Orson Welles used to say that Spain isn’t so much a country as a continent, due to its wide variety of unspoilt scenery, which is why he made so many films in Spain.

Cinema tourism is an undeniable fact; you only need to ask the delighted authorities in New Zealand, where they are still reaping the benefits of visitors attracted by the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Now a new initiative in Spain, a website containing articles about the locations used in over 570 films made wholly or partly in Spain, has been launched to give Spain the added value needed to compete with other countries which also have attractive scenery, monuments and gastronomy.

www.silver-screen-spain.com has been created by English teacher and author Bob Yareham and webmaster and Telecommunications Engineer and software developer Juan José Cermeño. Working from Valencia they have created a guide for those tourists who will be pleased and surprised to find that Seville not only has not wonderful restaurants and monuments but also practically all of the palaces and interiors used in Lawrence of Arabia, as well as one from Star Wars II.

Set-jetters can find Katherine Hepburn’s Troy (The Trojan Women 1971) in the tiny village of Atienza, Guadalajara, or Spielberg’s prisoner of war camp (Empire of the Sun) in Trebujena, Cádiz, or the location of the final scene of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in Covarrubias, Burgos, although most of the other spaghetti westerns were of course shot in the deserts and dunes of Almeria.

There are few important directors or stars that have not filmed in Spain, creating a cinematic heritage here which may explain why Spanish actors (Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem) and directors (Amenabar, Almodóvar) are so successful today.

Classics such as Doctor Zhivago, 55 Days at Peking and Patton were all made here, and more recently, Kingdom of Heaven, Clash of the Titans, Knight and Day and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

Nearer home Valencia was used in the making of The Curse of the Pink Panther, Denia has seen many nautical films made such as HMS Defiant and Krakatoa, and the tiny village of Agost provided the Mexican township for Yul Brynner’s The Return of the (Magnificent) Seven.

www.silver-screen-spain.com attempts to show you where and when different scenes were shot, which famous monuments were used, where the stars stayed and what amusing anecdotes are still told by the thousands of Spanish extras who have made up the armies of Mark Anthony, Rommel, Richard the Lionheart, Richard III or Cromwell.

The authors are also developing activities for teachers to use in their English language classes, hoping to attract a more culturally demanding visitor to Spain and to move away from the dependence on sun, sand and sangria.

 

RY