Greece arrived on the Cannes Film Festival buoyed by a string of latest worldwide shoots — like Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” within the Peloponnese and “The Riders,” the Brad Pitt-led A24 title that filmed on the island of Hydra and throughout mainland Greece earlier this yr –- as officers made the case that the nation’s “Greece on Screen” audiovisual technique is translating into sustained momentum.
The Selection International Conversations panel at Cannes introduced collectively Leonidas Christopoulos, CEO of the Hellenic Movie and Visible Middle (Ecomed); Orestis Andreadakis, creative director of the Thessaloniki Worldwide Movie Pageant and the Thessaloniki Worldwide Documentary Pageant; movie producer Konstantina Stavrianou; and Edouardos Kalimeris, producer at Argonauts Productions.
“Greece on Screen” is the government-approved, five-year motion plan working from 2026-2030 that’s backed by a baseline finances of €800 million ($927 million). Christopoulos mentioned the quantity may rise to €1 billion ($1.15 billion) relying on how this system develops. Greater than €700 million ($811 million) is directed to its first pillar, which covers the present 40% money rebate for worldwide productions, a brand new mortgage assure program for Greek producers and the simplification of funding procedures. Additional pillars cowl cultural diplomacy, competition assist and funding in training, coaching, know-how and innovation.
“There is currently an €8 million ($9.2 million) cap on the 40% incentive, but we are discussing increasing it in the next five years,” Christopoulos mentioned.
Ecomed, which administers the plan, was fashioned by merging the previous Greek Movie Middle and the Nationwide Audiovisual Middle right into a single physique. A brand new technical faculty is being established in 2026 to increase the pool of certified crew and post-production staff, alongside a middle of excellence for video gaming.
The latest manufacturing roster extends nicely past Nolan and Pitt. Ruben Östlund shot “Triangle of Sadness” on the island of Evia, the place Basque filmmaker Lara Izagirre can also be getting ready to shoot her adaptation of Federico García Lorca’s “Yerma” inside weeks. Kalimeris cited Apple TV’s espionage thriller “Tehran” and the primary two seasons of Prime Video’s “House of David” amongst quite a few different worldwide productions to have used Greece, with the latter filming throughout biblical and chateau areas with native crews.
David Cronenberg shot “Crimes of the Future” within the nation and, in an interview, mentioned “the best technicians in the world are in Greece,” as recalled by Andreadakis on the panel. Greek crew are additionally constructing careers internationally. Kalimeris cited a spotlight puller he labored with who went on to crew “Indiana Jones” in Italy.
The Thessaloniki Worldwide Movie Pageant’s business phase, the Agora, is the first platform for connecting Greek and worldwide professionals, with a give attention to Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean that extends at occasions to Scandinavia and the Baltics.
“To film in Greece is a unique opportunity to film under the gaze of gods and on the coastline under the Olympus Mountain,” Andreadakis mentioned.
Athens-based producer Stavrianou, who co-founded her firm 25 years in the past, mentioned flexibility is the nation’s key differentiator past areas and crews. Christopoulos described Greek crews as problem-solvers who resolve difficulties on set relatively than letting them compound.
Greece’s native filmmaking is seen at this yr’s Cannes via Konstantina Kotzamani’s Un Sure Regard entry “Titanic Ocean,” a Japanese-language debut characteristic set inside a boarding faculty the place teenage ladies prepare to turn into skilled mermaids, co-produced throughout Greece, Germany, Romania, France, Spain and Japan.
