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Since El secreto de la pedriza, the first film shot in the islands, was filmed in Mallorca in 1926, many filmmakers have immortalised the varied landscapes and historic buildings of the Balearic Islands on screen.
1:
El Verdugo
(Luis García Berlanga, 1963)
The Drach Caves and Palma in a masterpiece
Images of Nino Manfredi, Pepe Isbert and Emma Penella in Mallorca were immortalised in this masterpiece of Spanish cinema. The whole film is steeped in the island: from the trio's arrival at Palma port, brass band included, and their stay in the Can Bárbara district, to the legendary scene in which a Civil Guard officer calls Manfredi away during a tourist show in the Drach Caves so that he can begin his new job as an executioner. Berlanga was determined to shoot much of the film on the island and made Mallorca another character in this caustic portrait of Francoism and Spain's tourism boom.
2:
Muerte bajo el sol
(Guy Hamilton, 1982)
Raixa as the scene of the crime
Guy Hamilton, director of several famous James Bond films, loved Mallorca so much that he retired and died there. It is hardly surprising, then, that he shot this adaptation of Muerte bajo el sol, by Agatha Christie, on the island. Cala Fornells, Formentor, Dragonera, Cala Deià and above all the Raixa estate were among the locations used for this box-office success, helped in part by its distinguished British cast including Peter Ustinov, James Mason and Maggie Smith.
Cala Deià, a location in 'Muerte bajo el sol'. Photo: Tolo Balaguer
3:
El atlas de las nubes
(Tom Tykwer, Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, 2012)
Torrent de Pareis on the big screen
The visual power of this blockbuster by the directors of Matrix is undeniable. As the story jumps through time, Mallorcan landscapes appear including Sa Calobra, Puig Major, Formentor and s'Agulla des Frare. Tom Hanks and Halle Berry filmed several scenes on the island.
S'Agulla des Frares appears in 'El Atlas de las nubes'. Photo: Tolo Balaguer
4:
Yo
(Rafa Cortés, 2007)
Mallorcan identity
Who better than a Mallorcan to direct this film about a German who arrives in Estellencs and has to defend himself against something he did not do? At a time when Spanish cinema is winning awards with small films featuring non-professional actors (Alcarrás, Seis días corrientes…), this is a perfect opportunity to rediscover this award-winning film.
5:
El mar
(Agustí Villaronga, 2000)
Isolation at the Caubet sanatorium
No cinematic journey through the islands could leave out Agustí Villaronga. This adaptation of a novel by fellow Mallorcan Blai Bonet, shot entirely on the island, contains all the hallmarks of his cinema: anguish, cruelty, moral dilemmas… The main location is the former tuberculosis sanatorium at Caubet, in Bunyola, now the Joan March Hospital.
'El mar' was filmed at the Caubet sanatorium. Photo: Tolo Balaguer
6:
Lucía y el sexo
(Julio Medem, 2001)
The beauty of Formentera
This hit by Basque director Julio Medem is a clear example of tourism promotion through film. Many viewers discovered the beauty of this Mediterranean jewel through it. Much of its critical and box-office success is due to Medem at his best and Alberto Iglesias's memorable soundtrack. Paz Vega riding a motorbike towards the Barbaria lighthouse has become an iconic image.
7:
Quién puede matar a un niño
(Narciso Ibáñez Serrador, 1976)
Chicho's terror in Menorca
Chicho filmed this terrifying story in several Spanish locations, depicting children taking revenge for the injustices committed by adults. Anyone who has been to Fornells will recognise it when the tourist couple, the woman pregnant, arrive on an island under the unsettling gaze of a group of children. “Don't hurt yourselves,” she innocently tells them as they help moor the boat.
8:
F for fake
(Orson Welles, 1973)
Ibiza in Orson Welles's meta-copy
This cult work by the creator of Ciudadano Kane was one of the forerunners of the mockumentary. Welles draws on Clifford Irving, accused of plagiarising a book, and art forger Elmyr d'Hory, who lived in Ibiza, to make this (fake?) documentary. Welles himself describes Ibiza in the film as having a “quiet and Spanish” side and another that belongs to “an island in the sun”.
9:
El vent de l’illa
(Gerard Gormezano, 1988)
Menorca under British occupation
This personal project by cinematographer Gerard Gormezano is set in the 18th century during the British occupation of Menorca and centres on John Armstrong, author of the first study of the island. This officer and scientist forms one corner of a love triangle completed by an English painter and a woman from Ciutadella.
Ciutadella stars in 'El vent de l'illa'. Photo: Bep Al·lès
10:
Eivissa Occidente
(Günter Schwaiger, 2011)
The mecca of dance music
A documentary by Austrian director Günter Schwaiger, who lives in Spain, about Ibiza nightlife and more specifically the dance scene and the reasons the island has become the mecca of tecnomusic — something like the Hollywood of the genre.
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