Hugh Laurie on location of the The Night Manager in Deya.

Hugh Laurie on location of the The Night Manager in Deya.

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma30/01/2016 00:00
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The Balearic Film Commission received 153 requests for filming on the islands last year. A large number of these were for television, such as travel programmes, beach reports and reality shows. Included among these were permissions required for filming the semi-final of the Spanish version of Masterchef in Ibiza and the Michael Portillo BBC2 documentary, Great Continental Railway Journeys, which featured train journeys to Manacor and Soller. There were also photographic sessions for Topman UK and Elle as well as shoots for adverts for the Spanish Lottery and Kia cars, the latter of which featured Rafa Nadal.

Of international films, there were Menorca, directed by the Canadian John Bernard, Me Before You produced by MGM and shot in Majorca with the assistance of Palma Pictures. It featured Emilia Clarke from Game Of Thrones. Other films were Un petit Boulot, a French production by Gaumont (also with the help of Palma Pictures); Ibiza, an Israeli production shot in coves in Ibiza and Formentera; and Vitta, cuore, battito, an Italian film that used parts of Ibiza Town.

A film from the previous year, Isla Bonita, starred its director Fernando Colomo and was shot completely in Minorca. The film commission had co-operated in its filming in 2014, and it has since gone on to be nominated for a Goya as well as having won other awards.

Other productions included the AMC/BBC series The Night Manager with Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston which is to be screened in the UK next month. Locations for this in Majorca included parts of Palma. 

The commission in the course of last year took part in festivals in the Balearics, such as the 4Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival, and was also in attendance at the Berlinale, Cannes, Malaga and San Sebastian film festivals as well as at London’s Focus fair for promoting locations.