World Film Stars Appear in New Commercial Promoting Bulgaria

World-famous film stars appear in a new commercial promoting Bulgaria as a tourist destination, the Tourism Ministry in Sofia announced on Sunday.

The commercial has been produced by Sofia-based Nu Boyana Film Studios with no funding from the government, Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova said at a presentation of the video in Sofia.

Angelkova and Nu Boyana CEO Yariv Lerner on Sunday signed a partnership agreement which allows the Bulgarian government to use the commercial for free to promote the country.

Salma Hayek, Antonio Banderas, Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Adrien Brody and Shohreh Aghadashloo appear in the commercial, speaking about what they are feeling about Bulgaria, its people and their work in the country. It will be shown during the presentation of The Judgement, the Bulgarian foreign-language Oscar submission, in Los Angeles and will be aired via TV and Internet channels.

Nu Boyana Film studios in the outskirts of Sofia have been the film set for more than 180 world productions, including 300: Rise of an Empire, The Black Dahlia, Conan the Barbarian, Spartacus, Getaway and The Expendables 1, 2 and 3.

The commercial is one of the best examples of public-private partnership, Angelkova commented.

It's highly important to make best use of the fact that some of the world's top film stars are coming to Bulgaria as part of their job, Lerner said at the signing ceremony.

This brings Bulgaria into focus and increases its popularity and appeal as a tourist destination, he added.

Angelkova noted that a working group of Bulgaria's ministries of economy and tourism is being set up to draft a package of potential incentives for cinema industry in the country based on practices in other EU member states.