Films to get to know Barcelona and Catalonia better

Christmas time is the perfect time to relax and unwind after mountains of food and goodwill. Yet all that cooking, eating, and gift-opening can take its toll on a reveller. Over the festive period, there always comes a point where the right thing to do is just sit on the sofa in front of a film. 

Catalonia and Barcelona have a long and fruitful relationship with the film industry. "In a short drive, you can go from a small cove in the Costa Brava, and then in the same day you can go to the Pyrenees, which can double for Scotland," Laia Boixader, technical manager at Catalunya Film Commission, told Catalan News earlier this year. "In the middle, you can find medieval towns or small cities and very cosmopolitan places, also farmhouses," she tells Catalan News.

So this Christmas, if you’re interested in learning a little more about Catalonia and searching for something to put on, why not select one of these films set or based in the territory that goes far beyond just Barcelona? Here’s a selection of films that either show scenery from urban or rural Catalonia, or deal with contemporary or historical topics and themes that can offer a deeper understanding of society here.

Barcelona Christmas Night (2015) 

We kick off our list with the only Christmas-in-Catalonia film on it. The film interweaves the stories of various characters who experience love in all sorts of different ways, from the romantic to the maddening, and even bittersweet.

Barcelona Summer Night (2013) 

Another romantic comedy, this was actually the first film of the same director that appears first in our list, and can be thought of as the first part of a pair. The story follows six intertwined love stories on the night when Comet Rose crossed the sky over the city of Barcelona, ​​offering a unique spectacle that will not be repeated for several centuries.

Alcarràs (2022)

Carla Simón’s acclaimed movie is a tribute to rural life, family farms, and respectful agriculture. It tells the story of the last fruit harvest that a family goes through on their farm where they have cultivated peaches for generations before they must leave the land after the owners decide to install solar panels. The film depicts quintessential rural Catalan life. 

Black Bread (2010)

Produced and shot in Catalonia, ‘Pa negre’ is a rural drama that portrays the moral devastation in the years after the Spanish Civil War, while also diving into a world of lies and plays with the theme of child protection. It was also the first Catalan-language film to be selected as Spain’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film in the Oscars, and is often hailed as the best Catalan film ever made. 

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Penélope Cruz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Woody Allen's Vicky Cristina Barcelona, but the Catalan capital itself practically played the lead role. The Sagrada Família, Santa Maria del Mar, La Rambla, MACBA, the Miró Foundation, Gaudí's La Pedrera, and Picasso's favorite haunt, Els Quatre Gats, are just some of the iconic locations that appear in the movie.

Uncharted (2022)

"Shooting in Barcelona was a dream come true," said British actor Tom Holland, who starred as treasure hunter Nathan Drake in Uncharted ahead of the world premiere in the city in 2022. The action flick sweeps through the Catalan capital, from Montjuïc and Plaça Reial to the 15th-century church of Santa Maria del Pi and Gaudí's masterwork, the Sagrada Família.

The Passenger (1975 film)

This 1975 thriller marked one of the first times Barcelona played a major role on international cinema screens. Starring Jack Nicholson, the city features in the plot, with prominent scenes shot at two Gaudí landmarks: Palau Güell in El Raval and La Pedrera on Passeig de Gràcia.

Bird Box Barcelona (2023)

It's Barcelona, but not as you know it, in Bird Box Barcelona. The Netflix sequel features apocalyptic images of the city's Eixample district, Plaça Catalunya, and Sant Sebastià beach, complete with a sunken cruise ship and decrepit Hotel W Barcelona.

Biutiful (2010)

Alejandro G. Iñárritu's gritty Barcelona in Biutiful is another depiction that is a far cry from the tourist brochures, even as Javier Bardem's Uxbal moves through well-known spots such as La Rambla, Plaça Catalunya, and Plaça Reial.

The 47 (2024)

A very different Barcelona shines in The 47, a film based on a true story whose title references a bus route. It tells the story of Manolo Vital, played by Eduard Fernández, a bus driver who hijacked a bus and drove it to Torre Baró, the neighborhood where he lived, where there was no public transport.

All About My Mother (1999)

Pedro Almodóvar’s comedy-drama won Best Foreign Language Film for ‘Todo sobre mi madre’, and was shot between both Barcelona and Madrid. The film follows the plot of a young doctor tasked with trying to ask a bereaved mother to donate her deceased teenage son’s organs to a hospital to help other people.

Suro (2022)

'Suro', which means "cork" in Catalan, is a Catalan-language film about a young couple who inherit an oak tree farm, moving from the city to the countryside to run the farm. The film touches on the tension of migrants who work on farms in rural Catalonia. 

[REC] (2007)

A classic in the found-footage zombie thriller genre, the story of [REC] takes place all within an apartment building on Rambla de Catalunya, one of the busiest streets in the centre of the Eixample district of Barcelona. 

The Wild Ones (2012)

Three teenagers living in the big city suffer from emotional isolation, but end up shaking up society. The film features many iconic locations in Barcelona, including Parc del Fòrum and the Bunkers del Carmel. The film, called Els nens salvatges in Catalan, was nominated for three Goya awards and received a Gaudí award for best actor for Àlex Monner. 

Barcelona (1994)

This American romantic comedy-drama film was written, produced, and directed by Whit Stillman, and follows an American salesman living and working in Barcelona, whose cousin, a naval officer with whom he has a difficult relationship, unexpectedly comes to stay with him. 

The Odd-Job Men (2021)

Similarly, ‘Sis dies corrents’, in its original title, also touches on the topic of immigration and tensions of fitting in, attempting to expose racist prejudices that contemporary Catalan society holds, through a comedy-drama that treads the boundaries of documentary and fiction. 

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

This period thriller may be set in 18th century Paris, but Barcelona could offer those historic-looking streets that filled in for the French capital. There are also plenty of scenes shot in the mountainous parts of Girona. 

The Last Days (2013)

A sci-fi thriller shot and based in Barcelona where an irrational epidemic of fear of open spaces takes over society. At the time of the total expansion of the disease, people are trapped in their homes or in any building where they are, forcing the protagonists into an uneasy alliance to move together through the metro tunnels and sewers to find their loved ones. 

Prison 77 (2022)

Spain’s transition to democracy was experienced in a unique way by everybody, including those who were imprisoned at the time. This dramatic thriller looks at this snapshot of life during a turbulent period of history, following the cases of inmates in the Modelo prison shortly after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, looking to rebel against their enforcers. 

Uncertain Glory (2017)

Based on Joan Sales’ novel of the same name, ‘Incerta glòria’ is another that goes back to the Spanish Civil War. Three friends in the Republican army on the Aragon front are in love with the same woman. 

Spanish Affair 2 (2015)

This sequel’s original title is ‘Ocho apellidos catalanes’, which translates to ‘Eight Catalan surnames’, and is a follow-on from the story originally told in ‘Ocho apellidos vascos’ – Eight Basque surnames’. Each of the films takes a satirical look at tropes and stereotypes of different regions across Spain, with cultural clashes guiding the narrative throughout. Spanish Affair 2 has many scenes in Monells, in Baix Empordà.