Spaghetti Western Board Members film a western in Almeria

Pilgrims of celluloid

Fans visit Almería to follow in the footsteps of ' spaghetti western '

 
They come from all over the world to make in the province an amateur film with various roles.

La Voz de Almeria

Saturday September 7, 2013
By Juan Gabriel García

Nearly fifty years after the heyday of the European western in Almería, fans from around the world return to the stage in which filmmakers like Sergio Leone crystallized his masterpieces. It is a pilgrimage to the sacred place, the universe where a handful of brazen international directors taught us that making films about the Wild West was not only done in the United States.
 
The western had its place in Europe, represented by its perfect habitat… Almería. The aridity of Taverns and the Natural Park Cabo de Gata -Nijar, the dramatic landscape, the brightness and beauty, the boundless desolation, an accurate abstract of the streams became a hallmark and stamp to guarantee the best of western movies made in Europe.
 
More and more film fans, driven by curiosity to locate the locations of their favorite movies, travel to Almería and get lost in the magnetism of its landscapes. These days, a group of passionate western fans have come to the province to evoke dreams of making a film. They set up camp in the complex La Minilla, run by Manuel Hernandez, in the Nijar district of Los Albaricoques.
 
They come from Italy, U.S.A. , U.K., Germany ... while others come from Japan, Korea, New Zealand, and Austria, were unable to come . Besides enjoying the natural settings of Almeria, the amateurs are making a western starring themselves.
 
All share a passion for Almeria that gravitates to excessive irrational. Mario Marsili, an Italian who lives in Arizona, the 'other' Almeria of film, is one of these freaks and somewhat tourist pioneer of this type. He first came here in 1999.
 
Now with a GPS and paper map, now extinct, toured some of the most representative areas of the Almeria film world. How engaging was that experience. The sensations experienced when stepping on the land of an iconic location are indescribable and cause one to return year after year to experience the same adventure , but with renewed hopes .
 
In this mixed group of friends of disparate cultures: the German, Anglo-Saxon , Mediterranean ... but they find their link in "the soul of a western European movie from their youth that makes them remember playing cowboy and Indians they played as children playing." Therein lies the desire shared in the idea of ​​"remaining children at play."
 
Marsili and his friends have witnessed the changes, even shy, in favor of the promotion and film memory retrieval in Almeria. They recognized the changes such as the changing the names of the streets of Los Albaricoques, which have been renamed Clint Eastwood , Sergio Leone and Lee Van Cleef ", is a success that goes beyond what we thought, public recognition to its rich international history".
 
Marsili confirms the view of many filmmakers that westerns were filmed in Almería because your landscape resembles Arizona," that opened the door to success. Nature has willed it so. It is your good fortune".
 
In 'Exodus’, though not belonging to the western genre that marks their lives, acknowledges that he and his friends find it extremely pleasant that they can still make great movies in Almeria" .
 
The film they are making called “El Tenedor” is able to generate this story, creating an encounter between adults from around the world, as it says in an excerpt from 'For a Few Dollars More', they play like children. Almería represents the physical link that weaves the feelings of this handful of dreamers.