This year’s Best European Film Location Award was given to the island of Corfu. The Greek island was chosen through an online vote of Internet users which ended on November 30th. The island was competing against 12 other locations, including the Valle dei Calanchi, near Viterbo, Italy, the setting for Alice Rorhwacher’s Italian Happy as Lazzaro, and the Tabernas Desert (Spain), seen in Jacques Audiard’s Sisters Brothers.
The island had been chosen by the Greek Film Centre’s Hellenic Film Commission as the location for the ITV and PBS series, The Durrells, an English series based on the autobiographical books of writer / conservationist Gerald Durrell. Corfu received funding for four years from EKOME, the Greek National Centre for Media and Audiovisual Communication.
The island’s old town of Corfu is one of the many UNESCO-protected monuments in Greece. Nikos Pappas, the Greek Minister of Communication, Media and Digital Affairs, said Greece “has made a dynamic entry into audiovisual production with its unparalleled landscapes.” He also hopes this award will attract new series.
Cineuropa, one of the organizers of the award, reacted to the island’s top placement: “Corfu is among the most beautiful and popular Greek islands. Due to its strong historical connection with Europe, it was one of the first Greek islands to open up to tourism. Located on the north-western side of the country, on the Ionian Sea, Corfu island has a cosmopolitan feeling combined with a special, traditional character.”
Created by EUFCN and Cineuropa, the first award, given in 2017, went to the German city of Görlitz, location for Wes Anderson’s film, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Sources: https://www.amna.gr, https://greece.greekreporter.com
