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Coverage of “Once Upon a Time in Almería” in the Daily Mail
This week the Daily Mail published a feature article on my photo project documenting the legacy of Hollywood and international filmmaking in Almeria, Spain. Here is one excerpt from the interview published in the article: ‘The Western towns built by Sergio Leone and others were not meant to be accurate representations of the American West. Instead, they were constructed to meet filmmakers’ vision of what the American West was like. ‘The Spaghetti Western has been described as a myth of a myth, because it is one step further removed from the myth of the original Hollywood Westerns. ‘However, this myth […]
Read MoreMark Parascandola discusses his project ‘Once Upon a Time in Almeria’ with local experts during the Almería Western Film Festival
Excerpts from the press conference for the exhibit “Érase una vez en Almería: decorados, restos y paisajes del cine” are now posted online. The brief presentation includes statements from Francisco Alonso, head of the Instituto de Estudios Almerienses, Mar Verdejo, coordinator of the exhibition, and myself, talking about the content of the exhibition and Almería’s film history. The press conference was held October 8 in the Palacio Provincial de la Diputación. The exhibit opened the following day at the Salón Polivalente de Tabernas as part of the fifth edition of the Almería Western Film Festival. Click below to watch the […]
Read More65 cinema experts choose the best movies filmed in Almería
This summer “La Voz de Almería” conducted a survey to pick the best films shot in the area since 1961. Hundreds of films have been made in the region over the past half century and 65 local cinema experts such as film experts, actors, directors, historians, writers were asked to select their top ten best movies filmed in Almería. “Lawrence de Arabia”, “Indiana Jones and the last crusade” and “The Good, the Ugly and the Bad” occupied the top three positions of the list and were considered among the best ever made. “Vivir es fácil” was the first Spanish movie appearing […]
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Press Coverage: Opening of “Érase una vez en Almería” in Tabernas
My exhibit “Érase una vez en Almería: Decorados, Restos y Paisajes de Cine” (“Once Upon a Time in Almería”) opened last week in Almería, Spain, with a reception and artist talk. The show includes 18 framed prints 24″ x 36″, all images of film sets and locations around the province of Almería, which was the site of hundreds of movie productions throughout the 1960s and 1970s. It was an emotional experience for me to have these photographs exhibited in Almería. The town of Tabernas, where the exhibit was located, is host to three remaining western movie towns and has been […]
Read MorePress coverage about the exhibition “Once Upon a Time in Almería”
My exhibition “Érase una vez en Almería: Decorados, Restos y Paisajes de Cine” (“Once Upon a Time in Almería”) was inaugurated this last weekend in Almería, Spain. The exhibition included 18 framed prints 24″ x 36″, all images of film sets and locations around the province of Almeria, which was the site of hundreds of movie productions primarily in the 1960s and 1970s. The exhibition showed sets built to recreate shootings, constructions where “good, bad and ugly folks” found a shelter and landscapes through where stagecoaches were heading to the unknown. “Mark Parascandola presents his vision of what is left […]
Read MoreExposición “Érase una vez en Almería: decorados, restos y paisajes del cine” en el Salón Polivalente de Tabernas en Almería
“Érase una vez en Almería: decorados, restos y paisajes del cine” Salón Polivalente de Tabernas. Dias 9, 10 y 11 de octubre de 2015 Diputación de Almería. Instituto de Estudios Almerienses Horario: 11.00 h.-13.00 h y 17.00 h – 20.00 h En los años 60 numerosos directores de cine europeo y americano descubrieron Almería, atraídos por su luz, el peculiar paisaje desértico, y una barata mano de obra. Decenas de películas como Cleopatra, Lawrence de Arabia, Patton, así como varios spaguetti westerns de Sergio Leone, con Clint Eastwood como protagonista, fueron grabados allí. Cuatro años más tarde, los decorados de […]
Read MoreOnce Upon a Time in Almería
During the 1960s and 1970s, the region of Almeria, Spain, was host to dozens of filmmakers who constructed elaborate movie sets, invoking locations from the American Southwest to Bedouin Arabia. Films shot here include Cleopatra, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton, and Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns starring Clint Eastwood. Film directors sought to manipulate the otherwise uninhabitable landscape in order to create a world more imaginary than real. Four decades later remnants of the old movie sets remain in the desert, providing seemingly tangible evidence of human settlements that never really existed.
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