Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz on location in Portland

MINISTER of Industry, Investment and Commerce Karl Samuda, yesterday said Government will be moving aggressively to lure film-makers to Jamaica, even as crime continues to be a hindrance to investment.

Samuda, speaking at a press conference at the ministry's office in New Kingston, said Jamaica's creative industry has much room for growth, and that much effort will be made to expand it.

"We are going to aggressively go after business in that field because we feel that the creative industries have really lagged behind and there is so much scope," Samuda said.

"In doing that we are going to try to encourage those involved, and we are talking about music as well; our own domestic musicians and all those who service that sector. We are going to try our very best to expand that area to earn the foreign exchange," he said.

Samuda did not say how he intends to expand the market, but said the inspiration came from the recent shooting of the action/comedy Knight And Day, starring Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise in Frenchman's Cove, Portland.

The country earned $US1.5 million in just one week for that film, he said.

According to Samuda, Jamaica -- which saw a record 1,680 homicides last year -- had grown a stigma over the years, which seemingly detered film-makers.

That perception, however, should not be too much of a problem, he said.

"We were suffering from crime and violence and people get this perception that it might be dangerous in certain areas," he said. "But as far as I am aware film-makers are not terribly detered by the incidents of violence because they go and film in areas that are very dangerous."

"They are looking for scenery that will give them what they want and we are trying our best to expose them to all that we have to offer. We are trying to put Jamaica back on the map," he said.

Jamaica had been a favoured Caribbean destination for movie makers, having been featured in films such as How Stella Got Her Groove Back, starring Angela Bassett; The Blue Lagoon, starring Brooke Shields; and The Harder They Come, starring Jamaican-born Jimmy Cliff.

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