Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Burgos prepares Sad Hill Cemetery for the 50 year celebration of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly



One of the great ambitions of the newly created Cultural Association Sad Hill, founded to promote many initiatives that commemorate the half century of filming the legendary spaghetti western that gave Sergio Leone his legendary status would be to have Clint Eastwood in their presence.


It will be difficult to recognize that dream, but they are willing do everything possible because the actor and director has always been very present in their memories of that film. "We remember the place because it is mentioned in many interviews," explains Diego Montero, one of the creators of the new working group who works on contacting Clint to at least try to bring this Hollywood legend back to the Wild West of Burgos.

Other initiatives to celebrate the event have been done: One is the enhancement of the Sad Hill Cemetery, located in the Valley enclave of Mirandilla, municipality of Santo Somingo de Silos and the stage of capital Leone film. "We are preparing the report which we will present to MedioAmbiente" Montero said.

The idea is to recover the cemetery "sustainable and integrated into the environment. The cemetery can already be seen, but we want to make it easier for the visitor to recognize it easier. This would be to clean away the topsoil over the central pavement and placement of the graves, in addition to stabilizing conditions as it deserves to be such a 'sanctuary of cinema' and enhance RutaBFM created in 2003 by the Collective Archaeological and Paleontological Salas (CAS ) with the regular publication of information booklets,” he stresses.

For the summer of 2016, possibly in the month of July we will offer a tour organized by the Backlot Four "to warm things up": Mission San Antonio (Monastery of San Pedro de Arlanza, Hortigüela); the field of Betterville concentration camp (Carazo); the Battle at Langstone Bridge (Valley of Arlanza, Hortigüela); the cemetery at Sad Hill (Valley Mirandilla, Santo Domingo de Silos). "By December of this year will be held the 'Section western' in the Short Film Contest XVI of Salas de los Infantes Serranomatiega organized by the Cultural Association, which together with the always active Collective Archaeological and Paleontological of Salas de los Infantes, the Sports Club Silos, the Sierra Demand CIT and CIT Covarrubias are also working in the events of this 50th anniversary.

The bulk of the anniversary will be held in July 2016, although there will be ongoing events throughout the year. "One of the main ideas is an international congress or summer course that would bring some of the leading experts in the cinema of Sergio Leone, such as the crew and people who are still alive, etc. ..." explains Montero. Book presentations and a film cycle on Leone will also be made; the screening of the film at the site in the cemetery (as was done in 2006 and 2011) with concerts and performances; an exhibition of photographs on the set, the props...

"We have contact with people from the crew as Jose Antonio Perez Ginero was part of the crew for the The Good The Bad and the Ugly in Burgos; It was he who suggested Leone Burgos landscapes known for filming of The Valley of the swords. Perez Ginero said that when Leone saw the rock of Carazo he fell in love with the place."

2 comments:

  1. do you mind if i use your black and white image on this page in a report I am writing as part of my studies? please let me know if thats ok, and who to credit? thanks, alvyn
    e: alvyn@softloud.com.au

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  2. It's all right with me. I wouldn't know who to credit as it's a behind the scenes picture of Leone at Sad Hill.

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