Countries
Argentina
Argentina offers a wealth of unique looks as well as many locations that double for other countries. It is a popular destination for productions looking to shoot opposite season looks such as city summer looks in January or snow-covered mountains in July.
Argentina offers modern and old world city looks, stunning car commercial roads and bridges, coastal towns, colonial architecture, US suburban looks, glaciers, mountains, forests, valleys, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, jungles, deserts and salt plains.
Australia
Australia is a popular destination for productions seeking opposite season looks and locations that double well for other places. The country has an abundance of unspoilt beaches, tropical islands, national parks, rainforests, rivers, vineyards, rural and desert landscapes, roads and bridges ideal for car commercials, coastal looks, sand dunes, modern architecture, urban and suburban looks, and much more.
Austria
Austria is best known for its beautiful Alpine mountain locations, many of which are easily accessible by road. Austria is divided into nine states including Vienna, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Styria, Tyrol, Carinthia, Salzburg, Vorarlberg, and Burgenland. Film locations in Austria can be divided into the three main production centres you’re most likely to base your crew – Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck.
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan offers great filming potential with a diversity of locations in close proximity to each other including ancient cities, mountain towns, white sand beaches, forests, rivers, waterfalls, and lush green valleys.
Locations of interest in the capital Baku include Icheri Seher (Old City), oil-boom era mansions, shiny glass towers, modern architecture such as the Heydar Aliyev Center by Zaha Hadid, Ateshgah Fire Temple, Soviet-era apartment blocks, a modern subway system, shipping container port, and the Caspian Sea.
Outside of Baku you can find Yanar Dağ (Fire Mountain), mud volcanoes, Gobustan National Park, Absheron National Park, Shirvan National Park, the lush green valleys of the Karabakh, Palace of the Shaki Khans, Krasnaya Sloboda Jewish town, on and off-shore oil facilities, Neft Daşları (Oil Rocks), and the Naftalan Clinic where people bathe in oil. Azerbaijan has unique mountain towns including Sheki, Lahic and Xinaliq.
Belarus
Belarus is best known for its bucolic landscapes, deep forests, and thousands of beautiful rivers and lakes.
The country has not hosted many international productions so locations remain undiscovered.
Belovezhskaya Pushcha National Park (called Białowieża National Park on the Polish side of the border) is a primeval forest home to a population of bison, wolves and bears. Other nature locations of note include Pripyatsky National Park, Braslaw Lakes National Park, and Naroch National Park.
Minsk is the capital and main production centre where crew and equipment are based. Locations of note include Minsk’s Soviet-era metro stations and apartment blocks, the National Library, Great Patriotic War Museum, National Academic Grand Opera and Ballet Theatre, Belarusian State Circus, Minsk Tractor Works, Church of All Saints, Victory Square, and Minsk Government House complete with Lenin statue in front.
Belgium
Belgium is a small country known for its medieval towns, Renaissance architecture, and having largest concentration of castles in Europe. Belgium hosts the headquarters of the European Union and NATO. Belgium has distinctive regions including Dutch-speaking Flanders to the north, French-speaking Wallonia to the south and a German-speaking community to the east.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria offers a wealth of unique looks as well as a depth of locations that easily double for other places. The country is known for its lush green forests, rugged mountains, pristine sandy beaches, Soviet architecture, Orthodox monasteries, and Roman ruins. Its well developed studio backlot infrastructure makes Bulgaria an ideal and inexpensive alternative to filming in London, New York, Rome, or the Middle East. Bulgaria’s forests, rivers and valleys have doubled for Northern California. Its rugged mountains can film for Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, the Swiss Alps, or Scottish Highlands.
Canada
Canada offers a great depth of unique and international location looks. Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary are the main production centers. Canada is known to be a very film friendly country with streamlined permitting processes that strive to both protect locations and give visiting productions the flexibility they need.
Colombia
Colombia has an incredible variety of undiscovered locations including vibrant cities, colonial towns, Amerindian ruins, beaches, mountains, rainforest, waterfalls, rivers, desert, and agricultural lands. Agricultural film locations of interest include cattle ranches and plantations of coffee, cut flowers, bananas, rice, tobacco, corn, sugarcane, and cocoa. Colombia’s equatorial location means most crops are in season all year round.
Cyprus
Located in the Eastern Mediterranean, Cyprus is a short flight from major European and Middle Eastern cities.
A dry and rugged country, Cyprus offers a diversity of locations including beautiful sandy beaches, rocky mountains, picturesque villages, Byzantine monasteries and mosques, and archeological ruins. The island offers two multipurpose deep-sea ports and two modern international airports. Agricultural locations include vineyards, citrus orchards and olive groves.
The island is politically divided between the Greek Cypriot south and Turkish controlled north. The south is best known for its beaches, secluded coves, rugged mountain interior, Byzantine churches, antiquities, and agricultural locations. The less developed north is known for its castles and mosques.
The country’s warm, clear waters and diving industry infrastructure make it a stand-out option for underwater filming.
Czech Republic
Czech Republic’s well established film infrastructure and depth of locations means it continues to be a favourite destination for many international productions. Locations of interest to filmmakers and photographers include old world architecture, castles and palaces, rustic countryside, winding roads ideal for car commercials, picturesque towns, beautiful landscapes such as lakes, deep forests, rolling hills and snow-capped mountains.
Czech is a small country offering an impressive variety of locations within a short drive from the capital.
Denmark
Denmark is a small country consisting of a peninsula and an archipelago of 407 islands.
The country has hosted films including Tenet (2020), The Rain (2018–2020), The Danish Girl (2015), Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013), and Dancer In The Dark (2000).
In terms of agricultural film locations you can find barley, wheat, rye and oat fields.
Egypt
The Mediterranean coast is mild and wet, while the Sahara in the south is hot and dry. Egypt has two main seasons, a mild winter from November to April and a hot summer from May to October. The shoulder periods from February to April and September to November are the best months to film for costs and weather.
Estonia
Estonia is best known for its beautiful forests, scenic lakes and wetlands, waterfalls, over a thousand remote islands, seaside and beaches, lighthouses, luxurious manor houses, winding car commercial roads, farms and pastures, medieval architecture, industrial estates, Soviet architecture, castles and palaces, and impressive contemporary architecture such as the KUMU museum and Science Centre AHHAA. Estonia has many interesting museums covering subjects as diverse as KGB history through to traditional village life. The Seaplane Harbour Museum explores Estonian maritime history. Estonia is one of Europe’s greenest countries with over have of the country covered in forest.
Finland
Finland is known for its thousands of lakes and islands, dense forests, wooden cottages, snow-covered north, and the city of Helsinki.
Films of note shot in Finland include Hanna and the classic Doctor Zhivago. The country is a popular destination for productions coming from all over the world including Chinese, Indian, German, and French shoots.
France
For a relatively small country, France offers a great diversity of film locations ranging from chic modern architecture to medieval villages, iconic museums to picturesque countryside, snow-capped mountains to surf beaches.
France has hosted many Hollywood productions including Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Wonder Woman, Saving Private Ryan, Midnight in Paris, Da Vinci Code, and The Bourne Identity, to name a few.
Paris and Marseilles are the main production centres but some crews and equipment can also be found in Aquitaine, Rhone Alpes, Nord Pas de Calais and other provinces.
Georgia
Georgia is a country known for the Caucasus Mountains, Black Sea coast, ancient Orthodox mountain churches, and Soviet-era architecture. Agricultural locations of note include corn and wheat fields, tea plantations, and vineyards. Georgia has one of the world’s oldest and finest winemaking traditions.
Germany
Germany offers a wealth of locations including vast forests, rivers and mountain ranges, period architecture, modern cities and sporting venues.
The country has played host to many international films including Captain America: Civil War, Downfall, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Inglourious Basterds, Diamonds Are Forever, Octopussy, The Bourne Supremacy, and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). Hamburg, Berlin, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich are the main production centres.
Greece
Greece is blessed with a long architectural history dating back thousands of years to the Bronze Age, through to Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Greece.
Greece’s natural landscape is just as varied as its architectural heritage with its idyllic beaches, snowy mountain ranges, wine-producing valleys, lush forests, sand dunes, caves, gorges, lakes, rivers, and national parks.
International shipping is Greece’s largest industry. Agricultural film locations include vast stretches of olive orchards, vineyards, cotton, pistachios, rice, figs, almonds, and tomato fields. The country also has marble quarries.
The picturesque whitewashed towns with blue-domed churches, black and white sand beaches and beautiful azure seas make the Greek Islands perhaps Greece’s most sought after film destination.
Hungary
Hungary has long been a popular destination for productions looking to double other European cities, towns and natural locations, at a fraction of the cost of filming in Western Europe. Outside of its cities Hungary is known for rural landscapes, forests, rivers, mountains, vineyards, fields of wheat, corn, barely and sunflowers.
Iceland
Iceland offers a great variety of dramatic, otherworldly locations within a short distance from each other. The “land of fire and ice” is famous for its geothermal hot springs, lakes, active volcanoes, lava fields, geysers, glaciers, waterfalls, bright green fields, pink and black sand beaches, salmon-filled rivers, picturesque fishing villages, whale watching, and Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) viewing.
India
India is an extraordinary country of great beauty, contrast and sensory overload. With over one-sixth of the world’s population, India is home to a rich array of cultures, religions and ethnicities. India is a country where ancient architecture sits beside modern towers, a country where absolute wealth lives next to extreme poverty. The diversity of location looks range from paradise beaches to mountain peaks, picturesque tea plantations to colourful crowded markets, dense forests to arid deserts, colonial buildings to ancient temples.
Mumbai and New Delhi are the major production centres. Chennai, Kolkata and Hyderabad are also significant production centres.
Ireland
Ireland is best known for its picturesque rural landscapes, green rolling hills, sleepy Irish villages with old Irish pubs, remote castles, country estates, Victorian terraced houses, dramatic coastline, lighthouses, and roads through scenic settings that are ideal for car commercials.
Agricultural looks of interest in Ireland include wheat and barley fields, and dairy farms.
Italy
Italy is one of the world’s most filmed countries. The birthplace of Western civilisation, Italy is famous for its rich history, diverse cultures and cuisine, as well as for its beautiful coast and mountains. Italy has more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country in the world.
Milan, Rome and Venice are the major production centres if you need local crews and equipment.
Latvia
The Baltic nation of Latvia offers visiting productions a picturesque landscape of pine forests, lakes, rolling fields, beaches, castles, Soviet-era and Art Nouveau architecture. Wheat and rye are the main crops. It is a small country where all film locations are within a 4 hour drive from Riga.
Lebanon
Lebanon offers a blend of Middle Eastern, European and ancient architecture, white sand beaches and coastal looks, snowy mountains, luscious fields and farms, wild greenery, olive groves, cedar forests, vineyards, and waterfalls. All of Lebanon’s locations can be reached within a 2 hour drive of Beirut.
Lithuania
Lithuania is known for its castles, lakes and forests, wheat and barley fields, seaside and beaches, winding car commercial roads, industrial estates, and Soviet-era architecture.
Vilnius is the capital and main production centre. The city is small so it’s easy for visiting productions to move between locations. Vilnius is known for its well preserved Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. Specific locations of note include the beautiful Cathedral Square, Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, St. Anne’s Church, Gediminas Castle Tower, and The Gate of Dawn.
The former capital Kaunas is known for museums, galleries, palaces, and parks. Locations of note include Kaunas Castle, Pažaislis Monastery, and Town Hall Square.
Trakai National Park is best known for Trakai Island Castle.
Luxembourg
Luxembourg is a small, landlocked country located in western Europe between the nations of Belgium, France, and Germany. All locations in Luxembourg can be reached within a 1 hour drive of each other. Luxembourg is known for its lush valleys, wooded hills, vineyards, breweries, farmhouses, castles, and riverside hamlets.
Malaysia
Malaysia offers a great depth of impressive locations. It is best known for its beaches, rainforests, colonial architecture, modern buildings, and mix of Malay, Chinese, Indian and European cultural influences. Malaysia has a wide biodiversity of unique fauna including Asian elephants, Indochinese tigers, Borneo orangutangs and Sumatran rhinoceros.
Agricultural film locations include tea plantations, rubber tree plantations, palm oil plantations, and rice paddies. Industrial locations include electronics and automobile factories, as well as oil and gas facilities. Kuala Lumpur is a large financial hub.
Maldives
The Maldives are famed for their paradise island locations of tranquil turquoise blue waters, white sand beaches, coral reefs, surf breaks, luxury resorts, and wild tropical greenery.
Lying south-west of India, the Maldives consist of approximately 1,196 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 26 atolls. The highest point is only 2.4 metres above sea level.
Malta
Malta is a small Mediterranean country located just south of Sicily. The archipelago has 3 inhabited islands including Malta, Gozo, and Comino. Its long history of occupation by the Romans, Moors, Knights of Saint John, French and British has left it a rich architectural history ranging from Neolithic temples to Baroque palaces. The landscape is lush and green in winter, and dry and barren in summer. The country has no permanent rivers or lakes.
Mauritius
Mauritius is a volcanic island of palm-fringed beaches and lagoons with coral reefs surrounding much of the coast.
Sugarcane and tea plantations are the main are the main agricultural film locations. Textile factories are the main industrial location.
Mauritius is a favourite location for Bollywood productions. Serenity (2019) was the first Hollywood feature to film in Mauritius.
Mexico
Mexico offers a wealth of film locations including megacities, Spanish colonial architecture, magnificent cave systems, desert landscapes, Pacific and Caribbean waters, beaches, vineyards, waterfalls, jungles, and much more.
In terms of agricultural looks Mexico has corn, wheat, sugarcane, tomatoes, avocados, oranges, grapes, coffee, and livestock to name a few. For travel and food productions, Mexico offers an impressive diversity of regional cuisines.
Montenegro
Montenegro offers unique, beautiful and undiscovered locations. The country is known for its rugged mountains, canyons, national parks, vineyards, beaches, azure seas, snowy peaks, forests, glacial lakes, rivers, waterfalls, cobblestone streets, monasteries, fortresses, castles and palaces. Montenegro’s rich architectural heritage has influences as diverse as Roman, Ottoman, Venetian, Brutalist, and Baroque. Montenegro is an ideal location for car commercials with narrow, winding mountain roads and dozens of tunnels. Being a small country, locations are a relatively short drive from each other.
Morocco
Morocco is a land steeped in Berber, Arab and European cultural influences. It is blessed with a diversity of locations ranging from ancient souks to modern luxury, from beautiful beaches to desert landscapes.
Morocco’s reputation as a safe and relatively liberal country makes it a popular location for filming North African and Middle Eastern looks.
New Zealand
New Zealand offers a world of location looks within close proximity to each other.
The country is best known for its otherworldly looks of deep forests, glacial lakes, peaceful streams, white-water rapids, snow-covered mountains, magnificent fjords, and volcanos. New Zealand has a wide selection of surf and calm water beaches with black, brown or white sand options. Visiting film productions can find small intimate beaches or beaches that stretch for miles such as the rugged west coast beach of Karekare
Oman
The Sultanate of Oman is an undiscovered gem of film locations.
The whitewashed capital Muscat is known for the Grand Mosque, Sultan’s Palace, Muttrah Souk, Muttrah Corniche, Al Jalali fort, Al Mirani fort, upscale suburbs in a modern Islamic style.
Outside of Muscat locations of interest to filmmakers and photographers include: Hajar Mountains (Oman’s Grand Canyon looks ideal for off-road car commercials in places such as Wadi Ghul and Wadi Sahtan. Alila Jabal Akhdar Resort is one of the best resorts in the Middle East), Empty Quarter desert looks, Bimmah Sinkhole, Al Mughsayl blowholes, Nakhal, Bahla and Rustaq Forts, verdant oasis city of Nizwa, date plantations, Barka fish market, Ras Al Jinz turtle beach, Al-Ansab wetland, Wahiba sand dunes, sailing traditional dhow boats through the fjords of Musandam, Masirah Island, beautiful beaches of Yitti, Seifa and Quiryat. Ayn Athum and Ayn Khor are beautiful waterfalls that flow during Khareef, the monsoon season. Considerable investment has been poured into the transport infrastructure of Oman. New roads built through spectacular arid mountain landscapes have great potential for car commercials. Oman’s Dhofar Desert is so much like the surface of Mars, scientists have used the area to field-test technology for a manned mission to the red planet.
Panama
Panama City offers a beautiful modern skyline, Spanish colonial buildings, new subway system, and a modern container port. Biomuseo, Frank Gehry’s first work in Latin America, adds a splash of color to the city.
Travelling from Panama City you can reach the Panama Canal within a few minutes, rainforests within 30 minutes, rivers and mountains within 45 minutes, beaches within 1 hour, and volcanoes with 2 hours.
The palm-lined, white sand, aqua marine San Blas Islands are 2 hours by boat or 20 minutes by air. Also on the Caribbean side lies Bocas del Toro, an ex-banana plantation turned paradise resort. On the Pacific side you can find pristine Coiba Island, a former penal colony, now nature reserve. Isla Escudo de Veraguas is home to the pygmy sloth.
Poland
Situated in the geographic centre of Europe, Poland offers a great diversity of natural landscapes and architecture. Landscapes include snow-capped mountains, deep forests, lakes, sandy beaches, and rural looks. Architecture in Poland ranges from early Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classic, Soviet, Modernist and Contemporary. Poland is famous for its many well maintained castles.
Warsaw, Krakow, Wrocław, and Olsztyn are the major film production centres.
Agricultural looks of interest in Poland include wheat and rye fields, dairy farms, cherry and apple orchards.
Portugal
Portugal offers a rich variety of locations a short drive from each other. Locations include beautiful beaches, picturesque villages, pastoral countryside, palaces, medieval castles, manor houses, contemporary homes, forests, lakes, rivers, mountains, olive groves, vineyards, wheat fields, sunflower fields, roads ideal for car commercials, spectacular lighthouses, and filming out at sea including big wave surfing. Portugal is known by filmmakers as having excellent light for filming.
Romania
Romania has a wealth of extraordinary, undiscovered locations in close proximity to each other. From cities to small villages, medieval castles to modern structures, snowy mountains to sandy beaches, Romania is a favourite place for productions to film a diversity of locations at a fraction of the cost of filming in Western Europe.
Russia
Russia is rich in history and massive in scale. Spanning 10 time zones, it is by far the world’s largest country. Russia offers a wealth of locations ranging from unique imperial splendour to vast frozen wilderness, from Soviet Era apartment blocks to shiny modern architecture.
Russia’s main agricultural locations including wheat, barley and rye fields are located in the warmer, southern regions of the country.
Serbia
The Balkan nation of Serbia is known for its unique and diverse locations that have been used to double for other places. Agricultural film locations include fields of maize, wheat, raspberries, plums, apples, and sunflowers. Industrial locations include factories for automobiles, machinery, and chemicals. Serbia has Europe’s largest deposits of lithium.
Singapore
Singapore is a small country where most locations can be reached within an hour drive. Singapore offers great modern city looks with locations of interest including a bustling downtown business district, impressive contemporary architecture, colonial-era buildings, Chinatown, Little India, shopping streets, and vibrant colourful night markets.
Slovakia
Slovakia is best known for its castles, fortresses, snowy mountains, pinewood forests, rushing rivers and bubbling creeks, Eastern Bloc architecture, traditional villages, and unique Roma communities.
Slovakia’s agricultural looks of interest include wheat, rye and corn fields, as well as vineyards.
Slovenia
Slovenia is known for its unspoiled nature locations of pristine pine forests, rolling hills, snow-capped mountains, green meadows, majestic waterfalls, babbling brooks, and crystal clear lakes.
Slovenia is a small country where all locations can be easily reached within a short 2 hour drive from the capital. A small city, Ljubljana is known for its cobblestone streets, bridges, city squares, museums, galleries, castle, and cathedral.
South Africa
South Africa has long been a popular film destination, particularly for European productions looking for opposite season looks in a similar timezone.
South Africa’s vast variety of unique and international location looks continues to attract productions from all over the world. Of particular note are South Africa’s diversity of cityscapes and neighbourhoods, modern villas with expansive vistas, African savannah, mountains (some with snow), a variety of roads ideal for car commercials, white sand beaches, picturesque forests with lakes, and sports stadiums (including several major stadiums built across the country for the 2010 FIFA World Cup). South Africa is the most established production service centre in Africa and as such is a resource to much of the rest of the continent in terms of specialised crews and equipment.
Spain
Spain offers an impressive diversity of locations and cultures in close proximity to each other. In the winter, you can film beach scenes in Costa del Sol, then drive for two hours and shoot snowy mountains, drive another hour and a half and shoot in the desert where the Spaghetti Westerns were shot in the 70’s. Spain’s agricultural looks of interest include orange orchards, olive groves, wheat fields and vineyards.
Sweden
Sweden is known for its coastal islands, inland lakes, vast boreal forests, glacial mountains, and Scandinavian design. The country has hosted films including Borg vs. McEnroe, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Into the White, and Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia. Sweden is divided into three geographic regions:
Tunisia
Despite its relatively small size, Tunisia offers a great diversity of locations. As well as unique film locations, Tunisia also offers locations that double well for other Mediterranean, North African and Middle Eastern looks. Tunisia is best known for its beautiful beaches, desert dunes, otherworldly arid mountain landscapes, oasis, souks, Roman ruins, and Islamic architecture. Mediterranean Tunisia has agricultural locations including olive groves, wheat and barley fields. Heading inland the landscape becomes more desert and oasis.
Ukraine
Located at the crossroads of Russia and Europe, Ukraine offers a wealth of locations ranging from Soviet-era architecture to onion-domed churches, from heavy industry factories to medieval castles, from snow-covered mountains to abundant fields. Ukraine’s rich agriculture means visiting productions have miles of wheat, barley, corn, and sunflower fields to choose from.
Ukraine is a popular alternative to filming in Russia which is generally more expensive and harder to permit. It’s also a popular destination to film old-world European locations at a fraction of the cost of filming in Western Europe.
United States Of America
The United States offers a world of unique and international location looks of many epochs. Every state has something to offer ranging from Hollywood studios to Mid-Western towns, modern city skylines, coastal or mountain villages, famous landmarks and architecture, unique neighborhoods, mansions, sporting arenas, museums, amusement parks, national parks, salt plains, deserts, surf beaches, snowy mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, waterfalls, farms and ranches, stunning car roads and much more.
Los Angeles, New York, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta are the main production centers but all states have some degree of locally based production service support.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country located in Central Asia. It’s known for its ancient mosques, madrasahs, mausoleums and Silk Road locations. Uzbekistan has snowy mountains, rivers, lakes and desert. Agricultural film locations of note include cotton and wheat fields. Uzbekistan is also known for its gold mines.