Leioa has made the leap to the small and to the big screen. This is demonstrated by the different recordings that have taken place over the last few months in the town.
Recordings of different styles
Last February, several scenes of the series “Cicatriz” (“Scar”) , directed by Miguel Ángel Vivas, Manuel Carballo and Alejandro Bazzano, as well as the scriptwriters of productions such as Vis a Vis, Toy Boy or La Casa de Papel, were filmed at Artaza Palace. TVE, Amazon Prime and Telekom Srbija are involved in its production.
More recently, in May of this year, the feature film in Basque “Karmele”, directed by Asier Altuna and starring Jone Laspiur and Eneko Sagardoy, was also filmed. This film is based on the novel by Kirmen Uribe “La hora de despertarnos juntos” (“The time to wake up together”), which tells the story of Karmele Aurresti, a Basque nurse exiled in France in the late 1930s.
Moreover, this film is an added value as it is a local production in Basque, which contributes positively to the dynamisation of the film industry and the promotion of Basque culture.
Now, again in September, the Artaza Palace has hosted more recordings, in this case with the film “El Talento” (“The Talent”) , produced by REPOSADO P.C. and THE MEDIAPRO STUDIO and directed by Polo Menárguez together with Fernando León de Aranoa. The main cast includes great actors such as Ester Expósito and Pedro Casablanc.
It should also be noted that, prior to this year’s recordings, series such as “30 monedas” (“30 coins”) for HBO or “Intimidad” (“Intimacy”) for Netflix, also used the Artaza Palace in Leioa as a film set.
Impact of these initiatives
This type of initiatives contributes to making Leioa’s tourist attraction and historical heritage more visible. Not only that, but also attracting the audiovisual industry to Leioa, including, among others, professionals in lighting, recording, make-up, wardrobe,… helps to boost the audiovisual industry as well as improving the local economy of Leioa.