The landscapes and towns of Teruel have been the protagonists of many series and films, as well as advertisements in which the Teruel roads, with little traffic, are the perfect environment for filming. The province has maintained a great presence in the cinematographic field for years because, as José Antonio Martín Guillén, coordinator of the Teruel Film Commission, explains, “in this case, depopulation works in our favor, the fact that filming can still find almost uninhabited roads and moors and with very little human intervention puts us on the map.”
Not only the natural environments are valued, but also the large infrastructures that the province has and that are also used in filming, such as the Teruel airport, the Motorland circuit or the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory. “During all this time we have managed to get professionals from the big production companies to trust Teruel because the territory is dedicated to supporting filming. We are quite aligned and have worked hard to make the permitting and filming experience very satisfactory.”
During the last year, the province of Teruel has witnessed zombie attacks with the series ‘The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon-The Book of Carol ‘or the strategies of the contestants of the reality show ‘The Anonymu’s’, whose objective is to be the most popular among their peers during coexistence, but they can anonymously criticize and leave their opponents in a bad light. They have their own social network to do so with an anonymous account, and in the house they have their own room from which they can express whatever they want.
Cretas, in Teruel, was the perfect setting for this program as it was a space isolated from the population, private and safe. They recorded both in the residential complex and in the surrounding natural areas and roads. This is one of the big shoots of the year. The City Council of Cretas and the Matarraña region also worked to provide the production company with different suppliers, always betting on proximity, in addition to providing logistical support for the accommodation of the team. This blockbuster had an economic impact of one million euros in the accommodations of Bajo Aragón Historico.
The filming of ‘The Walking Dead’ has been one of the largest that has ever taken place in the province. Martín explains that the economic impact of a production like this is not limited only to the accommodations, but also has a positive impact on many local producers such as “transportation services, set construction, catering, security and even those dedicated to ensuring accessibility to the facilities.” taxiing areas.”
One of the main settings in this series is the disused railway line between Escatrón and Andorra, provided by Endesa: “It fit perfectly with what they were looking for. At first, there were other options in Toledo, but the visual environment of Bajo Aragón and the appearance of this particular road pleased the producers much more,” says Martín.
The city of Teruel, also of cinema
Not only are the sparsely populated settings attractive, the city of Teruel has been the location chosen for the filming of the first horror thriller by Zaragoza filmmaker Miguel Ángel Lamata, ‘The Tree and the Nightingale’, produced by BEMYBABY FILMS, and filmed in Teruel for the most part. The film has had two main settings in the city: a house located in an urbanization on the outskirts of Castralvo and the old Comandante Aguado, which was at the time a well-known orphanage in the city.
The actor Eduardo Noriega, one of the protagonists along with the actresses Amaia Salamanca, Cosette Silguero and Anastasia Fauteck, assured Europa Press that the bulk of the film had to be set in the city: “Teruel is recurring for Miguel Ángel and for me, where We filmed and presented the film ‘Our Lovers’, and where they have always treated me with great affection and hospitality, like two years ago receiving the Medal of Honor from the lovers of Teruel, or at the Calanda, Calamocha film festival. As I say, Aragón and Teruel are talismans for me, synonymous with success and excellent memories.”
Regarding the Castralvo house where a large part of the plot takes place, and within whose walls the team has lived together for more than a month, Noriega advanced that it is a determining piece of ‘The Tree and the Nightingale’. “He plays a fundamental role, both for the film and for my character, Fran, who feels that his house belongs to him as much as he himself belongs to it, something similar to what happens to me with Teruel, a land that is already part important part of my filmography and to which I am already looking forward to returning,” he summarized.
Teruel Film Commission
The Teruel Film Commission, an entity dependent on the Teruel Provincial Council, is a public service to attract and support the audiovisual industry in the province of Teruel. They offer different help such as proposing locations according to what they demand and going to the site with them, managing filming permits or support in the filming process.
The entity always works in close collaboration with local and regional entities, as well as provincial authorities that facilitate the processing of permits for filming and recording. The filming of the films by Oliver Laxe and Miguel Ángel Lamata ‘The Tree and the Nightingale’, as well as several large-format spots, are some of the highlights so far this year. The data for all of 2023 has already been reached, which was already good, with an impact of 2.1 million euros.
According to the latest balance sheet published, from March 2023 to March 2024, 20 high-impact filmings were made in that period, five feature films, 12 advertising films and three short films or video clips. This has covered ten of the Teruel regions, with more than one hundred locations
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