The province of Granada, protagonist of a German film guide

The book devotes 60 pages to the main locations in Granada in its review of the Andalusian scenery  

The locations used to film great films such as “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”, “Doctor Zhivago” or “Until His Time” and mythical series such as “Black Mirror”, are an essential part of the German film guide “On location: Andalusien”, written by Ralf Junkerjürgen and Annette Scholz, which the German publishing house Schüren Verlag has just introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The guide has been published in Germany and Austria, with a potential audience of 90 million readers, and is also available online on the publisher’s website.

The First Vice-President and Provincial Deputy for Culture and Historical Memory, Fátima Gómez, stated that “in addition to facilitate filming for production companies and to promote local professionals, Film in Granada also believes it is essential to promote film tourism in our province, and the publication of this important film guide is a unique opportunity to attract German and Austrian tourists to our wonderful locations”. 

One of the authors, professor of Romanic Cultures at the University of Regensburg and renowned expert on Spanish cinema, Ralf Junkerjürgen, said that “the province of Granada take up an important place in Andalusia in the history of cinema, because it has spectacular landscapes, where the great productions of the 60s and 70s were filmed, such as ‘North West Frontier’, ‘The Long Duel’ and ‘The last run’, as well as other good Spanish films such as ‘A Perfect Day’ by Fernando León de Aranoa.

The guide devotes 60 pages to the main locations in the province, starting with the city of Granada: the Alhambra, scene of assorted productions, from “The 7th Voyage of Sinbad” (Nathan Juran, 1957), to “Alice and Martin” (André Techiné, 1998) with Juliette Binoche; the Albaicín, with the filming of “It started with a kiss” (George Marshall, 1959) with Glenn Ford; the Hospital de San Juan de Dios or the Plaza de las Pasiegas in “Wilde” (Brian Gilbert, 1997), with Stephen Fry and Jude Law.

The book goes on to explore other locations, such as the Sierra Nevada’s road, setting of “The Last Run” (Richard Fleischer, 1971); the Gorafe desert, setting of the series “Black Mirror” (T5 E2, 2019) and “Intergalactic” (T1 E2, 2021), the Huétor’s Mountain with “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (Steven Spielberg, 1988) and of course, the Castle of La Calahorra, emblematic location of “The Wind and the Lion” (John Millius, 1975), with Sean Connery, “Tirante el Blanco” (Vicente Aranda, 2006), “Assasins Creed” (Justin Kurzel, 2016) or more recently, “House of the Dragon (HBO, 2022). In addition, the guide includes maps of the province showing locations and routes.  

• 

• 

The region of Guadix has its own chapter in the guide due to its importance in the cinema of the 60s and 70s, especially the so-called “spaghetti western”. From the mythical Flagstone village built by Paramount for the filming of “C’era una volta il West” (Sergio Leone, 1968), through the Baldwin locomotive and the old railway line, first used in “North West Frontier” (1959) and later, in “Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo” (Sergio Leone, 1966), up to the city of Guadix itself: with its train station, “Iskenderun” in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (Steven Spielberg, 1988), the Cathedral of the Encarnación, which appears in “Karol” (Giacomo Battiato, 2005), the Plaza de Santiago, in “Sette pistole per i MacGregor” (Franco Giraldi, 1965) and “Giù la testa!”(Sergio Leone, 1970) or the Arch of San Torcuato, setting of “Tepepa” (Giulio Petroni, 1968).

For the production of this book, professor Ralf Junkerjürgen visited the province of Granada last June and was supported in his trip by the Provincial Federation of Hostelry and Tourism of Granada, which provided him with accommodation, and by the management of the Film in Granada office of the Provincial Council.