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 MoreArtist Talk: Thursday, February 11, 2016 from 6 PM – 8 PM BRINK DC – 1516 U St NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20009 WASHINGTON, DC – Massey is incredibly pleased to announce new photographic work by artist Mark Parascandola. Following along his previous series, Once Upon a Time in Almeria, China Film documents film sets and locations around Beijing, Shanghai, and Hengdian, China. China is the second largest film market in the world, after the U.S., and it continues to grow. Box office receipts amounted to $6.8 billion in 2015, a 49% increase over the previous year. Around the […]
Read MoreThis 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 […]
Read MoreMy 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 MoreMy 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 MoreDuring 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.
Read MoreExhibit Open: Once Upon a Time in Almeria Embassy of Spain, 2375 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC Visiting hours: M-Th 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, F 9:30 am to 2:30 pm More details here
Read MoreMy exhibit of photographs ‘Once Upon a Time in Almeria‘ is open at the Spanish Embassy in Washington, DC, through November 16. We’ve had some great press coverage of the exhibit so far, especially in Spain. I did an interview with the EFE news agency which appeared in several papers, WAMU gave a shout out via Art Beat, and La Voz de Almeria devoted a full page to the opening. Look for more coverage forthcoming from WAMU and other outlets. Upcoming events include: Thursday, October 18, 6:30-9:00PM: Film Program and discussion on landscapes of the spaghetti western Wednesday, November 14, 6:30-8:30PM: […]
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