The charm of Zaragoza is well known to citizens and visitors. The city has many interesting corners where you can get lost and very photogenic panoramas from where you can admire its emblematic profile.
This characteristic of Zaragoza has been used on more than one occasion by the film industry and this has allowed us to "visit" the city in the form of stills from an armchair.
Although, as we say, the beauty of Zaragoza is not unknown to almost anyone, yet few suspect the city's relationship with the seventh art ... All the occasions in which Zaragoza has been another protagonist along with actors are surprising! top notch!
Did you know that …… the first film in Spanish cinema was shot in Zaragoza? That's how it is. Eduardo Jimeno Correas, recorded the well-known "Departure of the twelve o'clock mass of the Pilar" only two years after the invention of the cinematograph, in 1897.
From here, Zaragoza and the cinema began a love relationship that still continues today And that has been reflected on the screen through films that are part of history. Can you imagine which ones? 3, 2, 1…. action!!
Download the brochure here
One sunny morning at the end of 1899, Eduardo Jimeno Correas from Zaragoza left his house towards the central Plaza del Pilar loaded with a large double-leaf staircase and a Lumière movie machine bought in the city of Lyon. Eduardo, up on the stairs, began to roll the people who came out to listen to the 12 o'clock mass in the Basilica del Pilar. Thus arose what is considered the film that inaugurates the history of Spanish cinema.
A super Hollywood production shot in the current Valdespartera neighborhood, whose streets and squares are named after emblematic movie titles in honor of this filming, which converted, in September 1958, the desert surroundings of Zaragoza (today Valdespartera and Planas de Cuarte) in the desert of ancient Egypt, during the filming of the film's spectacular battles.
Hundreds of extras from Zaragoza participated in the filming, in what was a social and cinematographic milestone for Zaragoza.
Based on the homonymous novel by Ignacio Martínez de Pisón from Zaragoza, one of the most impressive scenes in the film takes place in the Canal Imperial de Aragón , rescuing Ramallo and Resines' car from the depths of its waters.
The Zaragoza Air Base (old American Base), has kept its infrastructures almost intact since then.
First feature by the director, producer and screenwriter from Zaragoza Miguel Ángel Lamata , a mixture of gore and black comedy, it ends with a shot in which its protagonists passionately kiss each other in a beautiful overview of Paseo de la Independencia, one of the main communication routes in the city that connects the Plaza de España with the Plaza de Basilio Paraíso.
The screenwriter and director Paula Ortiz made her debut feature, De tu ventana a la mía (2012), with actors of the stature of Maribel Verdú, Leticia Dolera, Luisa Gavasa and Álex Angulo , among others.
The director built a story of women in three voices, located in different times in Spain and united by love and pain. The film won numerous national and international awards.
The Zaragoza director and screenwriter Ignacio Estaregui makes his debut feature, a social drama starring Justino, a former miner who survived a tragic work accident that killed seven of his colleagues. He is copratagonizado by Álex Angulo.
He was nominated for Best Comedy at the 2014 Feroz Awards
The tram and the streets of Zaragoza are silent witnesses to the romance of the protagonists of Our Lovers, a film shot entirely between Zaragoza, Huesca and Teruel and starring Eduardo Noriega and Michelle Jenner.
He was nominated in the Official Feature Films Section in competition at the Malaga Film Festival, 2016.
Starring José Luis Gil, Luisa Gavasa, Álvaro de Luna and Manuel Manquiña is an adaptation of the novel "Musical thread for a fish farm", by Juan Luis Saldaña.
The first fiction series of Aragón TV stars Miguel Ángel Tirado (the Aragonese comedian Marianico el Corto) , who is convinced that the character who made him a celebrity in the 90s, Marianico el Short, he's dead. Now he just wants to make a surreal film like those of his admired Luis Buñuel.
Starring Jaime Lorente, Carlos Bardem, Juan Echanove ... tells the story of the man behind the legend
The Sultanate of Zaragoza was recreated in the Aljafería Palace, setting up the stages in the interior patios of Santa Isabel (or Los Naranjos courtyard) and that of San Martín, clearing the area of the moat and shielding the access for several days.
Pilar Palomero, from Zaragoza, directs and scripts her debut feature, filming a delicate film about the passage from childhood to adolescence.
Winner of numerous awards such as the Golden Biznaga for best film at the 2020 Malaga Film Festival, the Generation Berlinale Section at the Berlin International Film Festival or the Shanghai International Film Festival, Best Film at the Forqué and Feroz and four Goya 2021 awards, among them those for Best Film and New Director.
The Zaragoza producer and filmmaker Vicky Calavia made this documentary that takes a tour of the three provinces of our community, reviewing some of the most important shootings that have taken place since the beginnings of cinema.
It was TourisFilm Award 2014 for the Best Film and Tourism Documentary.
Produced by Aragón TV to record the historical moment that we are going through, as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, through the eyes of seven Aragonese authors who tell, in fiction format and documentary diverse stories that range from the most intimate sphere, the family one, to the public sphere and its social, cultural, ideological and emotional consequences.
These are just some examples in which we can admire Zaragoza through the screen but they are not and will not be the only ones because Zaragoza is a cinema destination.
With the aim of promoting and publicizing the characteristics of the city as a film setting, the Zaragoza Film Office has recently been created, aimed at promoting all kinds of filming and audiovisual productions, adequately projecting the image of Zaragoza.
The Zaragoza Film Office has joined the Spain Film Commission non-profit association that since 2001 leads the country's positioning as a destination for audiovisual filming.
