Shining a Light on the Benefits of Shooting in Basque Country
If you’ve been to the San Sebastian International Film Festival, then you know. If you’ve walked around the Frank Gehry-designed, titanium-plated Guggenheim Museum on the formerly industrial banks of the Nervion River in Bilbao, you know. If you’ve gorged yourself on pintxos or had the luxury of dining at one of the many Michelin-starred restaurants in the region, you know.
Basque Country is unique. This northern autonomous community of Spain is sophisticated, innovative and thriving — and its film sector is no different. The region is consolidating its outreach and support efforts into a new initiative dubbed Film Basque Country, which will be launched at the Berlinale on Feb. 16.
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“Film Basque Country is an initiative that positions Basque Country as a top destination for audiovisual productions,” says Ruth Aristondo, head of Film Basque Country (FBC). The organization, which is also launching a website on Feb. 16, will promote the territory as a whole. “This is key since we will now have a platform that offers a unique window for those interested in filming in Basque Country.”
The project, which Aristondo says has been in the works for many years, coincides with a recent rise in incentives — tax credits of up to 60 to 70 percent (more on that later) — and an increased interest in filming in the region. “A project that has been in the making for so many years is now coming to light at a time when the need to show … Basque Country is also in demand by the industry.”
As a centralized platform, FBC will offer essential information such as details on locations, competitive tax incentives, access to qualified local talent, the Basque Country’s unique culture and language and its diverse natural landscapes and historic architecture. “Everything is designed to ensure a smooth production process and offer a combination of creative inspiration and practical advantages,” Aristondo says.
FBC also aims to encourage international collaboration and support local companies to position them in global markets, working with Basque. Audiovisual, the existing brand that supports Basque professionals in international markets and promotes co-productions and the distribution of Basque projects.
“Basque Country not only offers competitive incentives but also a small environment of great versatility, professionalism and talent, where creativity, efficiency and constant support for the sector are combined to make any audiovisual project a reality,” Aristondo says.
“Institutional commitment to the industry” is key, she adds, promising “friendly and approachable local administrations and institutions, which support and assist productions to ensure that the shooting result is efficient and hassle-free, from preproduction to shooting and postproduction.”
Basque Country offers some of Europe’s most competitive tax credits and the largest in Spain: up to 60 percent deductions on feature films, short films, series and documentaries, fiction or animation, spending more than 50 percent locally. Deductions can be increased by an additional 10 percent on projects that meet certain specific criteria. After the incentives were introduced, Bilbao and the surrounding Bizkaia province reported a 140 percent rise in feature film shoots and 40 percent in series in 2023, and an economic return more than four times the previous year.
“I think the Basque tax incentive, which has kind of revolutionized the Spanish industry, is a very attractive endeavor because it is a very high tax rate,” says Alvaro Longoria, producer, director and co-founder of Morena Films, which shot San Sebastian-born director Julio Medem’s new film, 8, and part of Agustina Macri’s Miss Carbón in Basque Country last year, accessing the tax credit on both.
“They have been very proactive in getting crews and studios and facilities up and running as soon as possible, which has allowed for a lot of films to be shot there,” adds Longoria. Local providers and talents have more steady work and are gaining experience on bigger and more complex shoots, though crews are still often brought in from elsewhere in Spain or Europe.
“In a few years, there will be a lot of professionals,” says veteran production manager, assistant director and producer José Luis Escolar, who recently set up Bilbao-based production company Gurutze Kalea to take advantage of the local incentives. His company shot the Spanish-Swiss co-produced series In High Seas largely in Bilbao’s port last year. Escolar adds that housing and salaries in Spain are still relatively low “for the quality you get.”
“The incentives apply to both national and international productions and are designed to encourage not only large productions but also smaller projects that generate economic and cultural impact in the region,” says Aristondo, adding that one of the great advantages of the tax system in the Basque Country is its transparency: “Provincial councils offer a direct and clear access to these benefits, in addition to having a [geographically] close administration, which benefits producers in their financing process.”
When Woody Allen shot Rifkin’s Festival in San Sebastian (and elsewhere in Basque Country) in the summer of 2019, it came as little surprise to locals. “He had been several times, and he always said that he would make a film in San Sebastian, that it was a wonderful city,” recalls José Luis Rebordinos, director of the San Sebastian International Film Festival (SSIFF). The romantic comedy — which incorporates SSIFF into its storyline — was the festival’s opening night film the next year.
Now, a walking tour of “Woody Allen’s San Sebastian” can be found online. Likewise, interactive maps and tours from across Basque Country point to locations recognizable to global audiences, from the Hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe (aka Game of Thrones’ Dragonstone) to the modern buildings of Bilbao seen in Netflix’s recent series Intimacy. And then there’s the memory of Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond rappelling out a window in front of the Guggenheim in 1999’s The World Is Not Enough.
“You can do everything” in Basque Country, says Escolar. “You can certainly do a lot of European cities in Bilbao or San Sebastian or Vitoria. There are corners in Bilbao where you can do Vienna, you can do Paris. And the landscapes are amazing.”
Ignacio Corrales, GM of Buendía Estudios, which shot the thriller Sin Cobertura in Bizkaia last year and the Spanish telenovela Angela there in 2023, says Basque Country has an enormous landscape value, with a diversity that allows for films in markedly different periods and settings. “For example, Angela is a contemporary thriller that takes place in designer urban environments, luxury housing estates, the coast and the mountains, while Sin Cobertura takes place in the Middle Ages, in a medieval castle. Bizkaia is a huge set in which, within a one-hour radius, you can find spectacular urban and natural landscapes, which greatly facilitate logistics and budget optimization.”
Adds Aristondo: “Filming in Basque Country is not only about taking advantage of a place with incredible practical advantages but also immersing yourself in an environment that enhances creativity, optimizes processes and offers a positive experience so that any production team will want to return to the region.”
In a report released in January by the Fundación Contemporánea’s Culture Observatory, Basque Country was named the third most highly valued region in Spain (behind Madrid and Catalonia) for “the quality and innovation of its cultural offer,” and the SSIFF was ranked the third most important cultural event of 2024, after the Prado Museum and the Reina Sofia Museum, both based in Madrid. The Guggenheim was fourth.
“The support of the Basque government to Basque cinema in recent years has been great, and very intelligent,” says SSIFF director Rebordinos. “I am 63 years old, and I’ve been working in cinema as a programmer since I was 27, and I would dare say I don’t think I have ever seen such a good moment for Spanish cinema in general, in terms of quantity and variety, and in Basque cinema in particular.”
Rebordinos underscores that there has been at least one Basque film in the festival’s official selection every year since the 2014 premiere in competition of the drama Flowers (Loreak), from directors Jon Gara?o and Jose Mari Goenaga, which went on to become the first Basque-language film to represent Spain for the best international Oscar.
The festival aims to support Basque cinema. “Basque cinema is increasingly producing higher-quality productions that give us the possibility of programming them with an international character,” says Rebordinos. “They’re at the same level as the most important Spanish productions.”
Rebordinos adds that Basque directors from a generation ago all left Basque Country to make their films. Today, he says, they stay: “For quite a few years now, all cinema sectors have been working together — Basque television, the Basque government, the production companies — we all work together in the same direction.”
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