When one thinks of this city, the typical image that always comes to our mind is the one of a tourist in a hotel in Benidorm or the one of an overcrowded beach, but, Benidorm is also a city of 'film': its light, its culture, its urban landscape ... there are many attractions in the city to become a movie set. Movie magic and the possibilities that the city of Benidorm offers have combined and Benidorm appears as the leading or as the supporting role in countless Spanish and foreign films.
'El destape' and the Festival of Benidorm
During the 60s, the city of Benidorm was the birthplace of tourism development, of the open-mindedness and a clear example of the 'destape (nudity) films', which has many detractors today but that was all the rage then.'Festival en Benidorm' (1961) with Conchita Velasco recreates the atmosphere of the festival that made Benidorm a world-renowned city ; or 'Verano 70' (1969) with Juanjo Menéndez, in which all the 60's holiday topics are treated: bikinis, foreign tourists, beach, beach bars (chiringuitos), paella ...
The partying Benidorm, with beach and alcohol, will never cease to be an incentive for our national filmmakers, even recently: for example, 'Fin de curso' (2005), in which the characters have to decide where to travel for their end-of-year trip, Paris (as an example of culture) or Benidorm (for freedom).
Benidorm stage for musicals
With the great reservoir of musical culture which then owned the Festival of Benidorm, there were many movies where the music was just one of the main characters. Manolo Escobar repeated several times in the city with films like 'Relaciones casi públicas' (1968) with Conchita Velasco or 'Préstamela esta noche' (1978), which reached one million viewers.
Bigas Luna and Benidorm
The Spanish director Bigas Luna has used the city of Benidorm as the setting for some of his blockbuster films such as 'Di Di Hollywood' in 2010, starring Elsa Pataky and with several scenes recorded in Terra Natura or the successful film 'Huevos de Oro' 1993, that marked the rise to fame of Javier Bardem.Benidorm is reflected in this film through the building under construction at the time, Hotel Bali. In the film Bardem's character wanted the hotel to become the tallest building in Spain. Other locations used by Bigas Lunas' team were 'Hotel Don Pancho', a legendary hotel in Benidorm and the restaurant 'La Pergola'.
Benidorm, also present in the TV series
The city of Benidorm is the main character of the British series of the same name. In this series the 'life' of an imaginary hotel in the Levante beach is displayed and shows a poignant and funny view of the English people, tourists and workers. The complex where the series develops, the 'Solana Resort', is the result of two real locations, the Sol Pelicanos hotel and Buenavista hotel.
Otra serie que ha tomado como escenario a Benidorm es la famosa Cuéntame. Benidorm en Another series that has taken Benidorm as a scene is the famous 'Cuéntame'. Benidorm is the setting for some holiday trips for the Alcantara which is reflected in several episodes of the series as "the place to escape."
