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A Hollywood production starring Brad Pitt filmed across five locations in Greece between February 19 and March 19, 2026, generating an immediate tourism surge on the island of Hydra and drawing fresh attention to the country’s competitive 40% film cash rebate programme.
The Riders, directed by Edward Berger and distributed by A24, is based on Australian author Tim Winton’s 1994 novel and follows a man travelling across Europe in search of his missing family. The production, co-financed by Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions, moved through Hydra, Athens, Lavrio, Chalkida on the island of Evia, and the coastal town of Nea Makri over the course of five weeks.
The shoot marks the latest in a growing line of major international productions to film in Greece, following Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, and Amazon Prime Video’s House of David. Greece’s 40% cash rebate, administered by the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Centre (Ekkomed), applies to eligible in-country production spend and carries a cap of €8 million per project.
A January 2026 study by consultancy Olsberg SPI found the incentive generated €928.7 million in gross value added (GVA) for the Greek economy between 2018 and 2025, with a return on investment of 4.2 — meaning every €1 of public investment produced €4.2 in net GVA.
Hydra Reaches Full Capacity as Crew Arrives Weeks Before Tourist Season
Filming on Hydra began on February 24, 2026, after an initial start date on Clean Monday. Clean Monday is the first day of Lent in the Greek Orthodox calendar, which was pushed back due to a surge of visitors descending on the island ahead of the production. Hotels and rental properties reported 100% occupancy within days of the announcement, with accommodation described as virtually impossible to find. Restaurants and cafés that typically open in spring began serving customers weeks ahead of schedule, and local residents were hired as extras and auxiliary production staff.
The cast and crew on Hydra exceeded 300 people, with the production running a daily catering operation for approximately 250 people using Greek suppliers. The island’s historic port was transformed for the shoot, with a vintage 1980s-era Flying Dolphin hydrofoil ferry brought in and storefronts converted to period-appropriate appearances to match the film’s setting.
Hydra’s Mayor Georgios Koukoudakis confirmed publicly that the tourism season on the island had started from mid-February, months earlier than usual, and described the production as delivering profits directly to the local community. The island holds its own cinematic history: in 1957, Hydra hosted Boy on a Dolphin, the first Hollywood production ever filmed in Greece, starring Sophia Loren.
Production Moves Across Attica as Greece’s Film Incentive Record Comes Into Focus
After completing the Hydra sequences, the production relocated to the Greek mainland. Filming took place at Kotzia Square and Athens City Hall, where authorities temporarily closed Athinas Street to accommodate crews working outside the historic municipal building.
Pitt stepped out of a black SUV at the City Hall location and briefly acknowledged a crowd that had gathered before entering the building to film interior scenes in the municipal registry hall.
The production subsequently moved to Lavrio in eastern Attica, Chalkida’s historic railway station on the island of Evia, and the coastal town of Nea Makri. Pitt completed the final day of filming in Athens on March 19, 2026.
Pitt plays Fred Scully in the film, a man renovating a farmhouse in Ireland who waits for his wife and daughter to arrive from Australia before events take a mysterious turn. The cast includes Julianne Nicholson, Coco Greenstone, Michael Smiley, Danny Huston, Camille Cottin and Ulrich Thomsen. Berger previously directed All Quiet on the Western Front, which won four Academy Awards. On the policy side, the Olsberg SPI study presented to Greece’s Ministry of Culture found the cash rebate programme created an average of 2,900 full-time equivalent jobs annually since its launch. “The audiovisual creative sector is one of the most efficient productive sectors in Greece,” said Leonidas Christopoulos, CEO of Ekkomed. Leon Forde, CEO of Olsberg SPI, said Greece has the potential to further develop as a leading production hub, adding that securing stability and long-term commitment from all stakeholders would be essential to realising that outcome.
Photo Credit: IMDB
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