it appears, prefer the action-based diet of American
cinema. In fact, by far the best-performing Spanish-
based film of 2006,Alatriste, was an action-heavy
swashbuckler based on Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novels of
the same name. Strangely, the interest of Spain’s
populace in its film industry seems to shrink inversely
to the prestige of Spanish cinema internationally, which
grows year on year.
The Spanish love of afiestaspills over into the world of film, and the curtain goes up
on more than 40 film fests in Spain each year. Here are five worth seeking out:
Festival Internacional de Cine de Donostia–San Sebastian
Spain’s most prestigious film festival, the one where you’re most likely to see the
stars, unfurls in Basque territory in late September. (Incidentally, Donostia-San
Sebastian is the city’s full name, with the Basque bit at the start.)
Les Gai Cine Mad
Madrid’s gay film fest takes place in November. Film remains central to the
experience but the organisers also hope to further the acceptance of homosexuality.
Festival Internacional de Cine Erótico de Barcelona
Spain’s rudest film fest displays its wares in the Barcelonan autumn.
Semana de Cine Fantástico y de Terror
San Sebastian’s other festival, renowned for its fascination with horror and fantasy,
gushes out at the end of October.
Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid
The other big fest of Spanish film (beside Donostia-San Sebastian) has been held in
Castile y León each October for more than half a century. It has a reputation as a test
ground for the great European directors.
And the Goya goes to...
Hollywood has the Oscars, Spain has los Premios Goya,
named and shaped in the image of Spain’s troubled
18 thcentury painter. Goyas were first given out in 1987,
distributed by the Academia de las Artes y las Ciencias
Cinematográficas de España, a kind of film marketing
board established the year before.
Five great Spanish film festivals
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- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Alexander the Great
(1956). Franco, pleased
at the association with
Hollywood, allowed
shooting everywhere from
El Molar, near Madrid, to
Malaga. Richard Burton
went blond for the lead role.
The Good, the Bad and
the Ugly(1966). Perhaps
the most famous of Sergio
Leoni’s spaghetti westerns
was shot, like many a
western, in the desert of
Almería. 1,500 of the local
militia were used as extras.
Empire of the Sun(1987).
Steven Spielberg
transformed the flatlands
near Cadiz into a wartime
internment camp, as run by
the Japanese just outside
Shanghai.
Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade(1989).
Harrison Ford and co
pretended to be in the
Middle East, when in fact
they were on Guadix station
platform, Granada.
Guerrilla(2008). Steven
Soderbergh’s biopic on Che
Guevara was actually filmed
in various bits of Spain.
Puerto Rican Benicio del
Toro wears the beret and
wispy beard.
On location: five
international
films made on
Spanish soil
