Greece does appear to be transforming into a “little Hollywood”, seeing that more and more international productions are choosing the country as the setting for their shoots.
Notable recently was, for example, the filming of David Cronenberg’s new film “Crimes of the Future” in Athens, as is the shooting of “Tin Soldier,” starring Robert De Niro, which is currently underway in Thessaloniki and other areas in northern Greece.
Of course, it’s not on rare occasion that filming for international cinema also takes place on the Greek islands, such as Corfu, Crete, Rhodes, Mykonos, and Kefalonia. Now, Paros can be added to the list as well.
While the German reality show “Are You The One,” is currently being carried out for the third time on the popular island, Paros has also been chosen by many large companies as the setting for their advertisement campaigns, shot at various locations around the island.
And thus, Paros, an island known for its nightlife and typical Cycladic architecture, now also draws a different type of visitor, as it becomes an epicenter for what is known as “film tourism.”
Very beneficial to local economies, film tourism is known to support communities not only during the actual shooting of films, but also long term.
“Film tourism has proved to have significant economic benefits, both in the short term,during filming, and in the long term, depending on the exposure of each production in the media, and it is definitely one of the best reinforcements of a place as it helps grow its tourism season,” said Paulina Kaskanioti, a producer at Central Athens Film Productions.
Referring specifically to Paros, she added: “Today I am certain that it could handle large productions just as well as the locations that hosted “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” “Les Cyclades,” “The Enforcer” “and “Expendables 4” for Millennium, “GO” (the continuation of “Knives Out”) for Netflix, the third season of “Jack Ryan” for Amazon, the second season of “Tehran” by Apple, and so many more.”
With information from AMNA.
This article was previously published in Greek at kathimerini.com.
