The southern region of Andalusia is one of the busiest in Spain for international film and TV productions. It is also home to an increasing number of production companies looking to collaborate with foreign partners.
Aralan, the company behind Paz Vega’s directorial debut Rita, and La Claqueta, which produced Patricia Ortega’s Sundance-premiering Mamacruz, are both based in the regional capital of Seville.
Anima Stillking, a production services company, has also opened in the city. It has been launched by three executives who met at Fresco Film: María Cabello, whose credits include Netflix’s Kaos, Silvia Aráez, the Spanish producer on Disney series We Were The Lucky Ones, and Cristina Armario.
Fresco, which was acquired by Mediapro this summer, maintains its base in Málaga.
Womack Studios is is also based in Sevlle, with outposts in Miami, Barcelona and Madrid. Womack is also planning expansion into the Canary Islands and the Basque Country, attracted by their enhanced tax rebate incentives. (These areas offer 40%-60% rebate depending on production spend, whereas in the rest of the country it is between 25%-30%).
The company also organises the South International Series Festival, the second edition of which is taking place in Cadiz from October 25-31.
Deserts, wineries - and breakfast
Andalusia is Spain’s second-largest region, covering 33,821 square miles and including eight provinces. It hosted 1,381 film and television productions in 2023, according to the Andalusia Film Commission. Of these, six were international features and six were international series.
The region has a wide variety of locations including the Moorish architecture of Granada’s Alhambra, the historic sherry wineries of Jerez, the deserts of Tabernas and the wetlands of Doñana and Odiel in Huelva.
“International teams love this diversity,” says Piluca Baquero, director, Andalusia Film Commission “They appreciate the fact that you can have breakfast in a four- star hotel and be shooting in the desert 10 minutes later.”
Andalusia has recently attracted features including: Mehdi Avaz’s Mango, a Danish production for Netlfix that shot in Malaga; Los Tigres, Alberto Rodriguez’s follow-up to Prison 77 for Moviestar Plus+; The Captive from Oscar winner Alejandro Amenabar, produced by Mod Producciones, which shot scenes in Seville; and Lucia Alemany’s third feature Pídeme Lo Que Quieras a romantic drama based on a novel by Megan Maxwell.
The region is also able to stand in for other locations. Last year, its desert landscapes doubled for the Holy Land for Adam Anders’ musical adventure Journey To Bethlehem, in which Malaga-born Antonio Banderas plays King Herod.
Elsewhere, Granada played host to Saturn Return, a drama about rock band Los Planetas and Spain’s official Oscar entry, while thriller Barren Land, from Money Heist director Albert Pinto and produced by Esto También Pasará, Glow, and Mexico’s SDB Films, filmed in Cadiz.
For TV, Zorro, produced by Marc Dujardin at Le Collectif 64 for France Télévisions and Paramount+, and starring his brother Jean, filmed in Almería; Netflix’s The Fallout Shelter, shot in Granada and Cádiz; and When Nobody Sees Us, directed by Enrique Urbizu and the first Max original series from Spain, shot in Morón de la Frontera, Seville.
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