New Mexico to be filmed as 19th century Greece

Feature film Cliffs of Freedom will double New Mexico for 19th century Greece for a story set during the Greek War for Independence in 1821.

Author: Nick Goundry

Published: 14 Oct 2016

New Mexico

Feature film Cliffs of Freedom will double New Mexico for 19th century Greece for a story set during the Greek War for Independence in 1821.

The conflict saw the Greeks fighting against the rule of the Ottoman Empire – modern-day Turkey – for nearly ten years before eventually winning their independence in 1832.

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Cliffs of Freedom will shoot in Santa Fe to tell the story of an ill-fated romance between a young Greek woman and a Turkish officer who becomes disillusioned with his country’s brutal conduct.

“We're very pleased to host Cliffs of Freedom in Santa Fe, not only for the historic nature of the story but also because it proves the tremendous variety of creative resources for staging a production here,” said Javier Gonzales, mayor of Santa Fe. “If we can double for early 19th century Greece, we can do just about anything.”

New Mexico is well established as a popular double for desert locations around the world, and particularly for modern war stories set in Iraq or Afghanistan. The journalistic memoir film adaptation Whiskey Tango Foxtrot and Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor have been high-profile recent examples.

More than 60 films and TV shows spent almost $390m in New Mexico last year, partly because of the state’s generous filming incentive support.

However, authorities are currently considering plans to save money by reducing the film fund in a move that could impact New Mexico’s national appeal as a filming location.

For more on filming in New Mexico see our production guide.

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