Press Notes

• Mild winter temperatures and incredible landscapes have been the natural backdrop for shooting film productions; the Canary Islands are the best destination for enjoying filmtastic holidays!
• Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard and Matt Damon have praised the archipelago’s resources during recent filming on the islands
• Allied, Jason Bourne, Fast & Furious 6, Wrath of the Titans and Exodus: Gods and Kings are just some of the most successful mega productions set in the Canaries
• Virgin beaches of white sand, a desert of dunes next to the ocean, lunar-like volcanic areas, ancient forests, vertiginous cliffs and marine depths of incredible visibility are some of the natural cinema sets where visitors play the leads

The Canary Islands, 10 January 2017 – The variety of natural landscapes on the Canary Islands is a great attraction for many film directors who choose the archipelago for the shooting of their films, but it also draws many visitors who want to feel like stars on the best stages, which, just “like something out of a movie”, have actually been moulded by nature.

2017 is an exceptional year to spend some incredible holidays with the family. The magnificent real-life sets of the Canary Islands and the pleasant winter temperatures on the archipelago, averaging 19 degrees and with long sunny days, will make you feel like Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard or Matt Damon in some of their films shot on the islands. Spending your holidays in some of their locations will really make you feel like their stars and top action heroes.

Tenerife has always been the setting for numerous feature films due to its combination of ecosystems, landscapes and microclimates, where deserts co-exist with subtropical forests and volcanic landscapes, monumental and avant-garde cities which make the destination an enormous natural set. A myriad of films have been shot on the island, some even this year such as 1898. Los últimos de Filipinas (1898, Our Last Men in the Philippines) and The Mist and the Maiden, among others. In 2015, Isabel Coixet directed Nadie quiere la noche (Nobody Wants the Night), and that same year Julio Medem also directed the film Ma Ma, starring Penélope Cruz, Luis Tosar and Asier Etxeandía. 

Hollywood has chosen locations on the Canary Islands for the settings of films such as Jason Bourne, the fifth instalment of the well-known saga mainly centred on the Oscar-winning Matt Damon. Production company Universal Pictures landed on Tenerife for shooting with the leading actor and others such Julia Stiles and Vincent Cassel and the likes of Tommy Lee Jones and Alicia Vikander, who is also nominated for an Oscar for best actress in her role in The Danish Girl.

To feel like a true action hero and remember the dizzying scenes from Fast & Furious 6 all you have to do is wander around Garachico, various places around Isla Baja or stretches of the Tenerife’s island ring road. Together with the northern part of Gran Canaria and its Puente de Silva bridge, these were some of the locations on the archipelago that director Justin Lin chose as the backdrop for certain scenes from the last action movie in the saga. In the sixth film in the series, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker play professional criminals who retire to Tenerife.

The variety of its landscapes, mountains, beaches, ports and even a desert of dunes make Gran Canaria another of the largest and most varied sets in the world. For want of World War II props during the shooting of Allied, the island acts as the stage for reliving the romantic spy drama starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. It is also the place secreting away an impossible love story as a substitute location for the former Spanish Guinea in Palm Trees in the Snow, with leading actors Adriana Ugarte, Mario Casas and Berta Vázquez. To Steal from a Thief, [REC] 4: Apocalypse, The Kid and Moby Dick, are other large productions shot in Gran Canaria with actors that are now well-known stars on the big screen.

The exuberant nature of the Canary Islands is the perfect setting for fantasy films, such as Wrath of the Titans, whose mythological characters come to life on the silver screen in the Teide and Garajonay national parks on Tenerife and La Gomera respectively. This latter place, next to the port of Valle de Gran Rey and the city of San Sebastián de La Gomera (the capital of the island), are the fantastic setting staging the mystery that shrouds La niebla y la doncella (The Mist and the Maiden). Together with Lanzarote, the island is also the location for the film In the Heart of the Sea, based on a true story and featuring Liam Neeson and Christian Bale.

As well as being the backdrop for many productions, the lunar-like landscapes of Lanzarote have also inspired directors like Pedro Almodóvar, who set part of the plot of Los abrazos rotos (Broken Embraces) on the island, with Penélope Cruz filmed on the beach. Since 1965, around fifty films have been shot on Lanzarote because of its stunning black and reddish volcanic ground which seems to have come from another planet.

Like something out of science fiction, the hot desert landscape of Fuerteventura is the grand natural setting for adding colour to a fictitious biblical narrative in the film Exodus: Gods and Kings. The island’s virgin coastline bathed in emerald waters and white sand has been the backdrop to so many other films.

The incredible landscapes, volcanoes, deep forests and cosy beaches of ‘La isla bonita’ as La Palma is known are also a great attraction for producers and directors for staging films and series. Actresses Ángela Molina and Elvira Mínguez starred in La caja (The Wooden Box), a Spanish tragicomedy set in the Canary Islands during the 1960s.

About the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands is the place with The best climate in the world for enjoying exceptional holidays any time of the year. Seven different and unique islands, perfect for disconnecting from your daily routine, recharging your batteries and returning home feeling physically and mentally refreshed. The beaches, volcanic landscapes, lively and hospitable lifestyle and the possibility of choosing from all sorts of outdoor activities, as well as a wide range of quality accommodation and leisure activities, mean that the majority of visitors repeat the experience more than once.

About Promotur Turismo de Canarias

Promotur Turismo de Canarias, an entity attached to the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport of the Regional Government of the Canary Islands, oversees the promotion of the Canary Islands tourism brand. Created in 2005, the main goal of this public company is to study, promote and market the huge tourist offer the Canarian archipelago affords, in conjunction with the other institutions on the islands related to the tourist sector.

Press Contact:

brezo.rodriguez@porternovelli.es  // alberto.tapia@porternovelli.es

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