Rada Rassimov returns to Tabernas 60 years after filming The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Sixty years after Sergio Leone filmed her among the sets of the Tabernas desert, Rada Rassimov stood on a stage in the town on Thursday night and said she could still feel her old colleagues beside her. Her award opened a five-day western festival that runs until Monday October 12.

Rassimov’s award opened the festival

The Italian actress received the Tabernas de Cine award, the festival’s top career honour, at the opening gala of the 16th Almería Western Film Festival in the Teatro Municipal de Tabernas on Thursday October 8.

Rassimov played Maria in Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which was shot in 1966 at what’s now the MiniHollywood Oasys western village, though several of her scenes with Lee Van Cleef never made the final cut. That same year she starred in Tonino Valerii’s Cazador de recompensas (Per il gusto di uccidere), and she returned to the desert for more westerns later in the decade.

Before the gala, she unveiled her own chair on the Paseo del Cine (the town’s permanent tribute to film figures linked to Tabernas) on Avenida de las Angustias, where she now sits alongside previous winners including Franco Nero, Terence Hill and Fabio Testi. 

‘Many of them are no longer here’

Rassimov’s speech was the most moving moment of the night as she shared memories from the shoots and gave a heartfelt thanks to Leone, the director who brought her to Almería. 

She told the audience how strange it felt to be back in the place where she’d worked with so many actors and crew who have since passed away. “Many of them are no longer here, but tonight I feel them beside me,” she said, describing the award as “a deep and unexpected emotion” and adding that “a part of me stays here forever”.

The night then moved straight into a 60th anniversary screening of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in the same theatre, introduced by Sir Christopher Frayling, the British historian and Leone biographer. 

A minute’s silence for Fort Bravo’s Rafael Molina

However, the evening also carried a sadder note, with the theatre falling silent for a minute in memory of Rafael Molina, owner of the Fort Bravo Texas Hollywood western village and co-founder of the festival, who died in late September aged 74.

Producer Enrique Cerezo, better known to many as the president of Atlético de Madrid, was also honoured on the night for keeping many spaghetti westerns alive through his Mercury Films catalogue of more than 7,000 titles. “Let’s never allow these films, these landscapes and these stories to fade away,” he said.

Eli Wallach’s tribute takes place on Friday October 9

The 60th anniversary celebrations carry on today, Friday October 9, at MiniHollywood Oasys, where the late Eli Wallach, who played Tuco, will receive the festival’s posthumous Leone in Memoriam award at 7pm on the village’s cemetery set, with a staged scene and Ennio Morricone’s music played live by the Agrupación Musical San Indalecio de La Cañada.

Before that, at 5.30pm, Frayling is due to join Wallach’s daughter Roberta Wallach and the Sad Hill Association (the group that restored the film’s famous cemetery in Burgos) for a roundtable on the film’s legacy. Back in town, the US drama East of Wall screens at the theatre at 9.30pm with its lead actresses in attendance.

Seven premieres and 42 short films

Seven feature films are competing in the official section, with Saturday bringing the European premieres of the American western This Bloody Country at midday and Argentina’s Gatillero at 6pm, followed by Spain’s Día de caza at 8.30pm.

Away from the screen, the Plaza del Pueblo hosts family theatre at midday and live music from The Yellow Rose Trio at 2pm and The Violet Cluster at 10pm. On Sunday afternoon, the action moves to Fort Bravo, where Italo-Argentine director Alessio Rigo de Righi receives the Spirit of the West award in the saloon at 5pm. 

British filmmaker Karen Nixon, who’s based in Almería, also has her documentary Westerns, a Fistful of Women in the programme, while the town’s Ruta de la Tapa (tapas trail) runs until Monday.

Blanca Paloma headlines Sunday’s closing gala 

The closing gala takes place at the Teatro Municipal at 9pm on Sunday October 11, presented by Luis Larrodera, with a performance from Blanca Paloma, Spain’s 2023 Eurovision entry. 

This year’s winners will be announced on the night, and director Gerardo Herrero, whose Tornasol Films has brought productions including Zona Hostil to the area, will receive the Desierto de Tabernas award. The competition then closes with the US film Rebuilding at 11pm.

Entry is free, though you’ll need a ticket and space is limited. So anyone hoping to catch the gala should book through the festival’s ticketing page sooner rather than later, and while in town, Rassimov’s chair is now waiting on Avenida de las Angustias.