A documentary film about David ‘Knighter’ Knight, a Manx enduro motorbike racer, has used a beach in Ireland to represent the Point of Ayre.
Manx producer David Mousley is an executive producer of the film and, said that he’d been filming both in the island and also across in Ireland and the UK.
The documentary, called ‘Man to Dakar’ shows Knighter’s journey from the Isle of Man to the Dakar Races, which has a reputation for being one of the world’s toughest.
The reasoning he gave was that there was better financial incentives from other locations were they to film there.
Speaking to Manx Radio, Mr Mousley said: ‘We filmed the entire thing (the Dakar Races) remotely because no one could travel. So we had cameras with the people there.
‘The footage there came back and we are now assembling the backstory to it.
‘We’re filming in the Isle of Man but we also have to film out of the Isle of Man because the thing is being put together with international tax credits.
‘These are available in the UK, Ireland and Canada, which are the jurisdictions that have allowed some of this to happen.
‘That’s why we were shooting in Ireland last week. We were actually using a particular beach which looks enormously like the Point of Ayre.’
The Isle of Man has a history in producing films, having co-financed more than 100 feature films and played host to some big names in movies and TV in the past, including David Bowie, Zac Efron, Gemma Arterton and Jodie Whittaker.
Also in an interview with Manx Radio, Enterprise Minister Lawrie Hooper confirmed that there were ‘no particular incentives deliberately around attracting filmmakers’ to the island in the works, aside from the regular financial incentives offered to anyone wishing to move their business to the Isle of Man.
Mr Mousley said: ‘With a lot of local businesspeople and filmmakers, we are trying to find a mechanism that will reignite the film industry and production in the Isle of Man.’
Mr Hooper highlighted that this sat within the powers of the Digital agency. He said: ‘If this was an area that the agency wanted to invest in then the department would support it.’