Cinematic journey to the islands
Cinephile and intrigued by the Balearic Islands? If so, you're in for a treat: a wonderful journey through the 7th art. 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 itinerary takes her first to the beach of Ses Illetes, where she takes a solitary bath at the Molí des Carregador; then by moped to the enigmatic Barbaria lighthouse and the island of Espalmador, during the famous mud bath scene. In 2018, the cameras return 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 own path in the aftermath of the hippie revolution. In 2013, the romantic comedy Loving Ibiza, directed by Dutchman Johan Nijenhuis, multiplied the number of Dutch people visiting and settling in Ibiza. More recently, in 2019, the town is the focus of a film of the same name, Ibiza, starring Christian Clavier and Mathilde Seigner. In Fernando Colomo's Isla Bonita (2015), Menorca takes center 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 homage to his native land in many of his works, including Prison de Cristal (1987) and El mar (2000), set in Mallorca. The director is one of the darlings of the Spanish 7th art world, with several of his films appearing at prestigious festivals around the world, including 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 the Spanish Academy, where his film Pain noir won the Goya Award for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film of 2011. Swiss director Barbet Schroeder is also a fervent supporter of the islands. In 1969, Schroeder filmed More, one of his most famous works. The film follows the adventures 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, the film reveals the island of Ibiza still untouched by urbanization. In 2015, Barbet Schroeder is back at it again with Amnesia. While the two works share 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 wrought on the white island between the two shoots.
