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With beautiful landscapes such as the dunes, coastal planes and the vast savannah lands that are well maintained and taken care of, who wouldn't want to have such scenery in their films. tjil caught up with local film producer Guy Nockels of Namib Film and his team to find out what the international exposure of the country by the entertainment sector means. tjil (T): Being a location scouter for visiting producers, what does this kind of coverage mean largely for Namibia?Namib Film (NF): We as a company expose Namibia to the international entertainment industry, enabling the world at large to notice Namibia and bring in more productions.T: When international film directors use our country as a location do they use Namibian actors as well or do they come with their own?NF: It all depends on the requirements from the script and the studio. Most Hollywood feature films bring in their own actors. These films financed by studios, need the main stream actors to market their film. Independent films tend to use local actors in supporting roles, if they can find the right person. For independent films this is a financial decision. We use local people in both Hollywood and independent films. With our variety of ethnicity in our country, we are able to portray most types of cultures. T: From your experience, what and how does Namibia benefit from such exposures? NF: Namibia benefits financially from this. It increases local work opportunities for our people, especially the transport, catering and accommodation industry benefits financially. Flight of the Phoenix is a good example as they employed up to 280 crew members a day, including about 130 Namibians. It advances tourism; people tend to watch a movie and want to visit the location. There is no doubt that the tourism industry benefits from this. T: In terms of protecting and conserving the environment, how safe is it to use tourist attraction sites such the dunes?NF: As film makers and local film makers would prefer that productions coming into Namibia use a local company to be responsible for locations. Our local companies know and adhere to the rules and regulations set by the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. MET has strict rules on the use of national parks and we take the responsibility to ensure that foreigners adhere to the rules. T: What does the future hold for Namibia being a film location, from your perspective?NF: Namibia is a desert location and is used as such. With more marketing we can make the international productions aware that Namibia has more to offer than the dunes, we have cosmopolitan locations, the Caprivi and Bushveld, to name a few locations. By creating awareness of our other locations we can increase the amount of productions to Namibia and benefit financially as a country, not just as a film destination but also as a tourism destination. *June Shimuoshili with additional writing from www.thelocationguide.com

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-12

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booming

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-12

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