During the summer, the island of Tenerife remained one of the main hotspots for the filming of Spanish and international productions. It served as the setting for everything from the feature film Cuánto me queda, by Álamo Producciones Audiovisuales, to the miniseries Montecristo, starring William Levy, alongside the second season of 30 Coins, the successful series by Álex de la Iglesia and Pokeepsie for HBO Max.
There can be no doubt that the biggest media impact during the summer came from the international miniseries Montecristo, starring and produced by William Levy.
The Secuoya Studios and William Levy Entertainment co-production filmed on the island over three weeks, ending in late August. Among other locations on Tenerife, shooting of the miniseries took place in the El Toscal district of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, which stood in for Havana.
Following completion of the initial phase of filming in Madrid, which had begun on 30 May, this modern adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic headed off for Tenerife. The technical and creative team were received there with great expectation, both by the media and curious onlookers and fans of William Levy.
The Cuban-US star has become hugely popular following his lead role in such notable productions as the miniseries Café con aroma de mujer, a massive hit on Telemundo and Netflix, and the film Resident Evil.
The production of Montecristo in Tenerife involved the company Festeam Comunicación y Eventos, whose River Flow Pictures brand handled production service for Secuoya Studios and Álamo Producciones Audiovisuales.
Local actors including Roberto San Martín, Ángelo Olivier, Silvia Sanabria, Eva Camacho and Jon Rod also took part in the filming of the miniseries, which likewise involved such companies as Macaronesia Films, Drago Canarias, K-Grip, Gomeralia, Canary Pictures Vehicles and Boudika Productions.
The Montecristo production team were in turn keen to highlight the institutions contributing to the filming of the international project, from the Canary Islands Government and the Island Council of Tenerife, to the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as well as the local authorities of Rosario, Arona, Adeje, Buenavista del Norte and San Juan de la Rambla.
Montecristo is now at the editing and post-production stage, scheduled for release next year on an international platform.
Cuánto me queda, once again with Álamo
Álamo Producciones Audiovisuales, the company headed by renowned producer Eduardo Campoy, is particularly busy in Tenerife, partnering Secuoya Studios on the development of movie projects, with completion in late August of the filming of Cuánto me queda, the 11th feature by this prolific production company, founded in 2018.
A co-production with the producer-distributor A Contracorriente Films, Cuánto me queda is directed by Carolina Bassecourt and stars Kira Miró, Salva Reina, Antonio Pagudo and Eva Ugarte.
Álamo, which once again called on the services of Festeam Comunicación y Eventos through River Flow Pictures, hired a technical team of 44 people, 40 of them from the Canaries. They include Guillermo Ríos, director of production, director of photography Juanmi Márquez, and art director Jonathan García.
Local suppliers such as Drago Broadcast Canarias (camera rental), Macaronesia Films (specialist vehicle rental) and Gomeralia (catering) were also involved in the film.
“A great choice to film in Tenerife”
The second season of successful HBO Max series 30 Coins, produced by Pokeepsie, the company founded by Álex de la Iglesia and Carolina Bang which forms part of the Banijay group, was filmed at Tenerife locations including Finca Zamora, Anaga Park, Plaza de San Cristóbal in La Laguna, Tenerife Casino, Nueva Atalaya Racetrack and Los Rodeos Airport.
“For us it was a great choice to film in Tenerife”, declares Pablo Ramírez Celaya, production director of 30 Coins S2. “First of all because of the help we always receive from Tenerife Film Commission. The responsiveness in terms of changes of plans or requests for permits is really appreciated”.
“We were also lucky enough to be granted access to army troops and vehicles for a few days, which alongside the locations at La Laguna, Los Rodeos Airport and Anaga Park, allowed us to make the series even more spectacular,” he explains.
Boudika Productions took care of the location services in Tenerife.
Onza and ViX+
Filming continues under the working title of Isla Brava at locations around the island for an original series by the Spanish language streaming platform ViX+, developed by the company as a co-production with Spain’s Onza Américas.
The cast members of the series were recently confirmed, most of them from Latin America, including Flavio Medina, Fernanda Castillo, Erik Hayser, Bárbara López, Pablo Astiazarán, Juan Pablos Fuentes and Karena Flores.
Filming on the island, directed by Pitipol Ibarra (Ingobernable), of what will prove one of the most ambitious ventures by ViX+ to date, will continue until October.
Tenerife has also since July been serving as a location for the action thriller The Duchess, by British filmmaker Neil Marshall and starring Charlotte Kirk, both of whom are also co-scriptwriters.
With production service from Sur-Film, the shooting of The Duchess combines rural and urban locations in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, La Laguna, Arona and Arico.
Marshall’s credits include his involvement in Game of Thrones, for which he received an Emmy nomination; The Descent, which won him Best Director at the British Independent Film Awards, and more recently, Hellboy (2019) and The Reckoning (2020), likewise starring and co-scripted by Kirk.
