Europe’s largest and newest film studios stand on a hilltop overlooking the Mediterranean and the city of Alicante, shimmering under a late summer sun and almost completely deserted.

The Cuidad de la Luz (City of Light), Spain’s answer to Hollywood, is the brainchild of Luís García Berlanga, a Spanish director, who persuaded Valencia’s regional government to invest €275m in the project, and in the process, create a Spanish film industry from scratch.