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Cast of Dive Club, Sugar Wharf Port Douglas

The festival now attracts a local audience of around 1500, and for the relative anonymity that comes with a small and friendly town.
filmmakers come from all over Australia and beyond. A further 4500+ So don’t be surprised if you see the odd A-list celebrity walking along
will be watching the 2022 festival online in October. Four Mile Beach or enjoying an incognito coffee on Macrossan Street
“Over the years we’ve had more and more interstate filmmakers taking this summer.
part,” says Ali. “And I’ve had quite a few tell me they’re coming back “Port Douglas is the perfect place for a film company to come on
up here to shoot. It’s nice to think that we’re bringing people to our location,” says Pete West. It’s set up for tourism, which means it’s set
region and introducing them to the opportunities we have here for the up for film crews. There are hotels to meet every budget, so the A List
film industry.” can stay at the Sheraton, while the crew can find other lodgings, and
While other arts sectors have struggled, COVID-19 hasn’t been a bad it’s all close by. Getting to the reef is easy because the boats are already
thing for the film biz. In fact, Screen Australia reported in December here. The same goes for the rainforest and lots of companies use both
that the value of film and TV production had surged to a record $1.9 for the one project. Port Douglas has been the setting for so many
billion in the past financial year, as Australia became one of the world’s productions — it’s just never called Port Douglas!”
safest places to shoot. Queensland alone secured 39 international
and domestic productions, worth an estimated $437 million to the
local economy — the biggest film boom in the state’s history. While
the pandemic put the kibosh on some projects around Port Douglas bioqueststudios.com.au
over the past couple of years (the Nine Network’s Love Island Australia kitefishfilm.com
Season 3 for one) there are other features that wouldn’t have been
made here if it weren’t for the fact that the pandemic stymied other portshorts.com
plans.
“This Little Love of Mine, Kidnapped (an Aussie thriller filmed at Thala
Beach) and Dive Club were all wins for the Far North over other
potential locations,” says Karen. “And all of a sudden, we could film on
Port Douglas’ Sugar Wharf, which is usually impossible because it’s
booked out for weddings!”
And the momentum looks set to continue, with this year’s state budget
including a $71m investment in the screen industry, with an extra
$53m over two years dedicated to its ‘Production Attraction Strategy’.
Here in the Far North, we can look forward to the BBC’s Natural
History TV series Clifton, eco-warrior Arlian Ecker’s Plan B, and the
Giant Screen documentary Beyond the Reef among the projects
currently in pre-production. And with that wide range of federal
and regional incentives in place, there are also those rumours of a
big American blockbuster that’s about to sign on the dotted line.
Celebrities such as Matthew McConaughey, George Clooney, Sean
Penn, Glen Close and Woody Harrelson have all enjoyed Port Douglas

PORT DOUGLAS MAGAZINE 25