Having successfully hosted last June the production of Jiu Jistu,Dimitri Logothetis’ science fiction and martial arts film, Cyprus will soon be the location for his new film. Jiu Jistu was the first international film exclusively shot on the island and featured Nicolas Cage and Alain Moussi.
The production was helped by the financial incentives created by Invest Cyprus, a local investment agency. The government has allocated an annual budget of $28 million to the agency, granting tax credits or rebates of up to 35% of the costs incurred by directors working on Cypriot soil. These grants are part of the government’s plan to make the island an “Olivewood”, competing with Hollywood and Bollywood. The name was chosen as a nod to the island’s important olive production, an important part of its heritage. As evidenced by the olive branches on the island’s flag.
A selection committee, including a representative of the Ministry of Tourism, decides which film projects will benefit from these grants. Since its creation, the committee has approved five projects. Shortly after Jiu Jitsu, the film S.O.S: Survive or Sacrifice made Cyprus its setting. Many categories of production can benefit from the grants: feature films, TV series, documentaries, animated films and televised history research programmes are all eligible.
The Cyprus-based filming of Jiu Jistu ended in September, and now Dimitri Logothetis is planning to shoot a second film there, Man of War, already in pre-production with a script by Gary Scott Thompson. The project, which has been approved by the Cypriot investment committee, should start shooting between March and April 2020.
Logothetis also has a new film fund of more than $250 million. The director is prepared to invest half of this in order to produce films on the island, recently meeting a Cypriot minister and representatives of Invest Cyprus to discuss ways of bringing major productions to Cyprus.
Source:
http://www.la-croix.com
https://cyprus-mail.com
https://film.investcyprus.org
https://www.filmneweurope.com
https://www.forbes.com
https://in-cyprus.com
