News of The Abacos

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Hollywood Comes To Hope Town

The beautiful beaches and the crystal clear waters of Abaco and the Cays have enticed many a film maker and photographer here to shoot part of a film or photograph for a catalog.
Last December Burdines shot their swim suit catalogue on beaches in Hope Town. Models were flown in for the shoot as well as all supporting personnel.

From June 15th to 25th MacGilivary Freeman Films from Laguna California were in Hope Town to film an Imax documentary about dolphin communication. Kathleen Dudzinski, a marine biologist from California, was featured in the film. She shared her knowledge about dolphins with the students of Hope Town Primary School.

Over 30 crew persons were flown in for the filming and the Abaco Tourist Office worked closely with the film crew during their entire stay and assisted in the recruitment of over 100 local persons who were extras in the film. In addition a 28 member Junkanoo group called the Classic Dancers from Freeport also were in the film.

This film is slated to be released in February, 2000. It is 40 minutes in length and will be shown on Imax theater screens in the United States and wherever else there is an Imax screen. This screen is six stories high and regrettably we do not have such a theater in Abaco or in the Bahamas as yet. These screens are in place in many museums.

In June, Rhythm and Hues Productions from California came to Marsh Harbour with over 70 persons to film a commercial that would be shown on Disney Cruise Lines' ship The Disney Magic. They were in Abaco for about a week. The scenes were filmed on a beach in Hope town where local children had a chance to frolic and play on the beach with the largest sand castle they ever saw. The sand castle was brought in by the film crew. After filming in Hope Town the crew journeyed to Castaway Cay and filmed aboard The Disney Magic.

On August 20th to 22nd Blue Light Inc, in corroboration with Touchstone Pictures, filmed a portion of their film at Manjack Cay and Gilliam Point, Green Turtle Cay, Abaco. This film starred Al Pacino and Richard Crowe. The actual set building began on Manjack Cay on the 15th of July.

The unnamed film is currently called "the untitled Michael Mann Project" as it is directed by award winning director Michael Mann. The movie is a psychological drama that is based on a true story of 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman and former research and development tobacco executive Jeffrey Wigand.

The Abaco Tourist office assists with all requests to film or do a photography shoot in Abaco. In addition Cordell Thompson of the Ministry of Tourism and Mrs. Angela Archer, Assistant Manager of the Film Commission also aid film companies who wish to film in the Bahamas.

On behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and the Bahamas both Al Pacino and Michael Mann were presented sailing dinghy models made by Joe Albury in Man-O-War Cay by Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Tourism Dr. Patricia Rodgers at a special ceremony held at Gilliam Bay Point.

During the filming of this movie the crew was housed in Treasure Cay, Abaco. Many speed boats were used for transportation during the shoot to get back and forth from the cays to the mainland. Film companies and photographers will continue to seek spots in our beautiful Abaco for their various film and photographic projects.