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International Locations: Countryside
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Rural environments strongly reflect national identities and cultures, so they offer fantastic opportunities to powerfully convey a sense of place. It’s possible to find entirely unique areas as well as nationally distinctive ones, invoking a more generalised atmosphere and tone.
Australasia
Australia is a country of extremes – but somewhere in the middle lie a variety of bold, striking countryside locations. It’s impossible to cover everything in a country so vast – but here are a few pointers. For pastoral farmland, try the wheat fields of Evandale in Tasmania, the apple orchards of Stanthorpe or the cane fields nestled in the lush rainforest of the Tweed Valley in the Northern Rivers district of New South Wales. For grassland and plains, look to Dubbo, Orange and Mudgee in the Western Plains or Jindabyne in the Snowy Mountains, where grass skiing replaces the snowy kind in the summer. And for a multitude of lush vegetation and bold, striking colours, try Queensland’s Numinbah Valley, Forest Hill and Toowoomba, where thousands of acres of National Park justify further investigation.
New Zealand’s Canterbury Plains on the South Island were formed over millions of years, as alluvial deposits built up some of the most fertile and productive farmland in the world. Agriculture remains a key part of New Zealand’s economy, with crops ranging from grain, fruit and berries from December to February to fields of sunflowers and lavender.
Europe
The countries of Western Europe are all idiosyncratically defined by their countryside, so that a plethora of location opportunities exists.
The regions of France are all highly individual: Normandy’s patchwork of small fields with high hedges, known as the bocage, which hindered the Allied invasion in 1944 but may well help modern filmmakers; Limousin’s rural simplicity amongst the foothills of the Massif Central; and Burgundy, with its gently undulating wine valleys. Likewise Italian film centres around Rome and Emilia-Romagna offer distinctively Italian flavours like those around the Renaissance town of Ferrara, which were used in Silvio Soldini’s Agata E La Tempesta, or everyone’s dream countryside location, the stone villages and poppy fields of Tuscany.
Germany, too, has differing countryside types – from the Danube valley of eastern Bavaria and the picturesque rural environments of Baden-Wurttemberg to the pastoral low-lying land around Hamburg. If you’re looking for quiet, settled appeal, try the peaceful dry Bavarian valley of Sindelflingen, with grassland on its slopes and sheep pastures and a small cote in the valley bottom.
Spain and Portugal's rural areas present a series of fascinating landscapes – vineyards, rice plantations and orange trees, together with fertile meadows and colourful orchards coat the Iberian countryside. The Costa Brava can be explored from Barcelona – its green and lush landscape contrasting with the dry, desert-like expanses around Almeria. At the other end of the Iberian peninsula lies the Algarve in Portugal, whose unspoilt, pretty countryside is world famous.
Growing in importance and popularity, much of eastern Europe also offers unique countryside locations. Poland has several exceptional landscapes – the Mazovian lowlands, a maze of small streams and rivulets; Lower Silesia's peaceful woods and gentle meadows; and the Kashubian Lake District with its exceptionally colourful landscapes. Croatia’s countryside is lush with thick mediterranean vegetation, and although cinemagoers won’t be able to smell the rich fragrances of wild herbs like rosemary, sage and lavender, they’ll certainly be able to see them. The dry mediterranean climate of the Turkish countryside is remarkable for the amazing number of wild olive trees, whilst goats abound and stunning flowers heighten the colourful landscape in the spring months.
Always worth considering is the Czech Republic, a country with a variety of rural styles ranging from the wine-growing region of South Moravia to the picturesque countryside of South Bohemia. The mild Hungarian climate extends throughout summer and winter – something to bear in mind if scheduling presents problems. Another advantage is the low labour costs; locations in Hungary’s countryside double as rural Germany, France or Italy, but cost significantly less.
The Americas
The USA has many different rural styles: from Cape Cod to the antebellum majesty of the South, the cattle and cow country of the Great Plains and the endless agriculture of middle America. The country is so diverse that many states can match or "cheat" for all these looks – Florida being an especially confident example. Each state has its film commission – it’s a case of shopping around to choose which is most convenient and appropriate for your production needs.
Canada also has plenty to offer – every kind of wilderness you could possibly want, fertile river valleys, agricultural expanses and endless grassy fields. Nestled between the Rocky Mountains and the plains, the state of Alberta has starred as the USA, Europe, Russia, Japan and the Arctic - and as prehistoric, modern and futuristic eras. British Columbia has an extremely well established film industry centred around Vancouver, a base from which many of the state’s regions with their distinctive flavours of countryside can be easily reached.
Elsewhere, the Americas offer a range of distinctive location types. The central valley and coral terrace of Barbados in the Caribbean constitute the island’s lush agricultural heartland, where vistas of rolling sugar-cane fields and forests, dotted with villages, superb parish churches, and centuries-old plantation homes can be found. Mexico has its haciendas, to be found all over the state of Yucatan, and Argentina’s central region, one of the most fertile in the world, stretches out for hundreds of kilometres offering a great variety of agricultural activity.
Africa
Much of Africa's countryside is off limits to filmmakers for political reasons, but that's no excuse for not taking advantage of the continent's emerald hills. If you think that the typical Africa countryside doesn't offer your rolling green hills and savannah countryside, try Entebbe in Uganda as a base to explore the Kibbale forest of the Queen Elizabeth National Park. Kenya's many national parks in the great Rift Valley possess an abundance of wildlife, which has been largely left intact. Namibia’s huge skies and far-away horizons provide vast, unending expanses of savannah and desert. It also features Fish River Canyon - 160 kilometres long and 27 kilometres wide, the largest in the world after the USA' Grand Canyon.
Stellenbosch and Franshoek, in the Cape region of South Africa, are two towns in the heart of South Africa’s wine industry – an important cultural centre popular with walkers keen to enjoy the Panorama and Vineyard Hiking trails. Its mediterranean climate has mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. The Western Cape region’s never-ending wheat fields are constantly rippled by its strong winds, which historically caused many problems for sailors. South Africa’s countryside slowly becomes less and less green as one travels north into the arid scrubland of its interior.
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