Prepare your visit to Peñíscola and come and live a unique cinema experience.
Peñíscola, with its unique natural and architectural heritage, is an exceptional city for all kinds of audiovisual activities. Its strategic location has made it a privileged setting for both television and film productions. Since the beginning of the 20th century, in 1913, with the filming of Ana Cadova, the connection between the seventh art and our city began. Peñíscola de Cine brings together the most representative enclaves of the city as a film set.
Peñíscola, a cinema
Peñíscola is the tourist town par excellence in the province of Castellón. Its Old Quarter is home to Pope Luna’s Castle, a national historic-artistic monument. Benedictine XIII lived there from the second decade of the 15th century. This made it one of only three papal seats in the world.
The narrow streets that form the old part of the city as well as its walls make this city a unique film set. Its beaches, coves and other spots in the Sierra de Irta Natural Park have attracted directors, location scouts and producers from all over the world.
Peñíscola began to be a location of choice for filmmakers in 1913 with the silent film Ana Cadova directed by Fructuós Gelabert, one of the pioneers of Spanish cinema, in collaboration with the New York production company Cox&Co.
But it was the international blockbuster film El Cid that internationalised the city, thanks to the renown of its stars: Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren.
There were several films by Spanish director Berlanga, Calabuch and Paris-Tombouctou, and many other films, mainly Spanish, until there were more than 22 titles.
Lately, it seems that series have taken over from films, and Peñíscola has been chosen as the perfect setting to develop the stories of Chiringuito de Pepe produced by Mediaset for Telecinco and HBO’s internationally known Game of Thrones, in which the city of Peñíscola is the protagonist of the sixth season.
On the other hand, Peñíscola’s link with cinema is not only limited to being the setting for different productions. For 20 years, the city hosted the Peñíscola International Comedy Film Festival, which, in its golden age, even managed to attract foreign audiences with artists such as Charlton Heston and Bo Derek.
During the visit, we will see several of the locations of these series and films, thanks to which we will be able to discover curiosities about their filming and how the cinema has portrayed a Peñíscola that we sometimes find difficult to recognise, either because of the time that has passed, or because of the sets added to the natural beauty of the city.
Film Dish
Within the Peñíscola de Cine project, gastronomy is an essential product. Peñíscola offers a wide variety of food products. Its fishing market and its land offer a wide range of culinary possibilities. Combining filming locations and local products makes it possible to offer tourists a unique tourist experience. What better place to sample culinary delicacies than the city’s film set?
Tourists can use all five senses in a unique and inimitable culinary experience, which ends or begins with a tour of the locations that have been featured in the films.
