Cinematic journey to the islands
Are you a film buff and intrigued by the Balearic Islands? If so, you should know that if you go there, there is a beautiful journey of the 7th art awaiting you. To immerse yourself in the magic of Formentera, don't miss the film Lucía y el sexo (2001) by Spanish filmmaker Julio Médem. It tells the story of Lucía (Paz Vega), a waitress in a Madrid restaurant who decides to escape to Formentera to mourn her former love. Her route takes her first to Ses Illetes beach, where she takes a solitary bath at the Molí des Carregador; then she rides her moped to the enigmatic Barbaria lighthouse or to the island of Espalmador, during the famous mud bath scene. In 2018, the cameras once again move to the island to set the scene for Formentera Lady, directed by Pau Durà. Samuel, who arrived in the archipelago in the 1970s, follows his little way in the wake of the hippie revolution. In 2013, the romantic comedy Loving Ibiza, directed by Dutchman Johan Nijenhuis, furthermore has the effect of multiplying the number of Dutch people visiting and settling in Ibiza. More recently, in 2019, the city is at the heart of a homonymous work, Ibiza, with Christian Clavier and Mathilde Seigner in the main roles. In Fernando Colomo's Isla Bonita (2015), it is Menorca that takes centre stage. In 2012, the science fiction film Cloud Atlas (starring Tom Hanks and Halle Berry) was shot on Mallorca, mainly in Escorca, Soller and the Serra de Tramuntana. And finally, in 2020, the city is the main heroine of the British crime series The Mallorca Files, broadcast on France 2.
Agustì Villaronga and Barbet Schroeder
Originally from the Balearic Islands (Palma de Mallorca to be precise), director Agustì Villaronga pays tribute to his native land in many of his works, notably in Prison de Cristal (1987) and El mar (2000), whose plot is set in Mallorca. The director is one of the Spanish darlings of the film world, with several of his films appearing at prestigious festivals around the world, such as the Berlinale (nominated for El mar and Prison de Cristal), the Cannes Festival (in the official competition with El Niño de la luna, in 1989) and at the Spanish Academy, where his film Black Bread won the Goya Award for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film of 2011. Swiss director Barbet Schroeder is also a fervent servant of the islands. In 1969, Schroeder shot More, one of his most famous works. This feature film depicts the adventure of a young German who discovers the pleasures and then the hell of drugs, initiated by an American woman with whom he falls in love. Shot over 50 years ago, this film reveals the island of Ibiza still untouched by urbanization. In 2015, Barbet Schroeder did it again with Amnesia. If the two works have a similar plot (two characters whose vision of their country will be renewed), it also allows us to take the measure of the changes that time may have operated on the white island between the two shootings.
