Why Cyprus was almost perfect place to make Nicolas Cage sci-fi martial arts movie
- Cyprus initiative gives filmmakers cash rebates, tax breaks and other benefits
- Island ‘lacks infrastructure’, and could do with a proper film school
Watch out Hollywood and Bollywood, the eastern Mediterranean island of Cyprus that has built a reputation as a tourist magnet thanks to its pristine beaches wants a piece of the action: enter “Olivewood” and Nicolas Cage.
The American actor is starring in a multimillion dollar sci-fi martial arts movie being filmed in its entirety on the island thanks to a government initiative giving filmmakers cash rebates, tax breaks and other benefits.
Cage’s action packer Jiu Jitsu is, along with adventure flick SOS: Survive or Sacrifice featuring US actor William Baldwin, the first foreign film to take advantage of the incentive plan dubbed “Olivewood”.
The scheme was launched by the government, which tasked Invest Cyprus to implement it in cooperation with the tourism and finance ministries, in a bid to attract foreign investment to the European Union member.
“Cyprus is considered by a lot of people as a studio, a physical, natural [film] studio,” says Invest Cyprus chairman Michalis Michael.
Jiu Jitsu producer Dimitri Logothetis and Martins Rozitis, who heads the production company for SOS: Survive or Sacrifice, were won over, but both agree that the “lack of infrastructure” remains a problem.
“Definitely we suffer from a lack of equipment and studios,” Rozitis said on the set of his movie at the Moni fishing shelter, near the southern port of Limassol.