Woody Allen’s Barcelona film caught up in new row in Catalonia

Woody Allen's new movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona, which was filmed in the Catalan capital and stars Scarlett Johansson and Rebecca Hall, has been hit by further controversy. James Roures, the film's co-producer, has announced that despite it co-starring two of Spain's most successful actors – Penelope Cruz [pictured] and her boyfriend Javier Bardem - the film will not be released in the Spanish language when it comes out in September. Instead, it will be shown in its original English-language version and either subtitled or dubbed into Catalan.

This goes against commercial sense. Catalan-language films do not actually do well at the box office in Barcelona. Despite generous public funding, the 12 Catalan-language features produced last year were watched by less than one per cent of the region's 24m people.

It is thought that Catalan activists may be getting revenge on Allen after his production disrupted the city, with traffic re-routed whenever the shooting schedule required. Angry taxpayers accused Woody Allen of getting special treatment. Local politicians and press were also furious to find that 10 per cent of the film's budget - €1m - was coming from Barcelona’s public coffers and Catalan regional taxpayers.