Hydra will host filming for The Riders, directed by Edward Berger, with production scheduled to begin on February 20. The film, which carries a budget nearing €44 million, is also expected to feature Julianne Nicholson and rising talent Coco Greenstone. Produced by Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions in collaboration with A24, the project is also expected to receive €2.5 million in funding from the Hellenic Film and Audiovisual Center S.A. (H.F.A.C).

Based on the novel of the same name by Tim Winton, The Riders follows a father and his young daughter as they travel across Europe searching for the girl’s mother, who has mysteriously disappeared. 

Among the most notable recent projects filmed on the island is Kapodistrias, directed by Yiannis Smaragdis, which sold more than 700,000 tickets in Greece. The film was shot in Athens, Nafplio, Corfu, Hydra, Mani, and Sounio, as well as in Romania and Switzerland, and is also scheduled for broadcast on Nova.

In 2023, Hydra served as a key filming location for So Long, Marianne, an eight-episode international co-production involving Greek company Tanweer Productions. Available on Cosmote TV, the series tells the iconic love story of Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen and his muse Marianne Ihlen. Much of the series was filmed on Hydra, where the couple lived during the 1960s, tracing their journey across Norway, Greece, New York, and Montreal amid a bohemian circle of artists, poets, and free spirits. 

In 2022, the French documentary Hydra: Life on the Quietest Island was also filmed on the island. The film follows a French woman, Alexandra, as she spends two weeks observing daily life on Hydra, defined by the absence of vehicles, the slow pace of time, and a way of life seemingly untouched by the modern world. 

Worth noting

Hydra’s international film history dates back nearly seven decades. In 1957, Boy on a Dolphin, starring Sophia Loren and directed by Jean Negulesco, was filmed on the island. In one memorable scene, Loren performed the song “Ti ’nai afto pou to lene agapi?” (“What Is This Thing Called Love?”) inside a local taverna alongside Tony Maroudas, with Alexis Minotis also appearing in the film. 

Equally important was the visit of pioneering filmmaker Vassilis Maros (1929-2002) in the late 1950s. His documentary Hydra captures walks along the harbor, narrow alleyways, and the island’s grand mansions, offering a poetic cinematic meditation on Hydra’s enduring character. The film is available today on Cosmote History HD via Cosmote TV.