Fifth season of Game of Thrones premieres in Dubrovnik

Game of Thrones fever came to Dubrovnik last night with the premiere of the first episode of the fifth season of this globally popular serial. A red carpet event was held in the main Dubrovnik Cinema with specially invited guests who had the chance to get the first taste of the new season before the rest of the world. HBO will broadcast the serial on Sunday the 12th of April and the first episode features Dubrovnik, which is the location for Kings Landing in the serial.The Mayor of Dubrovnik, Andro Vlahusic, opened the screening by thanking all of the work of Embassy Films, HBO’s Croatian production partner, and their director Erika Milutin. The Mayor also announced that a Game of Thrones visitors centre would be opened this year in Dubrovnik on the island of Lokrum. The planned visitors centre will use one of the locations of the Game of Thrones in the monastery in the centre of the island. Guests to the centre will be able to see props from the series and will have the chance to have their photo taken in the throne used in the series. According to the mayor the visitors centre will be opened in June this year.Strict security surrounded the screening of the first episode, mobile phones were banned and security guards were in force. Before the first episode was shown a short video with the cast of the show was broadcast in which they praised Croatia and especially Dubrovnik. “The first time we saw Dubrovnik we had a shock because it was exactly the way we planned that King’s Landing would look,” commented one of the co-creators of the serial David Benioff.After the screening a cocktail party, organised by the Dubrovnik Tourist Board, was held in the foyer of the cinema.