Culture Ministry wants to get Greece in the Movies

Greek Culture Minister Aristides Baltas said on Wednesday that one of the main priorities of his ministry is to establish a Film Commission to attract and support foreign movie productions in Greece.

Speaking to Greek radio station Praktoreio 104.9, Mr Baltas said that a study for the new commission will be released next month.

According to the culture minister, the new commission will be created in accordance to the respective standards of similar film organizations in foreign countries and will be the channel of communication and technical advise for foreign producers who will select certain areas of Greece to shoot movies.

He added that the commission will see that foreign producers will be properly informed on issues involving taxes for filming and that they will have all they need in regards to technical issues in order for a production to be shot without problems in the country.

“They have this in all countries and we will launch one as well”, he said, adding that foreign film producers face mainly bureaucratic problems in Greece, become discouraged and then chose another country to make movies.

The Film Commission will operate under the supervision of the Greek Film Centre.