How cinema boosted Greek tourism

Greece is transforming into a bustling open-air cinema, attracting major international film productions that are significantly boosting its tourism sector. Recent months have seen Hollywood stars like Matt Damon filming in Messinia, Lily Collins in Mykonos for "Emily in Paris," and Brad Pitt in Hydra for "The Riders," turning the country into a picturesque backdrop for global cinema.

This trend is not new. Iconic films have long used Greece's stunning landscapes as their setting. From Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) in Milos and Santorini to "The Little Drummer Girl" filmed at the Acropolis, and the "Durrells" series in Corfu, Greece has a rich cinematic history. Earlier productions like "Shirley Valentine" (1989) in Mykonos, "Summer Lovers" (1982) in Crete and Santorini, and "The Guns of Navarone" (1961) in Rhodes, have all contributed to showcasing Greece's beauty to the world.

Some films have not only featured Greece but have actively driven tourism. The 1957 film "The Child and the Dolphin," starring Sophia Loren, was filmed in Hydra. Producer Samuel G. Engel believed the movie would introduce Greece to American audiences. According to Dimitris Plantzos, the film incorporated "most of the characteristic elements used to redefine Greece's image for the global tourism market during the 1960s and 1970s, as an exotic seaside landscape of eternal summer."

These cinematic portrayals often emphasized ruins, chapels, and classical antiquities against arid landscapes, alongside depictions of local girls as sensual and kind, and men as simple and uncultured. This "distinctly American way of viewing Greece" was consciously crafted for a middle-class audience eager to consume culture as a commodity and embrace international travel. Images from Rhodes, Mykonos, Epidaurus, Meteora, and the Acropolis, combined with visuals of new restaurants and cosmopolitan resorts, created a vibrant tapestry. Sophia Loren, as Phaedra, diving for sponges and discovering the "child with the dolphin," became an enduring image.

“

the most characteristic elements used to redefine Greece's image for the global tourism market during the 1960s and 1970s, as an exotic seaside landscape of eternal summer