Portugal

Several international productions applied for the new cash refund last year, including horror film Arachnid, directed by Spain’s Angel Gomez Hernandez and produced by US banner Badlands and the UK’s Altitude Film Entertainment. It shot for five weeks in Lisbon as well as in Spanish capital Madrid. 

“We made a movie that looks three times its budget,” notes Badlands president Scott Strauss. “The team in Portugal, from production services to heads of department, are your partners and go all in for the productions.”

Other titles filming recently in Portugal include seasons two and three of Netflix’s Portuguese narcotics thriller Turn Of The Tide, Disney+’s Spanish series If It’s Tuesday, It’s Murder and an episode of FBI: International.

With a cost of living on average now 21.3% lower than in the US, according to global cost of living database Numbeo, Portugal continues to lay claim to being one of the less expensive European countries in which to film.

Coupled with 300-plus days of sun and picturesque locations spanning mountains, valleys, lagoons, islands and historical monuments, Portugal is an easy country to get around. Driving from north to south takes around five hours on good road networks and there are three main international airports — Lisbon, Porto and Faro — as well as two more for autonomous regions Madeira and the Azores, alongside five international seaports.

While Portugal Film Commission does not issue filming permits, it does connect international productions with local contacts. Portugal and its Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual have co-production agreements in place with more than 60 countries, including several European territories and all Portuguese-speaking countries, such as Brazil, Mozambique and Angola.

It is easy to see why Portugal has proven so popular, with sun almost all year round, a wide variety of locations — beaches, modern architecture, historical villages, canyons, lagoons, even jungles. The medieval towns in the centre of Portugal, isolated houses and cliffs in the Azores, charming palaces, abandoned train stations, factories and industrial spaces throughout the country make for attractive filming locations that are often searched for by international producers.

Portugal’s locations can double for a wide range of countries and producers say securing permission to shoot is straightforward and fees are low compared to other European destinations. Portugal also boasts nine bilateral film co-production treaties with countries including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Brazil, and is party to the Ibero-American cinematographic co-production agreement.

Local crews are becoming much more experienced with the greater number of international productions that shoot in the country. They are fluent in English, and many also speak Spanish and French. 

There are enough professional crew to accommodate up to 20 productions at any one time and it is easy to reach across the border to Spain if more are needed. Most productions go to Portugal for locations, but there are a few studios in the Lisbon and Porto areas. There is also a VFX studio at Millennium Films’ Nu Boyana hub in Braga.

Portugal is a relatively small country that is well connected internally by air and land. It is also very easy to get around on public transport and the country has diverse geography and architecture that is in close proximity.

It takes less than 5 hours to travel from North to South by car and there are five international harbours and six international airports with direct flights into Lisbon from all over the world.

Getting a good local fixer/production service provider is recommended to assist with city hall support, insurance and location hiring.

First contact: Ana Marques, executive director, Portugal Film Commission @ ana.marques@portugalfilmcommission.com