Once we’re allowed to go back to the movie theatres, we can expect to see a lot of Valencia on the screens.
La Comunidad Valenciana has always been an attractive location for filmmakers, but in the past six months, a record number of films have been shot here.
The latest to start production is a film called Toscana, a new movie by director Pau Durà, which will be shot in Valencia in March. It’s a comedy about the kidnapping gone wrong of a famous restaurant critic, a co-production by TVC and À Punt. The cast includes Edu Soto, Francesc Orella and Malena Alterio, and it is the second feature of director and screenwriter Pau Durà who made his debut in 2018 with the film Lady from Formentera. He recently announced plans for his third feature, Pájaros, a road movie based on a trip from the Albufera de València to the Black Sea.
À Punt was behind another recent Valencia film that premiered on TV screens on 8 March. Federica Montseny, The Woman Who Speaks, dirrected by Laura Mañá. This TV movie, starring Màrcia Cisteró and Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, tells the story of Federica Montseny, the anarcho-syndicalist leader who accepted the position of Minister of Health during the Second Republic, making her one of the first female ministers in the world. It is a rather intriguing film about her career and exile and the process of extradition that followed. The film was shot in Valencia, Sueca and San Isidro de Benagéber in October and November, and was produced by Distinto Films, TV3 and Voramar Films, with the help of various government institutions and funds.
In February of this year, Spanish filmmaker Avelina Prat, known for her documentaries, began shooting her first feature film, called Vasil. Shot entirely in Valencia, it is a tale of Vasil, a Bulgarian immigrant, a unique man, known for his kindness, passion and peculiar ability to see life differently.
The story deals with immigration and acceptance issues and follows Vasil’s stay at a friend’s house in Valencia for two months. This movie, starring Bulgarian actor Ivan Barnev, Spanish actors Karra Elejalde, Alexandra Jiménez and Susi Sánchez, along with British actress Sue Flack, is expected to be well received by international markets, too.
Beaches of Javea have been featured in several movies, and this trend continues. During September and October, a film called The Substitute was shot in Javea, Denia and a few other towns in Marina Alta.
It’s a new film directed by Óscar Aibar (El Bosque, Gran Vázquez), a police thriller composed of a stellar cast headed by Ricardo Gómez, Vicky Luengo and Pere Ponce. It takes us back to 1982 when a young police officer was transferred to a seaside town and was involved in an odd murder case – that of the inspector he has been drafted in to replace. The investigation will take him to a beach hotel where he meets a happily retired community of elderly Nazis, wanted by many countries for crimes against humanity.
What makes this movie exceptionally interesting is its premise and the real-life investigation by director and screenwriter Óscar Aibar that discovered that such a community of war criminals actually existed on the Costa Blanca.
Originally set for May, the filming was postponed to September due to the state of alarm. The beach is a prominent feature of the film, as well as an emblematic property on the Playa del Segundo Montañar seafront.
If we add an international blockbuster Uncharted, also partly shot in Javea, to this list, it’s clear that La Comunidad Valenciana is becoming a hot-spot for filmmaking.
© Five Movies Shot In Valencia This Year – TheValencian
