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“Cine-tourism” is the practice of choosing holiday destinations based on locations of high-profile movie projects, and Madrid wants in. More than that, the Spanish capital is banking – some would say strangely – on none other than Woody Allen.
Madrid Regional Government is looking to promote tourism by investing €1.5m in Allen’s new movie. But for that sum, several contractual conditions apply.
Several stipulations have been posted online, including that the 89-year-old director’s 51st film must be shot in and around Madrid, with “identifiable locations”. The film is also obliged to feature the word “Madrid” in its title.
“Woody Allen is one of the most multifaceted contemporary artists in the cinematic landscape who has shaped one of the most original and highly valued styles in film-making,” the contract reads. “The shooting of a film in a territory can mean enormous growth in popularity, international image and tourist attraction, and when it shows scenes or locations clearly representative or identifiable with a territory, making it almost a protagonist in the story, it strengthens its recognition and fixes it in the viewer’s memory.”
Moreover, as reported by El Pais, the €1.5m sum will be divided into three payments contingent on the movie’s international career. The contract stipulates that a portion of the financing will come after the film world premieres at “the Berlin film festival or a festival of similar international prestige”.
The forthcoming film is referred to throughout as “Wasp 2026” – an acronym for “Woody Allen Summer Project 2026” – and deadline for the completion of the movie is 31 December 2027.
This is not the first time that Spain has invested in Woody Allen, as Barcelona city council and the Catalan regional government also invested €1.5m in the director’s 2008 film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Since then, however, Allen’s popularity has diminished, as there has been renewed interest in the sexual abuse allegations levelled against the director, made by his adopted stepdaughter Dylan Farrow.
Allen has consistently denied the accusations, and even after being cleared of wrongdoing, the accusations emerged again amid the #MeToo movement.
In 2018, Amazon Studios cancelled a $68m four-film deal with Allen.
His latest film, Coup de Chance, was set in Paris and world premiered at Venice Film Festival in 2023.