You can tell a lot about a country by the stand-in work it does for other countries. For example, my first exposure to Prague was when it stood in for Vienna in the movie Amadeus.

There is a lot of money to be made for lesser known countries to stand in for more expensive locations--or simply, for these countries to be the primary location for a Hollywood shoot. This is why a contingent of representatives from the Balkans are in Cannes pitching the natural beauty and inexpensive filming opportunities that abound in and around the former Yugoslavia.

Blessed with beautiful mountains, scenic coastline and numerous islands, the countries of Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro, and Slovenia all have something to offer Hollywood location scouts--and tourists, for that matter.

Robert Welkos from the LA Times article interviewed a few of the representatives in Cannes and left slightly amused at their honesty in speaking about the poor roads and distant film processing centers which would make filming a definite challenge in this part of the world. But as for the scenery, oh my!

Filed under: Blogs, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Red Corner