Xeitgeist Entertainment isn’t just shooting its latest movie in Singapore, but choosing to base its headquarters here too. Meanwhile, shares in Spackman Entertainment and mm2 Asia are on fire. Why are filmmakers coming here? Will more of them list on the local exchange?

In 2016, cinemagoers here should be able to catch some familiar local settings on the big screen. A mystical drama, Shambhala, will be partially filmed here next year, with scenes at the National University of Singa pore and a heritage black-and-white bungalow. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, of Bend it Like Beckham fame, plays a man who loses his memory after a plane crash in the mountainous region of Pakistan. He begins experiencing flashbacks of his time teaching in Singapore.

This is certainly not the first time a film with an international cast is being made in Singapore. Hitman: Agent 47, an action film starring Zachary Quinto and Rupert Friend, was filmed here last year and released this year. In it, armed men walk past MPH Bookstores on Robinson Road and blue Comfort taxis ply the streets. Shambhala, however, is being made by a local company and its Singapore setting marks the growing role the country is playing in the industry — more films are being developed, financed, shot and produced here than ever before.

Xeitgeist Entertainment Group was co-founded in 2011 by Mark Montgomery, an Australian who spent over 25 years working in sales and marketing communications for the film and tele vision industry. While based here, the company is making films with a much more international flavour. This year, it released The Man Who Knew Infinity, which stars Academy Award winner Jeremy Irons and Indian actor Dev Patel, best known for his role in Slumdog Millionaire. Patel plays a math genius battling racism in England’s 1910s academic circle. Montgomery tells The Edge Singapore that the film received standing ovations at both the Zurich Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival.