ZAGREB: The filming of foreign productions in Croatia has returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. A total of 16 projects had been registered in the Incentive Programme by the beginning of 2021, of which nine have already successfully completed production in Croatia.
The estimated foreign expenditure in the Republic of Croatia reached 19.3 m EUR / 145 m HRK by the beginning of September 2021, with a total of 290 filming days. In comparison, the total statistics for 2020 included 161 filming days and 11.6 m EUR / 87 m HRK spent by international film crews in Croatia.
The two biggest projects were the British series The Ipcress File by James Watkins, produced by Altitude Television and ITV Studios, and serviced by MP-film production, which filmed in Zagreb, Opatija, Lovran, Rijeka, Split, Brela and Krk in April-June 2021, and the period drama Hotel Portofino by Adam Wimpenny, produced by Eagle Eye in association with Beta Film, which was serviced by Drugi plan and was filmed in Opatija, Rovinj, Pula and Bale in June-July 2021.
Crossing by Jacqueline Van Vugt, a coproduction between the Netherlands, Belgium and Croatia (Nukleus film) was also filmed in May 2021, as part of the Incentive Programme.
In July 2021, the German TV film The Summer in Istria / Ein Sommer in Istrien by Tomasz E. Rudzik, produced by Moviepool GmbH and serviced by PAKT Media, was shot in Istria, and the American Netflix film The Weekend Away directed by Kim Farrant was filmed in Split with the help of Croatian PAKT Media.
The shooting of the German feature film Over&Out directed by Julie Becker started in Istria at the end of August 2021, again serviced by PAKT Media.
The end of the summer saw the start of the shooting of the British series Conversations with Friends directed by Leanne Welham and Lenny Abrahamson, produced by Element Pictures and serviced by Embassy Films, the German feature film Faraway serviced by PAKT Media, the Swedish/British Netflix series Spotify directed by Per-Olav Sørensen and serviced by MP-film production, and Infinity Pool, a coproduction between Canada, Hungary, France and Croatia directed by Brandon Cronenberg and coproduced by Croatian 4film and Hungarian Herosquared.
“The exceptional efforts of Croatian producers, the maximum responsibility with which our entire AV sector approached the launch of filming during the pandemic, and the constant support of the Ministry of Culture and Media in a wide range of challenges, allowed filming in Croatia, both domestic and foreign, to return to pre-pandemic levels”, Tanja Ladović Blažević, head of Filming in Croatia, told FNE.
“The incentive programme is the main generator of major foreign projects being filmed in our country. All successfully completed projects are the best promotion of Croatia as a desirable destination for filming and a guarantee of further growth and development of audiovisual production”, Blažević also said.
According to Filming in Croatia, new projects are already in the pipeline for the autumn of 2021.