Cardona: a Hollywood Hotel: From 007 to 700
A mere 50 years after Orson Welles walked through the palatial splendour of Cardona castle to film his Shakespearian classic ‘Chimes at Midnight’, the world of the cinema returns to Cardona for an event in which three experts on Spanish cinema history and the popular new kind of tourism, set-jetting, or movie tourism if you prefer, presented the fruits of their research in the same place, which is now the Parador Nacional de Cardona, one of many historical buildings which operate as state-run hotels in Spain.
Many Paradors have been used for films, such as the one at Sigüenza, where Ridley Scott shot ‘1492’ or Oropesa in the province of Toledo, where Frank Sinatra stirred up guerilla trouble during ‘Pride and Passion’, Hondarribia, past which Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen were marched into exile in ‘Papillon’, or Chinchón, where John Wayne set up his big top in ‘Circus World’; but Cardona was the first, where Welles turned the 9th century castle into Windsor, and where Henry IV and his son, the future Henry V argued about kingship.
The three experts are Jaume Palau from Lleida, who is an expert on the locations of James Bond films, and who has travelled all over the world recording the spots where 007 did what he does, a surprisingly large number of the locations being in Spain.
Jaume is now developing a number of movie tourism initiatives.
Marga Araya is from Barcelona and has dedicated many years to the visits of Sir Laurence Olivier to Spain, and has published a book about the great actor and his wife, the actress Vivien Leigh.
Finally, Valencia International editor Bob Yareham presented his project: ‘Movies Made in Spain’, www.moviesmadeinspain.com and reviewed the history of some of the 900 English language films and TV series shot in Spain and discussed how Spain can harness and benefit from cinema tourism.
The event took place in the Parador on Saturday 17th October 2015 In front of an enthusiastic audience.
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