre road trip from Tel Aviv to AlUla — allowing one to feel like Lawrence of Arabia with wheels — involved crossing the starlit Negev desert in Israel to reach the Yitzhak Rabin Crossing into Jordan at Eilat, the southern Israel beach town, arriving with a better understanding of where you have landed. The Durra Border Crossing into Saudi Arabia is a 36km drive inside Jordan along the Red Sea. The seven-hour drive through the untouched Saudi desert, from the Durra Crossing to

AlUla, conducted by a belly-dancing Saudi chaufeur, included a distant glimpse of the new city of Neom which has begun hosting flmmakers.

Capitalising on this history and the outstandingly beautiful scenery is the Film AlUla commission, which has hosted more than 694 production-days since opening in 2020.

In 2022, Film AlUla facilitated 153 projects, resulting in 489 days of flming supporting 1,678 crew members.

International films to have used the backdrop of this desert include Kandahar by Ric Roman Waugh. The Afghan war drama was the frst major Hollywood feature to shoot almost entirely in AlUla. Other international projects include the Iraq war story Cherry, starring Tom Holland and directed by Anthony and Joe Russo. Some 26 documentaries have also been completed.

Norah is the frst Saudi feature flm to be shot here and it uses AlUla as AlUla. The debut feature from homegrown directorwriter Tawfk Alzaidi includes an all-Saudi cast and over 60% Saudi crew. The flm is budgeted at around $2m.

Set in 1990s Saudi Arabia, when conservative rule meant that art and painting were banned, Norah tells the story of an artist, played by Yaqoub Alfarhan, who

Maria Bahrawi plays Norah in the frst Saudi movie to be flmed in the historic region of AlUla

has abandoned painting and decided to become a village schoolteacher . Local resident Norah (Maria Bahrawi) is an illiterate orphan facing an arranged marriage. She begins to record her thoughts and memories into a cassette recorder.

In the 50-degree heat last June, the crew was making the most of the day in a desert expanse an hour’s drive from Downtown AlUla in the abandoned village of Da’ a.

An open brick building with several air conditioning machines and shabby rooms for makeup, costumes and a canteen made up the bulk of the facilities. Lorries and tents were dotted outside its walls where crew and actors filmed in the scorching weather.

Norah is produced by American producer Paul Miller, the former Doha Film Institute head of fnance, along with Jordan’s Sharif Majali. Saudi production companies Black Sugar Pictures and Nebras Films co-produced the flm.

On the day of the set visit, Miller admitted this had been the the hardest week. “It's all exposed day scenes. Next week we move to night scenes and then back into town,” he says.

When Alzaidi created the project fve years ago, he said there was no Saudi industry, let alone location support. He mostly financed the film with fund-

ing from the Saudi Film Commission’s Daw Film Competition, which was launched in 2019 to help local films. The Red Sea Fund recently gave the film a post-production award.

“I chose AlUla as a location to shoot Norah from the beginning, because I felt that the story resembles AlUla, a sensational landscape that I know very well with its mountains and geographical scenery. It is a living art gallery that impersonates the background of the story,” Alzaidi says. “The establishment of Film AlUla made it possible to shoot and produce Norah here and they supported the flm logistically. It was my first choice of location since I wrote the story.”

One scene was shot in Riyadh, but 99% of the film was shot in AlUla. “The AlUla region is a place where you can fnd diverse landscapes and locations. I found a real village built in the 1980s, start of the 1990s, when the story takes place,” Alzaidi says. “When I frst visited the village and entered the houses, I felt the soul of the story. All that I had to do was to bring the characters there and start shooting. It felt like I was already inside the universe of the flm story.”

The shoot took place over 28 days, “but I was there from the beginning of flm prep

with the crew. We did the pre-production stage in AlUla as we worked on the interior production design of the houses and the costumes. Also, we spent time scouting as we shot in many diferent locations in AlUla,” he added.

The flm features a full Saudi cast and extras who live in AlUla. The equipment was found in Saudi Arabia and the wider region.

Film AlUla helped with logistic support, including accommodation, fights, and transportation. The Norah team was the frst crew to stay in the new Film Residence which is expanding to house 300 people.

“The accommodation was practical with a positive atmosphere. The flm crew became like a family who stayed in the same residence where lots of discussions were held following days on set; this was very beneficial for the film production. This support contributed greatly to the flm so, I consider Film AlUla as a big part of its making,” Alzaidi says.

“I consider myself lucky that I got to shoot in AlUla. It was a great experience — yes there were challenges as it was my debut, but I can say that the stunning landscapes and mountains surrounding me were able to absorb any negative energy,” he says.

“There were members of the flm crew from outside Saudi Arabia and some Saudis and locals. At this point, while the Saudi flm industry is evolving, we need to bring together Saudi talent with the experts and

WHEN I FIRST VISITED THE VILLAGE AND HOUSES, I FELT THE SOUL OF THE STORY

TAWFIK ALZAIDI

In 2022, Film AlUla facilitated 153 projects, resulting in 489 days of flming supporting 1,678 crew members

those who have previous experience in the flm industry,” he adds.

Some crew were from Jordan, and had previously gained experience on international shoots including Star Wars: The Force Awakens

“I remember one touching story, on one of the shooting days, there was a 65-year-old woman who had dreamt of acting since she was a child and her dream had fnally come true as she was in front of the camera acting in Norah and her performance was extraordinary,” Alzaidi says.

And there were challenges during the filming. “This is normal, and happens even in Hollywood, because the flm industry is not an easy industry,” he says. “In Saudi Arabia, the true awareness of what is a cinematic flm — and what its elements and criteria are — would really contribute to the production of Saudi flm stories that can travel around the world.”

Alzaidi adds: “International productions which have shot in AlUla have contributed to raising awareness.”

Since a 35-year ban on cinema was lifted in 2017, the industry has been moving fast in Saudi Arabia. Last year, the Saudi Film Commission launched a 40%-plus cash rebate incentive programme for local and international TV-and-flm productions. “Film AlUla can also discuss an uplift on the cash incentive and additional incentives,” executive director of Film AlUla, Charlene Deleon-Jones, says.

Construction is under way of a new studio complex, with the completion of a 30,000 sq m frst phase targeted for the fourth quarter of 2023. Features include two studios with soundstages, support buildings, workshops, a 6,500 sq m backlot and pristine natural locations. The complex is close to 12 sq km of dedicated outdoor shooting locations that showcase the beauty and heritage of AlUla.

The moves are part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 project to move away from reliance on oil and diversify economically and culturally. It includes a plan to produce and shoot 100 films in Saudi Arabia by 2030, consisting of both local and international productions.

Deleon-Jones adds: “The flm industry in Saudi Arabia is moving at an incredible pace and the country’s cinema industry is now the fastest-growing in the Middle East. Film AlUla’s strategy is in line with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 roadmap to support the development and growth of the national flm, television, and media industry.”

In addition, the government’s Cultural Development Fund is also investing

$234m over three years through its new Film Sector Financing Programme “which aims to boost the country’s film infrastructure and support production with grants, loans and loan guarantees”. In 2022 10 Saudi flms were produced, with the hope of that rising to 50-80 annually by 2030, Deleon-Jones says. “Saudi companies, including Muvi Studios, MBC, VOX and CineWaves, are making investment in original production to capitalise on the appetite for local content that will attract audiences to theatres in the region and drive the change in Saudi production.”

Film AlUla also ofers a range of support incentives including a regulatory system to ensure production and crew have all the necessary permits in place, help with location scouting and expert knowledge of flming in AlUla and the rest of Saudi Arabia.

“Film AlUla can also assist with sourcing a professional local and regional supply chain of experienced crew, talent, production companies, and rental equipment," she says.

THE COUNTRY’S CINEMA INDUSTRY IS NOW THE FASTESTGROWING IN THE MIDDLE EAST

CHARLENE DELEON-JONES

Tawfk Alzaidi: “AlUla is a living art gallery that impersonates the background of the story”

GOOD TIMES DOWN UNDER

THE SUCCESS OF BAZ LUHRMAN'S ELVIS HAS TURNED ATTENTION ONCE AGAIN TO AUSTRALIA'S LONGESTABLISHED FILM INDUSTRY AND ITS HISTORY OF WELCOMING LARGE-SCALE INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS — AS WELL AS IT'S VAST ARRAY OF VERSATILE LOCATIONS, CREW AND STUDIO FACILITIES –SOME OF WHICH PLAYED A STARRING ROLE IN THIS MOST AMERICAN OF STORIES. JOANNA STEPHENS REPORTS

AS ONE of the year’s biggest winners on the awards circuit, Elvis is very much still alive in the public consciousness. Which couldn’t please Screen Queensland more, given that the flm was shot almost entirely on Australia’s Gold Coast, employed 900 Queenslanders and injected more than A$105m ($ 70m) into the local economy. But for all the noise around Baz Luhrmann’s sprawling portrait of the king of rock ‘n’ roll, Elvis is only one in a long list of A-list international movies and series to have shot in Australia over the past four years. These overseas productions have done more than sprinkle stardust over Australia’s reputation as a world-class production destination. They also point to the competitiveness of Australia’s screen production incentives for both physical and post, digital and visual efects (PDV) work.

February saw the publication of UK-based consultancy Olsberg SPI’s Study on The Impact of Film and Television Production Incentives in Australia, commissioned last year by the Australia New Zealand Screen Association (ANZSA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The report’s headline fnding was that the Australian government’s suite of production incentives contributed a total of A$16.5bn in economic output over the four years ending June 2022. The Location Ofset and Location Incentive generated particularly impressive results: Olsberg estimates that, for every net dollar invested in international projects, A$5.89 is created in value for the Australian economy. Moreover, 60% of below-the-line expenditure fnds its way to non-screen-related businesses, such as construction, security, travel, transport, real estate, education and hospitality. This is good news for Australians, of course. But confrmation that incentives are powerful economic drivers is arguably even better news for international productions, no less than 37 of which have headed Down Under since 2018. However, while generous incentives are undoubtedly a compelling reason to flm in

Australia — indeed, Olsberg’s study reveals that, without the Location Ofset and Location Incentive, no international projects would have opted for Australia over the last four years — Kate Marks, CEO of screen-industry public/private partnership Ausflm, is keen to point out it’s not all about the money.

“In the last two fscal years, we’ve seen record levels of drama production across Australia and our incentives have obviously played a key role in attracting international work,” Marks says. “But incentives can only do so much. What makes our studio and SVOD partners come to Australia, and keep coming back, is our people. Clients tell us time and again that our crews are incredible; that they’re innovative, problem-solving, fun, hard-working and passionate about what they do. So government support is great, but it’s our people — that Australian spirit — that makes us diferent.”

Supporting the can-do mentality of Australia’s creative talent is a world-class production infrastructure, spanning flm studios, sound stages and post-production, VFX and screen-services facilities. And then there’s its embarrassment of natural riches. The country’s vast size and diverse ecosystems have gifted it a huge array of landscapes, from the desolate beauty of the outback to lush farmland, sweeping plains, snow-capped mountains and dense rainforests. There’s no shortage of urban landscapes either, whether it’s gritty industrial hinterland you’re after or a sophisticated metropolitan backdrop that could double for any great city in the world. Another reason the world’s flmmakers want to work in Australia is because “we have incredible stories to tell and a long

Universal’s Ticket to Paradise, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, flmed at Queensland’s Airlie Beach

history of telling them brilliantly on flm”, Marks adds. “It’s really gratifying that all the hard work that’s gone into building our screen sector is now paying of. In an industry of peaks and troughs, we’ve seen a solid supply of work over the last few years, which is helping us to scale up, expand and attract new business.”

As the agency charged with connecting the international flm community with Australia’s incentives, talent and facilities, Ausflm can take much of the credit for ‘the last few years’ to which Marks refers. With a team on the ground in Los Angeles (“the US is our core focus…”) Ausflm is generally the frst point of contact for overseas productions looking to flm in the country. “We also have solid, long-standing relationships with many of our clients, which results in a lot of repeat business,” Marks adds. She points to the Disney family, which has now returned six or seven times to Australia, most recently with Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which was flmed at Sydney’s iconic Fox Studios, now renamed Disney Studios Australia. The list of recent and announced international features flming in Australia includes The Fall Guy, starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt; Ricky Stanicky, starring John Cena and Zac Efron; Ticket

to Paradise, starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts; and the as-yet-untitled sequel to Godzilla vs Kong, with Dan Stevens attached as lead. On the TV front, Apple TV+’s Shantaram starring Charlie Hunnam, was shot extensively in Melbourne, while the frst 10-part series of Nautilus — Disney+’s upcoming prequel to Jules Verne’s underwater fantasy Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea — recently wrapped at Queensland-based Village Roadshow Studios (VRS), home to the Elvis production, as well as Ticket to Paradise and the latest cinematic clash in the MonsterVerse King Kong franchise.

“Nautilus was based at VRS for over a year,” president of VRS, Lynne Benzie, says. “It was the longest project based at the studio that I can remember.” It was also a major coup for Queensland, contributing an estimated A$96m to the local economy and employing more than 1,400 Australians — 98% of the total crew — over its 274 production days. Moreover, 1,200-plus Australian vendors were engaged in the production. “The roll-on efect from big productions, whether domestic or international, has a big impact for the local economy, tourism and training,” Benzie adds.

Nautilus used VRS’ main water tank, which is the largest

BREAK-OUT SUCCESS

APPLE TV+’s epic series Shantaram is based on the best-selling novel by Australian Gregory David Roberts. The story is inspired by Roberts’ own epic backstory: he was a convicted bank robber who broke out of prison and fed to India. Once in Mumbai, he befriended an Indian man, set up a make-shift health clinic and acquired the name Shantaram, meaning Man of God’s Peace. The series, starring Charlie Hunnam in the lead role, starts with a nervewracking jail break from Melbourne’s Pentridge Prison — and continues at the same high-octane pace across its 12 episodes. With its “jam-packed” story arc, “Shantaram was an ambitious production,”

VicScreen’s Joe Brinkmann says. “It’s both a cinematic love story and a thrilling adventure that follows Charlie Hunnam’s character’s journey to redemption through a country that changes his life.” Shantaram was flmed at Melbourne’s Docklands Studios, with location shooting across Melbourne and regional Victoria. Queensbury Street, dressed with Indian market stalls and populated with extras from Melbourne’s large Asian community, served as one of the many stand-ins for Mumbai in the 1980s. “We had our incredibly experienced HODs, crew and businesses working on the series to achieve that aesthetic,” Brinkmann adds.

THE KING AND QUEENSLAND

BAZ LUHRMANN’s Elvis is one of the most successful flms ever to have come out of Queensland — despite being made during the pandemic under uniquely difcult circumstances. “It really brought together all the elements that make Queensland such an ideal place for large-scale production: the skill and artistry of our local crews, creatives, cast and extras, the fexibility of our studios and the incredible commitment of our state government towards supporting flm production,” Screen Queensland CEO

Courtney Gibson says. “To see Elvis capture the hearts and minds of audiences across the world, as well as garner recognition for our local creatives through numerous international awards, is such a testament to what the screen industry in Queensland can achieve.” Lynne Benzie, president of Village Roadshow Studios, where Elvis was flmed, agrees: “It was amazing how the production crew managed to pull it all together and create a safe environment in which everyone could carry on working.”

purpose-built facility of its kind in Australia. “Setting up water tanks is always a challenge,” Benzie says — and a look at the main tank’s vital statistics reveals why: it has a surface area of 1,200 sq m, holds seven million litres of water and takes 44 hours to fll. The next major production to set sail across the main tank was True Spirit, Netfix’s biopic of Jessica Watson, the 16-year-old Australian girl who was the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world.

VRS’ lot — the largest in the Southern Hemisphere — includes nine sound studios, three water tanks, 11 production ofces, nine construction workshops, 19 wardrobe lockups and six editing suites, enabling the studio to accommodate productions of all sizes and complexities. International projects are not only important in terms of budget and kudos, but also because they can generate infrastructure and training opportunities from which domestic productions can subsequently beneft — a case in point being the main water tank, which was built for Fool’s Gold in 2006. “But Stages 7, 8 and 9 were also built due to international production requirements,” Benzie says.

And those international productions keep on coming, attracted not only by VRS’ facilities and Queenland’s generous incentives, but by the picture-perfect locations of Australia’s sunshine state. Recent visitors include Land of Bad, starring Russell Crowe and Liam Hemsworth, which wrapped on the Gold Coast late last year, as did the sequel to Godzilla vs Kong — Legendary Pictures’ third production to be made in Queensland.

The feature flm Wizards! also shot in Queensland in 2022.

Queensland’s spectacular locations have successfully doubled for Bali (Ticket to Paradise), Thailand (Thirteen Lives) and even Tokyo (Pacifc Rim: Uprising). In addition to VRS and Screen Queensland Studios: Brisbane, which opened in 2019, Screen Queensland Studios: Cairns will be operational later this year, providing easier access to Far North Queensland’s stunning tropical locations. “Our studios are located in close proximity to some of Australia’s best beaches, bushland, rainforest/jungle and mountains, as well as an array of architectural options,” Screen Queensland CEO Courtney Gibson says. “And our enviable climate and lifestyle doesn’t hurt either…”

The Queensland Government’s Production Attraction Strategy, which Screen Queensland operates in combination with the Federal Government’s production incentives, was introduced in 2015, since when, 48 international and interstate projects have benefted from the state’s crews, locations and studios. In 2021, the Queensland Government introduced the Post, Digital and Visual Efects (PDV) Incentive which, at 15%, is the most competitive along Australia’s eastern seaboard. “In the last fnancial year, Screen Queensland supported a record-breaking number of international productions as a result of the PDV incentive,” Gibson says. “As well as The Infernal Machine, Foe and Yu Yu Hakusho coming to the state’s leading post-production companies, we are also seeing more end-to-end projects, such as Land of Bad, take advantage of the incentive.”

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LIKE ANOTHER WORLD

WHAT’s three times bigger than Texas and larger than Western Europe? The answer is Western Australia (WA), which occupies roughly one third of the entire Australian continent. As a result of its vast size — it extends nearly 1,500 miles from the tropical north to the coastal heaths of the far south — WA can ofer flmmakers just about any look under the sun, from urban city streets to idyllic seaside towns, endless plains, snow-white beaches, rich-red deserts, impenetrable forest and picturesque lakes — and otherworldly locations including Hutt Lagoon, also known as the Pink Lake. “The sweeping Swan River winds its way through the urban oasis of Perth, which boasts historic neighbourhoods and is complemented by one of the biggest inner-city parks in the

SCREEN TAX INCENTIVES

AUSTRALIA’s globally competitive incentives span grants and tax rebates for eligible Qualifying Australian Production Expenditure (QAPE). For international productions flming in Australia, these include the Location Ofset, which ofers a 16.5% tax rebate on QAPE, and the Location Incentive, which ofers a grant of up to 13.5%. The latter is a merit-assessed grant for projects that meet the requirements of the Location Ofset. To be eligible for the Location Incentive, productions must

world,” Screenwest’s head of production, Chris Verhuis, says. WA ofers the highest state incentive in Australia. Its burgeoning flm industry is also about to be bolstered by two new sounds stages, slated to open in mid-2025, which will complement the existing East Perth facility. WA’s recent credits include award-winning coming-of-age flm Sweet As, which was flmed in the regional town of Port Hedland and Karijini National Park; Robert Connolly’s marine-life drama Blueback; Paul Goldman’s 1970s boxing drama Kid Snow for Unicorn Films; and the third season of ABC’s Mystery Road: Origin. Coming up in 2023 are family movies Whale Shark Jack and Drone Racers, which are flming in WA’s stunning Gascoyne and Pilbara regions respectively.

have confrmed support from at least one state or territory government. This can increase savings by up to 10% in addition to the Australian Government Location Ofset and Incentive programme. Australia’s states and territories also ofer generous incentives and grants for productions wishing to flm in their regions; or for productions undertaking post, sound, music and visual efects with post and VFX studios in their states. In addition, the PDV Ofset is a 30% tax rebate for productions that undertake post, digital and visual efects in Australia. This can be combined with up to 15% from state and territory government incentives.

Gibson says that 2023 is shaping up to be another bumper year, kicking of with the latest in a suite of NBCUniversal/ Matchbox collaborations, Apples Never Fall, which started flming at VRS in March. The limited series, based on the bestselling book by Australian author Liane Moriaty (Nine Perfect Strangers, Big Little Lies), stars Annette Bening and Sam Neill.

Down in southeastern Australia, meanwhile, Victoria has also had a busy couple of years hosting premium international projects, including sci-f thriller Foe, starring Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal; season two of NBC’s sci-f hit La Brea; Michael Gracey’s biopic of Robbie Williams, Better Man; and epic adventure Shantaram, which premiered late last year on Apple TV+. Currently flming in the state is Academy Award-winning director Peter Farrelly’s new comedy Ricky Stanicky and crime thriller Sleeping Dogs, starring Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan.

Joe Brinkmann, VicScreen’s head of incentives and production support, runs through Victoria’s USPs, which range from a world-class screen ecosystem through competitive grants to spectacular — and spectacularly diverse — locations that can morph into just about anywhere in the world.

“Victoria’s capital, Melbourne, has doubled for a huge list of locations, from Boston to New York, Paris, Baltimore, Turkey, Dubai and Colombia,” Brinkmann says, noting that Melbourne is currently standing in for Rhode Island in Ricky Stanicky and a US east-coast university town in Sleeping Dogs. “We have a great mix of heritage, modern, art deco and contemporary streetscapes that can be transformed into any location,” he says. “Melbourne was even transformed into the bustling city of Mumbai for Shantaram. And just a short drive from the city, we also have beaches, forests, mountains, coastal villages…”

Another plus point is that Melbourne is Australia’s major events capital — a feature that came in handy during the flming of Robbie William’s biopic Better Man, which was shot live at the UK singer’s sold-out concert at Melbourne Rod Laver Arena last year. “Rod Laver is known for hosting the biggest names, from David Bowie to Taylor Swift,” Brinkmann adds. “It’s great to have venues like that in our back pocket to bring ambitious productions to life.”

Melbourne also boasts one of the largest sound stages in the Southern Hemisphere at Docklands Studios Melbourne, which is in the process of being ftted with a cutting-edge virtual-production infrastructure. The technology will include the largest permanent LED volumes in the world — hightech digital screens that can display realistic background environments and visual efects. Brinkmann says these will transform Victoria into a “global screen destination” on a par with Los Angeles, New York, London and Vancouver.

In common with the rest of Australia, Victoria ofers experienced crews, with international productions relying heavily on local skill and expertise. “A current example is that we have over 1,000 Victorians working on Ricky Stanicky,” Brinkmann says, adding that director Peter Farrelly is on record as saying that the production’s Victorian crew is “as good as he’s ever had anywhere in the world”.

Farrelly’s assessment of Australian crews could as easily be applied to the country’s locations, incentives, studios, post-productions facilities and screen talent, all of which rank among the best in the world. Ron Howard, who flmed Thirteen Lives, his gripping retelling of the 2018 Thai caves rescue mission, on Queensland’s Gold Coast, put it another way: in Australia, he said, “You can just get a lot of good work done”.

ASIA WELCOMES THE WORLD

AS THE WORLD’S LARGEST CONTINENT, HOME TO 4.5 BILLION PEOPLE AND AROUND 50 COUNTRIES, THERE’S NO QUESTION ASIA HAS IT ALL FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF FILM AND TV PRODUCTION. ANDY FRY REPORTS

SPEND some time exploring this part of the world and you’ll unearth an astonishing breadth of locations; a mesmerising array of ancient and modern architecture; experienced and efficient crews; and state-of-the-art studios and equipment. As Asia's strength as a filming hub continues to attract international projects, there is also an increasing array of competitive tax credits from which producers can benefit.

If there’s a challenge with Asia, it’s knowing where to start — which is where the Asian Film Commissions Network (AFCNet) comes in. Founded in 2004, it’s primary role is “to advance film

Gia Kim as Yuri in series one of XO, Kitty. Photo: Net ix. ©2023

industries in the Asian region by sharing location information about each member country and promoting their locations at global film markets,” AFCNet president Phil Choy says.

Choy, who is also head of the Busan Film Commission (BFC) in Korea, says that the AFCNet secretariat office has been run out of Busan since the organisation launched almost two decades ago: “During that time, we have fielded numerous enquiries from overseas producers about specific locations across Asia,” he says. “I'm always really happy to introduce our members’ wonderful locations to them — in the hope that this will provide a boost to Asia’s local economies.”

In total, AFCNet has 54 members, 40 of which are film commissions and governments. “This group covers a very wide group of options,” Choy says. “In addition to our Asia-Pacific members, for example, we have Middle Eastern members such as the Jordan Royal Film Commission. We also have 14 associate members, which are companies and organisations with an interest in the region.”

Choy adds that Asia’s appeal is about “new locations, new stories and new markets. The success of the streamers has shown there is an appetite for diverse stories and Asia is perfectly placed to support that. It’s not just about our locations, many of which have not been tapped into. The AFCNet is made up of young and enthusiastic film commissions and governments that are willing to put in every effort to support international productions.”

Proof that Asian talent is up to the job is the boom in local production by the global streaming platforms, Choy says. “Platforms like Netflix, Apple TV+, Disney+, Amazon, as well as local streamers, are already investing huge sums in local production. This year we have seen Netflix announce plans to spend an additional $500m on Korean content. And there are similar developments taking place across North Asia and Southeast Asia. All of this demonstrates that Asia has the talent and infrastructure to handle high-end production.”

ASIA HAS THE TALENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE TO HANDLE HIGH-END PRODUCTION

PHIL CHOY

Inevitably, the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on producers’ ability to travel. But Choy is keen to forge new connections with international partners now that the world has opened up. “We stayed in contact with partners online during COVID-19, but a key priority for 2023 is to tell our story face to face. We think our members have a lot to offer the international film community, but we also see an opportunity for Asian talent to gain experience through international collaborations. So a key part of our mission this year will be to network with possible partners at events like Hong Kong FILMART, Busan Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) and the American Film Market.” Asia is so vast it can appear daunting to outsiders. So it helps to think of it in terms of film clusters. The Middle East, led by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan is a booming hub, as is India. Heading East, Asia-Pacific’s filming activity (excluding mainland China) tends to centre on five primary destinations: Malaysia/ Singapore, Thailand/Cambodia, Korea, Japan and Taiwan. In each of these hubs, producers can find a range of location options, a film-friendly infrastructure and incentives. Malaysia, a leading economy in Southeast Asia, is now firmly established as a production hub — with a highly attractive

35% tax rebate (recently increased from 30%). Launched 10 years ago, the Film In Malaysia Incentive (FIMI) has accepted around 147 projects to date. A rebate investment of around $140m is reckoned to have brought around $700m in terms of production value to the country. A key beneficiary is Iskandar Malaysia Studios (IMS), a state-of-the art facility in Johor, which is effectively the gateway between Malaysia and Singapore. “Business has been growing strongly as a result of FIMI,” IMS CEO Rashid Karim says, “but the 5% uplift in 2022 has undoubtedly led to a surge in applications. I also think it helps that industry players like IMS have now established their credentials.”

While most of Asia can boast great locations, the presence of IMS is clearly a huge asset for Malaysia’s ambitions. “We’re a fully integrated facility,” Karim says, “housing soundstages, HD-equipped TV studios, water tanks, period standing sets, backlots and extensive production support facilities, all within an 80-acre lot. We’re close to an amazing array of locations.”

Karim says the studio has seen a bounce since COVID travel restrictions were fully lifted in April 2022. “We recently hosted Malbatt: Misi Bakara, a big-budget production which tells the true story of the war in Somalia, from the Malaysian perspective. Over 100 Malaysian soldiers were part of the UN peacekeeping force that helped rescue American troops — the basis for the film Black Hawk Down.”

As for international projects, “several high-end productions — primarily from US, UK and China — are expected to fill up the studios starting in Q2 this year. We have a US-based production by a major studio, led by a multiple-Oscar-winning team, coming; and we also expect Q3 and Q4 to be occupied with international projects.”

The consistency of the incentive has enabled IMS to futureproof its business with key strategic investments. “Work has started on phase-two of our Colonial Asian Standing Sets,” Karim says, “modelled on pre-war Penang and Singapore. Currently over 23 buildings have been completed with the construction of a full-scale hospital building. We are designing a full-scale period jetty that extends into an adjacent lake — and will add other assets, potentially prisons and police stations.”

Karim says IMS also anticipates rising demand for water filming facilities: “We have started to develop a series of wavemaking and water-effect systems to be equipped to our 500 sq m indoor tank as well as the 65 x 65-metre Paddock tank, including dump tanks, hydronic wave makers and water blasters.”

Neighbouring Singapore does not have an incentive like Malaysia — but it is still a film-friendly location that has pulled in projects such as big-budget romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians and the third season of Westworld. The Singapore Film Commission (SFC) estimates to have supported more than 800 projects across all formats in the last 25 years.

In location terms, Singapore’s strength is its blend of Asian and Western influences. From striking skyscrapers to period shophouses and luscious greenery, Singapore’s architecture has given it a reputation as being a ‘City in a Garden’. Among its most feted locations are Changi Airport, Chinatown, Little India, Marina Bay, the National Museum, Raffles Hotel, Sentosa Island and Victoria Theatre. Singapore has 350 parks including the world-famous Gardens By The Bay and Botanic Gardens.

Singapore is also one of the most wired countries in the region and has committed to investment in virtual production. It also has a relaxed attitude to film permitting compared with many Asian countries. Interestingly, Singapore has a long-standing alliance with the Philippines on matters relating to film and TV . In Cannes in 2023, the Singapore Film Commission organised a

joint Philippines-Singapore pavilion at the Marché du Film, with the Film Development Council Philippines (FDCP).

To the north of Malaysia and Singapore, but still on the Southeast Asian mainland, Thailand has also emerged as a popular filming destination. Thailand’s experience as a tourism hub has positioned it well — and this has been boosted by the country’s incentive scheme, which offers 15-20% cash rebate. In January 2023, the Thailand Film Office (TFO) reported that 2022 had been a record-breaking year, with 348 international projects generating $182m for the country — up from $148m in 2021. Nine projects, including seven from the US, secured rebates in 2022. In total, these were granted $10.2m and invested $60m in Thailand.

Recently Thailand has hosted a slate of Netflix original productions and Paramount+ series The Blue. In the latter, Thailand’s wide range of beautiful locations were used to double for the Philippines and Australia. Other high-profile projects to visit have included Fast & Furious 9, Da 5 Bloods, BBC scripted series The Serpent and Disney+’s Ms. Marvel, which managed to meet its production targets despite COVID disruption.

The Serpent’s quest for authenticity did succumb to COVID however, as executive producer Preethi Mavahalli explains: “We were so close to completing our long shoot in Bangkok when global events meant we had to suspend production. We had planned to film for a few days in Budapest at the end of the shoot but that plan now also looked unlikely. We were finally ready to remount the shoot in August but it took place in Tring, Hertfordshire in the UK. It wasn’t quite what we had imagined but our amazing crew were able to recreate a number of international locations including Kabul, Bangkok, Paris, Mumbai and Delhi, and everything went very smoothly.”

But in normal times most of the country is accessible to production, opening up a diverse array of locations. In 2022, the TFO named capital city Bangkok, Phuket Samut Prakan, Chang Mai and Phang Nga as its top-five film locations. “Bangkok is a major transportation hub and has various studios such as Moon Star and Montri,” according to the TFO. “Its markets are

popular with filming groups from Japan and Korea. Phuket is the largest island in Thailand as is especially popular with European producers.” Particular attractions near Phuket include Sirinat National Park, with its stunning white sand beaches and coral reefs.

PHUKET IS THE LARGEST ISLAND IN THAILAND AND IS ESPECIALLY POPULAR WITH EUROPEAN PRODUCERS TFO

In northern Asia, producers have intriguing options such as Japan and South Korea. Both are thought of as strong domestic production markets, with increasingly successful content export strategies. But there is also a growing ambition to host international productions — especially at a metropolitan level.

Japanese capital Tokyo is a case in point. Itto Kameshima, manager of the Tokyo Film Commission (TFC), calls Tokyo “one of the most unique cities in Japan, combining history, nature and cutting-edge technology. There is such a wide variety of spots where producers can shoot. For example, Asakusa, with its historical and cultural assets, Shibuya, the symbol of a cuttingedge city, and many Japanese gardens.”

As with any busy city, filming in Tokyo comes with certain restrictions. But Kameshima says that the Japanese capital is overcoming obstacles through technology. “Popular spots like the Shibuya Crossing have restrictions on shooting hours, so some companies have launched shooting environments in a 3D space”. An example is Geek Pictures, which operates a digital location service called Next G.

Not to be overlooked, Kameshima adds, is the TFC’s incentives programme for overseas film projects, “which includes ¥1m ($7,500) for location scouting and ¥7m for filming”.

Tokyo’s charm offensive seems to be paying off, with a

Tang Wei as Song Seo-rae in Park ChanWook’s Decision to Leave

growing number of movies, high-end TV and commercials visiting the city. Projects have come from countries and regions including Asia (mainland China, Hong Kong), Europe (France, Germany), and the US.

“In recent years, these include Tokyo Vice, a Japan-US co-production (HBO Max and WOWOW) which is currently flming a sequel,” Kameshima says. “Another high-profle production that came to Tokyo was Detective Chinatown, a popular Chinese flm series which flmed episode three here. As a result, the Tokyo Film Commission has developed extensive experience in assisting flming on location.”

Turning to Korea, the capital Seoul is seeking to capitalise on its reputation as a global leader in screen-based entertainment. Erica Ko, deputy general manager, international afairs, at the Seoul Film Commission says: “Seoul vividly shows the charm of the Korean wave. Since we have a strong local market, we have experienced professional crews and a strong technical infrastructure. The Seoul Metropolitan Region, comprised of Seoul, Incheon and the province of Gyeonggi, is home to 95% of Korea’s flm and TV-related companies and facilities. Over 40% of all local movies and TV productions are shot here each year.”

Ko says that Seoul and the wider Korean market have a number of high-quality studios. A key innovation in this area, she adds, is “the rise of virtual production studios. Representative studios such as Dexter Studio, VA Studio and CJ ENM Studio have been constructing virtual studios using LED Walls during this decade. According to the Ministry of Culture, the size of Korea's immersive content market, such as VR and AR, grew fve-fold between 2020 and 2022.”

According to Ko, producers visiting the city can tap into a range of incentives from the Korea Film Council and Seoul’s Metropolitan Government. “Seoul Film Commission runs three incentive programmes funded by the city government. These include location scouting support, screenplay development and production cost support.” Under the last heading, producers can access cash reimbursements “up to 30% of the production costs for foreign projects shot in Seoul — with a cap of approximately $231,000”.

Recent projects that showcase Seoul’s appeal include “US series such as XO, Kitty, a new spin-of from Netfix’s To All The Boys trilogy, and the second season of Dramaworld,” Ko says. “Last year, the flms we supported from the development stage to production cost were well received at flm festivals. These include a French feature, Return to Seoul and Ajoomma, a Singaporean-Korean feature. The directors and producers from these works mentioned that the strengths of Korean production are professional, talented, fexible crews.”

In terms of where the work comes from, Ko says: “After the successful flming of Avengers: Age of Ultron in Seoul in 2014, the number of enquiries from Hollywood productions increased, which subsequently led to more flming in Seoul. Since then, the Seoul Film Commission has supported the Production Cost Support for at least one American production every year, making the US the country that has flmed the most productions in Seoul. Alongside this, productions have come consistently from Southeast Asia, particularly Malaysia and the Philippines. France is the most consistent European country to flm in Seoul, with genres including documentaries, flms, and web series.”

Seoul is also a great gateway for other locations in Korea, Ko says, because of its comprehensive transportation network. “In addition, Korea also benefts from the Korea Film Commissions and Industry Network (KFCIN) which is located in Seoul. KFCIN is a federation that includes 13 regional flm commissions as

well as several industry associations. It is an important bridge between stakeholders and is also a major inbound contact point in marketing Korea as a location.”

Korea’s second city Busan is also an important hub in its own right, says Phil Choy, who promotes his own city in parallel to his AFCNet duties.

Blessed with a state-of-the-art urban infrastructure, the city has provided a one-stop service for flmmakers for more than 20 years, Choy says. “BFC has been running sound stages inside the city and we are also developed our virtual production capabilities. We have accumulated experience supporting big projects like Black Panther, Pacifc Rim: Uprising, Pachinko and numerous Asian flms.”

In total, Choy says, the BFC supports around 150 productions yearly. In 2022, this total included 26 features and 16 streamer dramas. “Many streamer productions from the likes of Netfix, Apple TV+, Disney+, Wavve and Tving have shot here recently. Productions have included Pachinko, D.P., Sweet Home, The Glory, Jung E and Reborn Rich. In addition, features including Decision to Leave (Park Chan Wook), Broker (Kore-eda Hirokazu) and Mother (Bong Joon Ho) shot in Busan.”

According to Choy, Busan is keen to build on this foundation: “BFC works closely with local government and its various agencies to provide location services to productions shooting in Busan. The city is also preparing a huge lot for exterior flm sets to the west of Busan. This will be the largest space ever in Korea for open-air sets. In addition, new global-standard sound stages are soon to be built here.”

Another jewel in North Asia’s crown is Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, located of the coast of China in the Pacifc Ocean. Discussing the city’s many attractions, Taipei Film Commission international co-ordinator Jessie Chang says the city has a rich creative heritage, with “internationally acclaimed masters like Hou Hsiao-hsien, Lee Ping-bing, Tsai Ming-liang, Tu Du-chih and the late Edward Yang all based in Taipei. Besides cinematic talents, Taipei is also the seat of some of the best animation studios in the world.”

Like Japan and Korea, Taiwan is building on its virtual production and VFX post-production capabilities in a big push to attract international productions. There are also funding opportunities: “Taipei Film Fund exists to encourage international co-productions,” Chang says. “There is also support at a national level, from funds such as TICP (Taiwan International Co-funding Programme). Run by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), this supports up to 30% of either a project’s production budget or global marketing budget.

“As of late February, we have had fve foreign productions in 2023,” Chang says. “Last year, there were a total of 556 productions in Taipei, including 61 international co-productions. Of these, 16 were feature flms.” Looking at projects set to beneft from the Taipei Film Fund in 2023, she points to: Red Line (Hong Kong), For My Country (France), My Heavenly City (Malaysia), Pierce (Singapore/Poland), Be with Me (US) and Snow In Midsummer (Malaysia). Black Ox (Japan/US) comes on stream in 2024.

Taiwan also prides itself on its tolerant culture, which Chang says was a factor in productions such as C B Yi’s Moneyboys, Abderrahmane Sissako’s The Perfumed Hill and Olivier Megaton’s recent flm project A Weekend In Taipei, all choosing Taipei. “We make sure productions know it is a friendly environment without censorship. Taiwan opens its door to all subjects including religion, politics, and LGBTQIA+. This enables flmmakers to release their creativity in the country.”

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Among recent projects to base themselves in Georgia, Net ix sensation Stranger Things

THEY KEEP COMING BACK

GEORGIA CONTINUES TO BUILD ITS REPUTATION AS A GO-TO LOCATION FOR NEW AND RETURNING SERIES AND MOVIES. ANDY FRY REPORTS

GEORGIA’s status as one of the world’s leading flm locations was re-afrmed in 2022, with the Peach State hosting a remarkable 412 productions.

Spearheaded by 32 big-budget feature flms, the state reported $4.4bn in production spend for 2021/22 — a new record. Following on from $4bn spend in 2020/21, there’s no question that Georgia has put COVID-19 disruption frmly in the rear-view mirror. Governor Brian Kemp says: “When the pandemic struck, we worked hard in Georgia to communicate with our partners in the Georgia flm, TV and streaming industries. Together, we forged a safe and appropriate path to allow the flm industry to return to operations. Because of this approach and the resiliency of our infrastructure, we are once again celebrating incredible growth and investment.”

Recent projects to have based themselves in the state include movie blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home and Netfix sensation Stranger Things Ozark, The Staircase and The Underground Railroad are just a few other titles that speak to the strength of the state’s ofer. Studios currently flming in the state include Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount, Fox, Starz, Netfix, AppleTV+ and Amazon Prime Video — a remarkable endorsement of the state’s production capabilities.

Georgia Film & Entertainment Ofce (GFO) deputy commissioner Lee Thomas says the reason producers keep coming back is that “we have a complete package. There’s a great incentive, tremendous infrastructure, deep crew base and easy access via the world’s busiest airport in Atlanta, which is the largest city in the state and the main hub for the industry. Factor in the diverse locations and temperate climate and you can see why they keep returning to the state.”

Thomas says the consistency of the incentive has been crucial both in terms of attracting production and giving local frms the confdence to invest. “There have been a few tweaks over the years as we have responded to changes in the market. But the bare bones have stayed the same — a 20% tax credit with a 10% uplift for producers that base some production across the state. The robustness and predictability of that incentive has helped us pull ahead of many of our rivals.”

This is particularly noticeable in terms of high-end stage space. “Georgia had 45,000 sq ft (4,180 sq m) of stage space in 2010, but now has around three million sq ft of purpose-built and retroftted stage space. An additional four-plus million sq ft of space is expected to come online in the next two years in order to meet demand.”

High-profle examples include the Assembly, a new studio built on the site of an old General Motors plant in Doraville. A 135-acre site, the studio has already been leased out to NBCUniversal by its owner Gray Television. This partnership is expected to create more than 4,000 new jobs in the state. Also in the Atlanta area, producers have access to Shadowbox Studios, formerly Blackhall Studios, an 850,000 sq ft site that has hosted big-budget movies including Jungle Cruise, Jumanji: The Next Level and Godzilla: King of the Monsters

Cinelease Studios – Three Ring has broken ground on a $144m studio expansion in Covington, while Electric Owl Studios has established a 17-acre site in Stone Mountain. Also signifcant is the new $60m Athena Studios complex in Athens, around one hour from Atlanta. Having opened in March 2023 with 200,000 sq ft of space, the company recently acquired another plot of land which will add a further 350,000 sq ft. It also announced a dedicated 14,600 sq ft sound stage and learning centre for the exclusive use of students

in the University of Georgia and the Georgia Film Academy programme. “Georgia’s thriving production industry will need talent for decades to come,” he said.

The GFO’s Thomas says that Georgia’s studio system isn't just adding space but delivering state-of-the-art tech to producers. Athena Studios, for example, has incorporated a ‘silent air’ system that allows recordings to be made while the air conditioner is on, while Electric Owl claims to be one of the world’s most environmentally-friendly studios.

Already up and running is the state-of-the-art Trilith complex which hosts 24 stages including two that are 50 ft high and have 30,000 sq ft areas. In 2021, leading studio-based equipment company MBS announced the opening of its new East Coast HQ at Trilith.

One of the most exciting new developments is Trilith’s new LED volume stage Prysm, which is hosting Francis Ford Coppola’s sci-f feature flm Megalopolis. Coppola’s flm is his frst in 25 years — and the frst flm to be shot on the Prysm stage. Michael Bederman, the flm’s producer, says: “What’s unique and exciting about shooting Megalopolis at Prysm is that we can marry traditional flmmaking experience, techniques and crew with the most advanced virtual production capabilities in the same space, accessing the best of both the physical and digital options available to flmmakers.”

While incentives plus infrastructure is the engine room of Georgia’s growth, Thomas says it’s important not to overlook the range and diversity of the state’s locations. “If you go all the way back to Deliverance in 1972, then you can see the mountains of Northern Georgia; but we also have big rivers, coastline and a wide range of rural looks. As for architecture, Atlanta can double for New York and LA, but there are also anytownAmerica locations nearby.”

As a recent case in point, NBC series Ordinary Joe used Atlanta to replicate quite specifc New York scenes. Producer/ director Chris Koch said the show was able to “pull of all sorts of looks. A 9/11 memorial scene was staged in Atlanta’s Olympic Park and you can’t tell. Atlanta’s Piedmont Park became Central Park.” The show also needed an upscale New Jersey-style lake house. The production team found the ideal location just 45 minutes away, in complete contrast to the city.

IF YOU GO ALL THE WAY BACK TO DELIVERANCE IN 1972, THEN YOU CAN SEE THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN GEORGIA

MICHAEL BEDERMAN

Shelbia Jackson is director of DeKalb County entertainment commission, one of the two main counties in the vicinity of Atlanta. “DeKalb is home to several of the new studio complexes including Assembly, Shadowbox and Electric Owl,” she says. “But we’re also a flm-friendly county that has had built a really robust process for fnding locations and organising permits.”

According to Jackson, the county has the potential to double for cities like New Orleans, though she also points out that “the studios are busy building sets in their new backlots. Assembly, for example, is putting up facades of New Orleans, a New York brownstone and Europe.”

The year 2022 was good for DeKalb, Jackson says: “The year 2021 had been extremely busy because of all the pent-up

demand after the pandemic — and 2022 continued in a similar vein. We welcomed around 100 projects including scripted and non-scripted TV series, films and commercials.”

Projects to pass through DeKalb included CBS TV series MacGyver and ABC’s Will Trent, the latter a detective series based on books set in and around Atlanta. Other high-profile projects were Netflix series Raising Dion and upcoming $200m sci-fi film The Electric State, starring Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things). Also a Netflix project, Jackson says: “That was a really interesting project which created some fantastic post-apocalyptic scenes here in DeKalb.”

Lavish family movie Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile also used locations and sets in DeKalb to double for New York City. Co-director Will Speck says “shooting in Atlanta was great. It was such a special thing to have sound stages where we could completely recreate New York.”

The second biggest filming centre in the state is the beautiful city of Savannah, around four hours to the East and situated on the Atlantic coast. The Savannah Film Commission (SFC) recently lost its dynamic executive director Erin Fraser, who sadly passed away in early 2023, leaving behind what the Savannah team says was a “very strong year, with $207m of direct economic impact across all productions. We welcomed more than 20 films in 2022 — including blockbusters — as well as TV series, commercials and music videos.”

Highlights included acclaimed movie The Menu, which saw

the region around Savannah double for the Pacific Northwest. One of the most eye-catching was a sequence filmed on Driftwood Beach, which is located on Jekyll Island, about 90 minutes from Savannah.

Savannah benefits from several key attributes: locations is a big part of the story — but not just the beautiful historic architecture that the city is known for. It also has turn-of-the20th century architecture and mid-century homes that have the feel of Florida’s Cocoa Beach. There’s also an array of brand new contemporary homes, so it has every time period available.

Savannah’s mid-century look will be neatly showcased in Project Artemis, AppleTV+’s upcoming movie starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum. Set against the backdrop of the space race in the 1960s, Savannah downtown, Tybee Island and Fort Pulaski all feature as locations. The latter, which doubles for the Kennedy Space Centre, is around 20-30 minutes from the city.

Other recent projects have included AppleTV+ series Manhunt, set after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and AMC’s Fear The Walking Dead

Underlining how serious the city is about consolidating its position as a filming hub, it has introduced its own local incentive which can be used in conjunction with the state incentive. This offers a 10% rebate on qualifying spend for both film and TV productions — with a $100,000 cap on films and $250,000 on TV series. The ambition is to secure a returning TV

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Campus architecture includes 30 beautiful collegiate Gothic and Victorian red brick-and-stone buildings. Among these are our award-winning observatory, traditional and contemporary lecture halls and auditoriums, library, dining hall, John Portmandesigned art gallery, bell tower, chapel and athletic facilities. The college also owns several residential homes adjacent to the campus that can be used as locations or as production ofces.

Agnes Scott College has been the location for more than 20 feature flms including “Scream 2,” “Fried Green Tomatoes,” “The Blind Side,” “Confrmation,” “Life of the Party,” a college comedy featuring Melissa McCarthy; and “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” starring Oprah Winfrey.

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Located in Atlanta, Agnes Scott College sits on 100 acres of classically beautiful historic buildings, quadrangles and academic spaces. The college’s exceptional architecture, traditional as well as modern interiors and beautifully landscaped green spaces make it an ideal location for feature productions, television shows, commercials and still photography.

We’re an experienced production location. Our flmfriendly campus is centrally located, compact and logistically accessible. The campus has ample parking space for production crews and actors. We also have on-campus staging areas for base camps and parking for full-size semi trucks.1

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series for Savannah, to create an ongoing pipeline of work and investment. Longer term, the SFC team “would love to have a studio here and it’s something we are working towards every day”.

Location manager Stephen Yetman’s career credits have included Oscar-winning movie Cold Mountain and the Stephen King adaptation Mr. Mercedes. Originally from South Carolina, his work is increasingly based around Savannah.

Recent projects where Yetman has utilised Savannah locations include Hulu Original's The Act, starring Patricia Arquette and The Girl From Plainville, starring Elle Fanning. In 2022, “I spent a lot of the year working on Panhandle, a Spectrum series about an eccentric armchair detective who gets teamed up with a reluctant trafc cop.”

For Panhandle, Yetman used one of the most popular flming locations in the Savannah region — Myrtle Grove plantation house. Previously used for projects including Glory, The Underground Railroad and Birth of a Nation, the house becomes the home of the central character in Panhandle

Like all flming destinations, Georgia has a handful of key clusters — but the GFO’s Thomas is keen that the benefts of production should be felt across the state. “We have the regional 10% uplift,” she says, “but there is also our Camera Ready Community programme. All 159 counties across the state have a representative, so that when we get a script requiring a specifc location we can blast out a message and see what comes back. What I’d also say is that the benefts of flming in Georgia aren't just about getting production out there. If the carpets or lumber are sourced from somewhere in the state then that’s an example of economic impact being shared around.”

Among communities that have benefted from the Georgia flm boom is Macon, about 80 miles south of Atlanta.

Aaron Buzza, COO at Visit Macon, says Macon has “some incredible architecture. The historic preservation throughout the community, and especially in the downtown area, makes Macon work well for productions that need historic looks.”

Other places enjoying a surge in flming activity include coastal city Brunswick, which has hosted Netfix series Pieces of Her and Marvel movie Black Panther: Wakanda Forever The nearby locations of St Simons island and St Mary have also featured in recent projects, including Doctor Sleep.

Augusta, famed for golf’s iconic Masters tournament, has also emerged as an intriguing option for producers, recently hosting The Mule and Suicide Squad. “But more usually we would welcome small- to mid-sized independent productions or flms that go straight to streaming,” the city’s flm liaison Jennifer Bowen says. “We’ve had MarVista Entertainment shooting here in recent times and, before that, Dennis Quaid was here for The Hill.”

The city’s diverse array of architecture is a major draw for a few reasons: “Augusta was one of the few places to avoid destruction in the American Civil War, so we have a lot of 17th- and 18th-century buildings,” Bowen says. “Later, people would use Augusta as a winter resort, building their own distinctive homes here. So we have an eclectic range of Tudor-, Mediterranean- and New England-style properties.”

With its strong incentive and studios popping up across the state, there’s no question Georgia is in good shape. But is there anything else that needs to be done to future-proof its success story? “The main thing is probably crew depth,” the GFO’s Thomas says, “but we’ve been working hard on that since the creation of the Georgia Film Academy in 2015. By working with universities, technical colleges and key stakeholders like the studios and the union IATSE, we’re building a craft base that ofers career opportunities across communities.”

“AUGUSTA WAS ONE OF THE FEW PLACES TO AVOID DESTRUCTION IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR”

JENNIFER BOWEN

Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde in Ozark, shot in the state of Georgia

CANADA

LET'S TALK ABOUT CANADA

CANADA’S PRODUCTION INDUSTRY REMAINS ROCK SOLID, ITS DECADES OF STATE SUPPORT AND THE BUILDING OF INTERNATIONAL CO-PRODUCTION TREATIES AND ITS WEALTH OF HOME-GROWN TALENT TOGETHER FORM A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR WHENEVER TIMES GET TOUGH. THIS YEAR’S OSCARS REMINDED US THAT THIS COUNTRY, WITH A POPULATION ONE-10TH OF ITS MIGHTY NEIGHBOUR THE US, IS STILL PUNCHING ABOVE ITS WEIGHT. DEBBIE LINCOLN REPORTS

Rooney Mara, Judith Ivey, Claire Foy and director Sarah Polley on the set of Women Talking, an Orion Pictures Release.

Photo: Michael Gibson

CANADA took an Oscar in 2023, for the film Women Talking, from Canadian director Sarah Polley. The prestigious award went to Polley for best adapted screenplay and the film was also nominated as Best Picture.

The adaptation was from a book by Miriam Toews, the fictionalisation of a true story in which women of an isolated religious colony reveal a shocking secret about the colony's men. For years, the men have drugged the women and then raped them. The truth comes out in conversations between victims.

“When I read Miriam Toews’ book, it sunk deep into me, raising questions and thoughts about the world I live in that I had never articulated. Questions about forgiveness, faith, systems of power, trauma, healing, culpability, community and self-determination. It also left me bewilderingly hopeful,” Polley says. “I imagined this film in the realm of a fable. While the story in the film is specific to a small religious community, I felt that it needed a large canvas, an epic scope through which to reflect the enormity and universality of the questions raised in the film. To this end, it felt imperative that the visual language of the film breathe and expand. I wanted to feel in every frame the endless potential and possibility contained in a conversation about how to remake a broken world.”

The life of the film began with producer and actor Frances McDormand, who optioned the book and approached producer Dede Gardner of US production company Plan B about making the film together. “I found it thought provoking in a completely surprising and nuanced way and believed it had value for the conversation I was having with my community,” McDormand says. “I was interested in it being a debate that had a sense of humour and hope and possibility for the future.”

McDormand says that Gardner was extraordinarily well-prepared. “She had diagrams, she had broken down the novel in a way that made it seem possible to adapt to cinematic form. I was so excited that I was with someone who had a passion for developing it and also an extraordinary

determination to get it made soon, with a female filmmaker. We both decided it had to be someone who both writes and directs, someone who could adapt it,” she says.

Polley was their first choice and Gardner says she has “wanted to work with her for 100 years, but she’s super selective”. Given that the author is from Toronto, and so is Polley, there was more than a slim chance that Polley would say yes. “There was a Canadian strain of DNA that felt proper,” Gardner says.

The mutual admiration society grew and Polley jumped at the chance when she heard that McDormand and Gardner had optioned the book. “I immediately set out to find out if I could be a part of the project,” Polley says.

The movie moved away from the book in several ways, taking a contained story and making it more suited to the big screen. "The thing that the book and the movie share is that, despite all the things that they discuss, there’s a real sense of movement and a victory at the end of it,” Gardner says.

McDormand approves of the changes: “What surprised me was how epic Sarah saw the film. I think maybe I imagined it more intimate and perhaps more stylistically rustic, but she understood that to give it its due it had to have an epic grandeur to it.”

Women Talking was filmed in studios and on location at a farm in southern Ontario, from July to September 2021. Exterior scenes were shot at the farm, as well as some interior shots using sets built on location.

But this beautiful location presented challenges. The original schedule was to shoot three solid weeks at the farm and then four weeks in the studio, but heavy rain forced production to move around between locations. The farm was an hour outside Toronto and required some filming to happen at 4am to make the most of daylight — because the scenes all take place in a 24-hour span. For the biggest exterior days, the production involved 86º temperatures with 100% humidity, 65 extras, 22 COVID health and safety staff, thousands of flies, mosquitos, 10 chickens, six animal wranglers, 15 horse-cart drivers and 14 wagons pulled by 24 horses.

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Toews visited the set during production and was “struck by how hard everybody is working”, impressed with the detail in the art direction, set decoration and building and the “brilliant, brilliant casting” — that includes McDormand, Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jesse Buckley and Ben Wishaw.

Scenes of the women debating were filmed at a studio set that replicated a barn’s hayloft. The farm acted “like a backlot for the film” where they were able to “lay down roads and then put buildings on them”, production designer Peter Cosco says.

The farmer who owns the land was very accommodating — to the point that he even changed his crop from corn to soy, which grows low. Cosco used the existing L- shaped barn but built additional structures, including a schoolhouse and a wash house. With its windmill and water tower, Cosco describes the wash house as “everybody’s favourite build” that features in a key scene with Ona (Mara) and August (Whishaw) sitting on its roof looking at the stars.

Attention to authenticity guided much of the production design work as Cosco’s crew portrayed details in the women’s domestic duties “from canning to sewing”. The set-up of the kitchens was important as these spacious rooms with big tables for large families were the focal point of family life.

The loft scenes presented challenges because they involved both the actual barn loft and the studio replica. That sense of an elevated place was reinforced in the studio by building the hayloft set 2.5 metres off the ground with loft ceilings that reached seven metres. The actors and crew all had to climb up to it daily, mirroring the real barn and the sense of being up in the roof.

Canada has been enjoying success on the small screen too. The Last of Us, a hit series for HBO — and the most expensive series ever made for that company at a reported $10m per episode — shot all over Alberta, focusing particularly on Calgary, the largest city in the western Canadian province.

Set 20 years after modern civilisation collapsed, The Last of Us is based on a 2013 video game. It’s set 20 years into a pandemic caused by a mass infection, which causes its hosts to transform into zombie-like creatures. The series follows Joel, a smuggler tasked with escorting immune teenager Ellie across a post-apocalyptic Unites States — played by Alberta.

“Calgary’s vibrant screen industries sector experienced exponential growth over the last 12 months,” Calgary film commissioner Luke Azzevedo says. “The Calgary Film Commission provided services to 144 film, television and digital media entertainment projects in 2022, including HBO’s The Last of Us, Disney’s Prey and Fargo, Fraggle Rock, Joe Pickett, Heartland and High School."

Alongside its facilities, infrastructure and overall filmfriendliness, what also attracts productions to Alberta is the Film and Television Tax Credit (FTTC) programme that offers support to medium and large-scale productions filming in the province. The FTTC offers a refundable Alberta tax credit certificate on eligible Alberta production and labour costs to corporations that produce films, TV series and other screenbased productions there. Applicants from outside of the province can apply for a 22% tax credit rate. Applications to the programme are accepted continuously.

Next door — to the east of Alberta — the government of Saskatchewan announced it was increasing investment into the province’s film and television industry. This includes the introduction in 2022 of the Feature Film & TV Grant Program of up to $5m. “This grant invests in television and featurelength film projects with commercial intent, that shoot in Saskatchewan or employ Saskatchewan-based crew for production and post-production,” Megan Jane, manager of marketing and communications Creative Saskatchewan, says. “We have had 17 film and TV productions that have begun filming in the province since the programme opened, with another 11 expected to have started filming in Q1 this year.”

Jane adds: “Some of the major productions that have already shot include TV comedy Our Big Punjabi Family, docuseries Guardians of the North and the movie Summer at Charlotte’s A female-led, South Asian comedy series, Our Big Punjabi Family has an estimated spend of over $1,867,000

The Porter, shot in Manitoba

“WHAT SURPRISED ME WAS HOW EPIC SARAH SAW THE FILM ”

FRANCES MCDORMAND

Photo courtesy of Tourism Saskatchewan photography by Andrew Hiltz

on Saskatchewan labour, goods and services with a total economic output of $3.5m for Saskatchewan. Creative Saskatchewan has committed $746,818 via the Feature Film & Television Production Grant Program.

“A production of this calibre will inject more than $1,019,000 into local labour alone,” CEO of Creative Saskatchewan, Erin Dean says. “Never mind the countless opportunities for Saskatchewan’s hospitality and services sector,” worth over $278,000, according to production estimates. “Productions need accommodation, food and beverage services, costumes, props, skilled trades labour to build sets, legal and accounting support and so much more.” The economic impact of the project also includes 18 production days, with training initiatives and the hiring of at least 40 Saskatchewan crew. “We’re very excited to see the snowball efect of investment,” Dean adds.

Neighbouring province, Manitoba, claims “the best tax incentive in North America: up to 65% on eligible Manitoba labour or up to 38% on eligible Manitoba expenditures, including eligible Manitoba labour”, director, marketing & communications, Manitoba Film & Music, Janice Tober says.

MANITOBA HAS THE BEST TAX INCENTIVE IN NORTH AMERICA”

JANICE TOBER

Reporting “a terrifc year", Tober says "in 2021-22, we had our highest production volume to date, with 88 productions including 27 feature flms. Productions such as The Porter were flmed here, which just received 19 nominations from the Canadian Screen Awards. Little Bird is a drama series that had its world premiere at Series Mania in Lille,” Tober says. “Last December, The Globe and Mail included Little Bird on its list of ‘fve of the most exciting, intriguing new series coming to small screens this year’. Recent feature flms include Violent Night,

Nobody, Flag Day and The Ice Road.”

Next door in Ontario, Ottawa has announced a recordbreaking year in 2022 with over $57m generated in local production spending, according to Sandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos, flm commissioner at the Ottawa Film Ofce. “This represents 30 flms — including 16 holiday movies — 15 TV series in both English and French, and several commercial and corporate videos. Our local crews and talent have produced content for Amazon, Hallmark, Lifetime, Tubi, Discovery+, VH1, the Oprah Winfrey Network and more. We anticipate 2023 to be even more successful with larger projects on the horizon.”

With the growth of the local flm and television industry, and plans for a soundstage in development, the Ottawa Film Ofce is also looking at diferent ways to increase workforce capacity. “The ofce is working collaboratively with unions, guilds, post-secondary institutions, and industry to identify skills gaps and ofer training in those areas, such as location scouting and production accounting. Workforce development, with a lens towards diversity, equity and inclusion, is one of the flm ofce’s priorities.” Pechels de Saint Sardos says.

Canada’s easternmost province, Quebec, “is recognised for its highly skilled, talented, creative, innovative, efcient, bilingual workforce and for its wide variety of locations and cutting-edge technical infrastructures”, according to Viviane Agostino of the Quebec Film and Television Council (QFTC). “The province of Quebec ofers a tax incentive that can go up to 42.66%. There is no cap, no sunset clauses, or expiration dates, and credits are fully refundable.”

And Canada’s trend towards growth continues here too: “With more than 55,000 workers, its combined sectors — foreign production, visual efects, animation and domestic production — account for $2.6bn in direct spend in Quebec, which represents a 4% increase over 2021,” Agostino says. “With its four seasons, its vast territories and its ability to replicate Europe and northern countries, Quebec has so much to ofer. We invite producers to contact us at the QFTC to learn more about the perks of flming in this beautiful province.

Shooting Twas the Night Before Christmas in Quebec. Photo: Albert Camicioli

Je ne regrette rien...

ALEKSEI IS A YOUNG BELARUSIAN SEEKING A NEW LIFE IN FRANCE. ON THE RUN FROM A PAST THAT HE BURIES WHEN HE LOSES HIS FRIEND MIKHAIL, ALEKSEI THROWS HIMSELF INTO A DANGEROUS WORLD WHEN HE BECOMES A MEMBER OF THE FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION, WITH THE PROMISE OF FRENCH NATIONALITY. JULIAN NEWBY MET WITH THE FILM’S DIRECTOR GIACOMO ABBRUZZESE IN BERLIN, AHEAD OF ITS SCREENING IN COMPETITION AT THE 2023 BERLINALE

FOLLOWING a harrowing journey across Europe, Aleksei (Franz Rogowski) reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion — a highly selective military outfit that allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport.

Meanwhile in the Niger Delta, Jomo (Morr Ndiaye) is fighting against oil companies that threaten the survival of his village. His sister Udoka (Laetitia Ky) dreams of escaping, knowing that all is already lost here. Aleksei, Jomo and Udoka are destined to come together — in real life and in fantasy as they each struggle with what their lives might become. With Aleksei a soldier and Jomo an ecowarrior, their paths cross in combat in the jungle. Jomo dies and Aleksei is filled with guilt and starts to dig a grave with his bare hands.

He is haunted by what happened after he returns to the barracks. During a rowdy night with his comrades in a Paris disco, he separates himself and looks for the girl who had performed a mysterious African dance in the night club. He imagines her to be Jomo’s sister Udoka and at this point the film blurs real life with fantasy. During a brutal training session with the Legion, Alexsei refuses to join in the singing of Edith Piaf’s song Je ne regrette rien. The commander reprimands him and tries

Franz Rogowski as Aleksei in Disco Boy

to convince him of the virtues of war. He would get a French passport in five years’ time, he could fall in love with a French woman, have children and send them to a good school. But Aleksei turns his back on him, places his residence permit in his locker and sets fire to it, along with his uniform.

The use of locations planned from the outset for Disco Boy, was ambitious for a debut feature. The action begins in Belarus as Aleksei and his friend Mikhail board a bus to Poland to watch a football match. On limited visas for the event, they make a break for it in Poland and begin a dangerous escape, headed for France and the French Foreign Legion.

Jomo and Udoka’s story meanwhile begins in the Niger Delta and the story eventually ends up in Paris.

“Shooting in the Niger Delta would have been very expensive so we had to renounce that very quickly,” director Giacomo Abbruzzese says. “We decided to use the French island Réunion, which is close to Madagascar. It was easier for insurance, for crew and also we got some funding from the island, as it’s a region of France.” He adds: “This island is superb as a tourist destination so we really had to find the most wild corner, where I don’t think anybody had shot before. For the border between Belarus and Poland we actually shot on the border between Ukraine and Poland — and Paris was Paris.”

By the end of 2019, Abbruzzese felt that the project had reached an impasse, considered too ambitious for a first fea-

ture film and he expressed his desire to change producers. “We decided to accompany him on his first feature film, convinced of our artistic affinity and of the free, yet structured, framework that we could guarantee him,” according to producers Lionel Massol and Pauline Seigland. “We then decided to rethink the co-production structure, relying on the partners already in place, including Charades (France), Dugong Films (Italy) and Donten & Lacroix in Poland. We brought Belgium (Panache Productions, already Giacomo’s partner on another project) into the equation and repatriated sets to France to maintain greater artistic control and increase financing possibilities.”

The promise of a distinctly original film convinced KMBO, Canal+ and Ciné+ — the national funds of each country — and then Eurimages, to get on board. The shooting, postponed for the first time because of the pandemic, finally started in the fall of 2021.

Abbruzzese describes the narrative of the film as “fluid, punctuated by sudden, violent ruptures. Disco Boy unfolds in a porous present under constant pressure from the past, which manifests itself sometimes psychologically, sometimes

in the form of hallucinations, dreams or supernatural events that escape categorisation,” he says. “I like to start from a documented reality, drawing from the real and then re-writing it. For me there is a mental dimension in film staging, flowing from a character’s perception. From the outset, I have integrated the river as a motif. In mythology, the river is where the living cross over into the land of the dead; here it is where realistic situations become fantasy-like and sensorial. There is the Oder, then the Seine and the Niger. The presence of the river water progressively unhinges perception and brings the film into a more dreamlike dimension.”

He says the film begins with “a naturalistic aesthetic which progressively slides into a psychedelic and shamanic register. And then little by little we go in a spiral into the heart of darkness of the movie, which is African dance — and all the elements that move around the dance — that is the structure of the film. And then you have the chapters — the first when they leave Belarus, and Aleksei reaches Paris and joins the Foreign Legion; then the story-in-a-story of the eco-terrorist. When Aleksei and Jomo cross paths in the jungle the movie becomes more psychedelic, even shamanic — internal and silent. I like it when a movie is a whole trip.”

The film was shot in Île de France, Réunion and Poland. Image post-production took place between Belgium, Italy and France; and sound post-production was done in Italy and France. The technical team and the cast are of 14 different nationalities, from the Ivory Coast to Croatia through Germany and Nigeria. Casting on five territories by eight people was carried out over two years.

Other artistic collaborators who joined the adventure include world-renowned electronic music artist Vitalic — Disco Boy is his second film soundtrack. For the dance scenes in the Niger Delta and in France, Abbruzzese worked with Nigerian choreographer Qudus Onikeku.

The film was well received when screened in Official Selection at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival. But with COVID, the struggle to get the financing and the moving from one tough location to the next, Abbruzzese is clear he wants to do things differently next time.

“This film was so hard. I hope after Disco Boy I will not have to work in such an intense way. But in the end the film is there and the core of the film is exactly what I wanted; it looks like what I wanted — the compromises were a bet, and the bet was won.”

I LIKE IT WHEN A MOVIE IS A WHOLE TRIP

GIACOMO ABBRUZZESE

Giacomo Abbruzzese

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