The Gown – student newspaper at Queen's University Belfast.

ARTS: Filming on location… In Belfast

Belfast, a city famous for producing linen and luxury ocean liners is now, in the twenty first century, synonymous with films of the Hollywood blockbuster variety. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of films being shot in Belfast and Northern Ireland. The latest of which is currently being filmed at Paint Hall studios. Your Highness is a comedy-adventure of epic proportion that reunites stars of 2008 film Pineapple Express, James Franco and Danny McBride.

BY KIRSTEN PARNELL

Although this is Belfast’s latest cinematic venture, the city has a fair number of titles already under its belt including the hugely publicised City of Ember (2008) starring Oscar nominated Tim Robbins, Breakfast on Pluto (2005), which also starred Ballymena-born Liam Neeson and the controversial, highly acclaimed Cherrybomb starring Rupert Grint of Ron Weasley fame which, thanks to his dedicated fans is finally being released in 2010

There are many benefits for Belfast and Northern Ireland being used as a filming location, benefits that extend beyond the financial, the production of Your Highness alone is reported to generate £10 million into the local economy. Using Belfast and its locality for film and television production will raise the profile of the area, cementing its growing reputation as a thriving centre for arts and entertainment.

Belfast can offer many ideal filming locations, such as the newly built Paint Hall studio facilities in the Titanic Quarter, as well as tax relief for film production companies. Potentially, companies can receive a tax credit of up to a fifth of the total production budget, and it’s not just films being made here either – US television network HBO is due to start filming the pilot for a new medieval fantasy series at the end of October. The series, titled A Game of Thrones, is based on a series of novels by George R. R. Martin and will star Sean Bean, Jennifer Ehle and Alfie Allen.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Arts + Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.