.Westerns...All'Italiana!: Bou-Baltou

Friday, June 14, 2019

Bou-Baltou

Tabernas hosted in February 2019 the filming of the first 'western' produced in the Maghreb

It is the first time that the set of Fort Bravo in Tabernas hosted a North African filming

Diario de Almeria

The historic scenery of the Tabernas desert hosted, in February, the filming of the first western produced in North Africa. This was announced by the Algerian producer and director, Nassim Boumaiza, who has chosen this mythical site to create the traditional and always highly anticipated series of the holy month of Muslim fasting or Ramadan.

"It is the first time that Fort Bravo hosted a North African film," says Boumaiza, whose references include titles such as The Sisters Brotherss” by Jacques Audiard, who declares himself an admirer of Sergio Leone's cinema, the soul of the "spaghetti western".

The Algerian producer, responsible for several successful series of comedies during the month of Ramadan, explained that Tabernas took a team of 45 people comprised of actors and technicians and filmed a similar type of comedy that was be broadcast in May on the state owned television.

His first choice was, however, to build his own sets in the desert of Algeria, however, the weight of history and, above all, "the price" convinced him that Almeria was his destination.

"In principle, I opted for our desert but the company that would have carried out the woodwork was excessively expensive, only then did I think of looking for real sets that already existed," he said.

"They are very open people, they welcomed us very well and allowed us to visit all the studios, I just thought it was amazing to be able to shoot here, where Sergio Leone and Steven Spielberg did it," he said.

For the director of the Algerian version of Camera Café - Antar weld cheddad (2017) - the prices of the Fort Bravo studios are "extremely reasonable" since they include extras, specialists, accommodation and food.

"Spain provided us with very wise people in terms of western style and the team was mixed, for me that meant a good compromise between the two countries, the Spaniards were very useful in terms of specialists and we learned from them.

The series, entitled ‘Bou-Baltou’, features the participation of, among others, the famous comedian Beyouna and the younger face new Algerian comedy Merouane Guerouabi. Undoubtedly, this was great news for the province of Almeria, since it is the first production that confirmed filming for the year 2019. Almería is still Tierra de cine and a favorite place to shoot.