Jamaica wants bigger piece of multi-million dollar film industry

KINGSTON, Jamaica, February 12, 2010 – Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Karl Samuda says he’ll be seeking to tap into the multi-million dollar film industry to get the country a bigger chunk of the financial benefits.

He said the Jamaica Trade and Invest/JAMPRO has now been given the responsibility to aggressively promote Jamaica as a filming location.

"We are going to aggressively go after business in that field because we feel that the creative industries have really lagged behind and there is so much scope," Samuda said. "In doing that we're going to try to encourage those involved in it. We're talking about music as well and our own domestic film producers and all those who service that sector and we're going to be trying our very best to expand that area to earn foreign exchange.”

The Minister said that only recently major American film studio Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation was granted permission to shoot parts of its soon to be released action/comedy ‘Knight and Day’ at Frenchman's Cove in Portland. The movie stars well-known actors Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz and is expected to open to audiences in July this year.

Samuda said that in the space of just a week the film crew spent approximately $135 million in the island.

"That is the value of that kind of industry to Jamaica," he said. "They are looking for destinations with quality scenery that will give them what they want and we are trying our best to expose them to all that we have. We are hoping to put Jamaica again on the map.”

Jamaica has already been featured in several films, including several James Bond movies, ‘How Stella Got Her Groove Back’, starring Angela Bassett; ‘The Blue Lagoon’, starring Brooke Shields; and ‘The Harder They Come’, starring Jamaican Jimmy Cliff.