Written by Tom Deehan on Nov 17, 2016. Posted in On Location / Production News

Paul Gauguin biopic wraps filming in Tahiti

A feature film biopic on the life of the renowned French artist, Paul Gauguin has now completed filming on the island of Tahiti. Directed by Edouard Deluc and staring Vincent Cassel (Jason Bourne) as Gauguin himself, the local production service company Filmin’Tahiti was utilised for on location assistance.

Manu de Schoenburg of Filmin’Tahiti explains: “the budget for the film is EUR6.2 million. We’re aiming to finance at least 10% of the film with the help of the local government but as of right now we’ve accumulated over 5%. We’ve provided free transportation through Air Tahiti Nui and the production also received logistical assistance from the local Government via trucks that were lent to us for free.”

“Tahiti is currently without an official financial incentive on filming which can be difficult but we’ve tried to overcome that by providing financing in other ways. I hope that the Government will change the current situation and I’m confident that they will as they’re beginning to see the international interest of filming here and what that brings to the country.”

“Most of the production was set up in Tahiti-iti (the Southern part of the island) and we shot the biggest part in Tautira where we tried to reproduce the village of Mataiea where Gauguin lived in 1893. To pull this off we needed to find a large plot of land free of modern constructions which I was able to find. We shot for about a month on that location then Vaira’o for four days and one day in a church in Papeno’o. Overall we probably shot in about 30 different Tahitian locations. Scenes were also shot at the Parisian docks alongside the Seine River.”

Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, a French colony in the South Pacific. International interest in using the islands for filming has increased with major features such as Point Break and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice having shot on location in Tahiti and Bora Bora respectively.

The Location Guide was invited to scout the French Polynesian islands last month at the generosity of Tahiti Tourisme, the Location Managers Guild International and Air Tahiti Nui. Read the full report here.