Filming in Tunisia

Tunisia is a country about the size of California with a tremendous variety of scenery from forests, mountains, beaches and desert to industrial landscapes and souks.

There is a solid infrastructure due to the well-developed tourist industry and a small number of excellent crew.

Tunisia plans to boost regional film tourism by preserving a desert set built for the Star Wars prequels in the late 90s.

Star Wars creator George Lucas built Luke Skywalker’s desert homestead in Tunisia for the first film in the mid-70s. In the late 90s Lucas headed to Ong Jmel in the south of the country to build the set for Mos Espa, a key Tatooine location in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

Film tourism can have a major economic impact locally. In New Zealand the refurbished set of Hobbiton was built as a permanent structure for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy to enable its use as a long-term tourist attraction. More recently, Northern Ireland launched a new film tourism campaign to promote the region internationally through Game of Thrones.

Climate

Much of Tunisia has a Mediterranean – as opposed to an African – climate, with summer temperatures in Tunis ranging from 21C to 33C, while winter conditions range from about 6C to 14C. The average annual temperature is 18C. Conditions can be warmer and drier in the central plain, while northern regions are more mountainous with milder winters. Annual rainfall is concentrated during the winter months.