Ever since Anthony Mann fell in love with Peñíscola to shoot the 1961 film El Cid with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, this Mediterranean coastal town will be remembered for its participation and love of cinema. Other productions such as the legendary Calabuch or Paris Timbuktu by the late Luis García Berlanga were set in Peñíscola or the recent American blockbuster Game of Thrones or the popular series Chiringuito de Pepe.

The eighties were a boom for the rise of festivals in Spain and in 1988 the Peñíscola International Comedy Festival was born with great enthusiasm.

Over the course of twenty editions, the town of Castellón, already known for its beaches and for being the setting for legendary films and series, became the focus of the seventh art for a few days, with a large influx of film professionals, the public, the media and film buffs.

Peñíscola has hosted the Film Festival for the last 20 years. A festival focused on the comedy genre and which, since the first edition of the Peñíscola International Comedy Film Festival, has aimed to become a benchmark among national film festivals.

Thanks to the festival, famous names such as Charlton Heston, Bo Dereck or Micky Ronnie passed through Peñíscola, without forgetting hundreds of Spanish actors who took part in the festival, making it a great national film event.

A time when Juan Luis Galiardo, Fernando Esteso, Álex de la Iglesia, Victoria Abril, Sancho Gracia, Maria Barranco, Rosa María Sarda, Carmen Sevilla, Aitana Sánchez Gijón and Maribel Verdú strolled around Peñíscola in the moonlight. On occasion, Hollywood stars such as Peter Fonda and Bud Spencer even lit up the seafront promenade.

Also, for a few days, the world celluloid turned its gaze to the local Film Festival for being the only one that gave an award to the monkey Chita during her lifetime.

But, if there is a mythical episode to highlight, it was the day on which Berlanga returned to the town, fifty years after the filming of ‘Calabuch’. A masterpiece by the Valencian director, which gave its name to the awards of the event promoted by the city of Papa Luna as a way of promoting itself to the whole world.

The Calabuch awards were recognised nationally by film professionals and fans of the seventh national art.

Those were times when the films sought here their grain of sand in the promotion and from the festival they paid tribute, year after year, to all the Spanish actors who made this genre so special in our country.

And it is not in vain that, following in the wake of this festival, the city of Peñíscola continues to be the setting for television series and films, which means that this Mediterranean city continues to be directly linked to cinema.