Location Award 2021
The EUFCN Location Award is the annual prize for European filming locations, organized by EUFCN.
EUFCN member film commissions had the opportunity to submit one location from a film or a TV series shot in their country and released between Sept. 21, 2020 and Sept. 11, 2021. The Location Award Jury selected the five locations competing for the 2021 edition of the Award. The general public had the chance to vote for their favourite filming location.
Voting closed on Jan. 31, 2022. The winner of the EUFCN Location Award 2021 will be revealed during the European Film Market 2022. One lucky name will be picked among the voters and will have the chance to visit the winning location.
1 Berlin Brandenburg Film Commission
BERLIN — Germany
Miniseries: THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT (2020)
Time travel around the world… in Berlin! For the Netflix series THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT the German capital city Berlin was turned into 1960s Moscow, Mexico, France and the US. Apart from very few shots, the whole series was filmed in and around Berlin.
The Palais am Funkturm of the Messe Berlin was transformed into the Hotel Mariposa in Las Vegas, while the Friedrichstadt-Palast a theatrical venue with colorful stained glass windows became the Aztec Palace Hotel, where Beth Harmon, the main character, plays the Mexico City chess tournament. The brilliant protagonist of the series then goes to Moscow to participate in the championship tournament of 1968. These intense scenes were filmed in the Bärensaal located in Berlin’s old City Hall. After her historic win against Vasily Borgov, Beth is celebrated in front of the Moscow hotel, which is actually a Soviet-era building on the Karl-Marx-Allee and then walks to a park in Berlin-Friedrichshain, a vibrant district formerly part of East Berlin. Those are some of the most iconic locations – not to forget all the other amazing interiors found and used for Cincinnati, Ohio.
Berlin, the city itself, made the impossible possible and in addition provided a fantastic crew – starting with the set design and location management – and last but not least with film friendly local authorities that made the production of THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT in Berlin possible.
2 Screen Ireland
CAHIR CASTLE — Ireland
Film: THE GREEN KNIGHT (2021)
Standing on a rocky island on the River Suir is Cahir Castle; one of Ireland’s largest and best-preserved castles. Dating back to the mid-12th century, the castle was built to be a state-of-the-art defensive fortress and it has been the scene of sieges and bombardments for centuries.
Cahir Castle served as a key setting for David Lowery’s film THE GREEN KNIGHT, a fantasy retelling of the famous medieval story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Appearing to grow from the actual rock on which it stands, and featuring battlements, heavy gates, turrets, towers and a stunning courtyard, the castle was the perfect double for ‘Camelot’, the legendary castle associated with Arthurian legend. The castle was transformed on screen as an ominous, foreboding fortress representing the home of the dying King Arthur’s court. It is here that Sir Gawain takes up the Green Knight’s challenge, and where much of the first act of the film takes place. This was in fact the second time Cahir Castle has been used as a double for Camelot, the first being its use in the 1981 film ‘Excalibur’.
Cahir Castle is a designated National Monument of Ireland and is cared for by the Irish Government’s heritage conservation agency, the Office of Public Works.
3 Filming in Croatia
KORNATI NATIONAL PARK — Croatia
Film: MURINA (2021)
The islands of the Kornati National Park were used as exterior locations for MURINA, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic’s debut film awarded with the Camera d’Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. The story is set among the harsh white cliffs of Kornati, which intensify the raw emotions of the film.
Surrounded by scorched nature that offers no shade, the characters of MURINA are exposed to the sea, the sun and the rocks. They burn in passion and madness in a place where intense physicality inevitably merges with the spiritual. The land itself plays an important role in the film. Its sale to strangers should lead to building a big tourist resort and bring a fortune to the protagonists. The story also tackles a tragic event from recent Croatian history: the death of 12 firefighters during an intervention on Kornat Island. To honour the victims, impressive stone crosses were constructed by hand and without the use of machinery, relying on the centuries-old dry stone construction techniques (“suhozid”).
As the densest island group in the European Mediterranean Sea (89 islands), the extraordinary landscape of the Kornati archipelago was granted national park status in 1980. With no sources of fresh water, life on these barren islands has always meant struggle for survival. Fascinated by the stark beauty of this magical archipelago, the great George Bernard Shaw wrote: “On the last day of Creation, God desired to crown His work, and thus created the Kornati islands out of tears, stars and breath. “
4 Andalucía Film Commission
MALAGA — Spain
TV Series: THE CROWN – Season 4 (2020)
Malaga the Beautiful, as the city is known, stands at the centre of the basin of the same name, between the mountains and the coastal strip. It is the capital of the Costa del Sol and one of the major cities in Spain, with an impressive history and an even more interesting present. Its old town, with its bustling harbour, has been declared a Historic Artistic Site and Site of Cultural Interest.
Many of the diverse and unique locations in the city were used as locations for Season 4 of Netflix THE CROWN. The locations recreated the different cities and villages that the Prince and Princess of Wales visit on their tour around Australia and New Zealand. On their arrival in Adelaide, Charles and Diana wave and smile to the crowd as they pass through the Jardines de La Concepción, a historical garden with more than fifty thousand plants. The Municipal Auditorium of Malaga magically became Sydney’s Opera House where Charles gives a speech, while at the Military Residence of Castañón de Mena Diana poses by a pool with swimmers and jokes with the press after a competition. Thousands of people wave English flags and cheer from the Malaga Palacio Hotel, demonstrating support and affection for the couple. From the terrace of a room at the Gran Hotel Miramar, Prime Minister Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson, speaks on the phone discussing the different points of view she and the Queen have.
5 Western Norway Film Commission
STADLANDET — Norway
Film: DUNE (2021)
Denis Villeneuve’s DUNE sees Stadlandet boldly standing in for the lush and storm-swept planet of Caladan, the homeworld of House Atreides. The distinctive coastal formation, with its beaches, sea cliffs and verdant natural pastures provides a rich contrast to the desert-ridden planet of Arrakis.
The production came to Norway in August 2019 for the final segment of principal photography, shooting on location with local production service partners Truenorth Norway. The team also returned in the fall to capture aerial footage of the misty coast, with the Castle Caladan integrated beneath the singular Kinnaklova mountain cliff.
DUNE adds a new layer of mystique to Stadlandet, which is home to the legend of St Sunniva; the patron saint of Western Norway. Like Caladan, Stadlandet is known for its windy climate and fertile oceans. Surrounded by treacherous currents, in earlier times, Vikings would drag their boats across the peninsula to avoid crossing the dangerous patch of sea. They launched their ships from the very same beach as where Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) is seen taking his contemplative walk: And so it is that DUNE’s Caladan beach is named Drage – after the viking ships’ dragon head.
Location Award 2021
VOTING CLOSED
The winner of the EUFCN Location Award 2021 will be revealed during the European Film Market 2022.