Tatooine is stellar. Where was Star Wars filmed in Tunisia? External structure of Lars and Luke's house

There are more than two dozen filming locations for the Star Wars saga in Tunisia. Most of them appeared only in episodes as landscapes of the fantastic desert planet Tatooine, they are not of interest to ordinary tourists (not fans).

In the first part of this article, we will talk about the five most interesting places filming. In the second part, we'll talk about which of them you can look at organized excursions, and where you have to go on your own.

1. Matmata, Hotel Sidi Driss

The Tunisian town of Matmata is famous for its underground Berber houses. In one of these underground houses in 1976, the filming of "Episode 4: A New Hope" took place. The Sidi Driss hotel, which was set up in several Berber underground houses in 1969 (7 years before filming), was chosen for the set.

Scenes were filmed here at the home of Lars Owen, Luke Skywalker's adoptive uncle. After filming, the owner of the hotel got rid of some of the set, then the film had not yet become ultra-popular, and there was no real value in these sets.

In 1995, a French Star Wars fan named Philippe Vanni restored nearly all of the set. Now the hotel is operational, you can book a room in it, prices are affordable - from $ 25 per night.

In 2002, scenes from "Episode 2: Attack of the Clones" were filmed here. How were all the staff accommodated here? It's hard to imagine, because the film crew consisted of 250-300 people.

Obi Wan's cabin and is located 2.5 kilometers north of the Ajima pier. Ask the taxi driver to follow the road along the coast to the north, look carefully to the left, do not miss the white house (see the photo next to it, click on the photo to enlarge).

Cantina in Mos Eisley(smugglers' bar) is located in the very center of the city of Ajim. This building is now in a deplorable state. It is difficult to find it, there are no good landmarks around. You can either hope that the taxi driver will know his location, or use Mobile Internet and Google.Maps maps, house is marked on this map.

Specifications:

Detailed description:

Tatooine is the main planet of the Tatu system, a desert world located in the Outer Rim Arkani sector near the worlds of Ryloth and Piroket, about 43,000 light-years from the galactic center. Tatooine is close enough to the main hyperspace route to allow quick access to core worlds such as Coruscant and Corellia, however natural conditions and the planet's climate makes it one of the most unfriendly in the galaxy.

The silicate surface of Tatooine reflects the light of its suns so strongly that, according to legend, the discoverers of Tatooine first confused the planet with a third lesser sun. Also in the system are two uninhabited gas giants: Adriana and Ohann.

Tatooine is an endless desert toasted with the intense warmth of the yellow Twin Suns. Stone mesas, canyons and streams dilute the monotony of the many kilometers of dunes.
Hot during the day, cold at night. The air is dehydrated, the soil is dry. And yet, there is life here in various, hardy forms. Basic Native Sentients: Garbage Collectors and the fearsome Tusken Raiders. Among the animals wandering in the desert are the bow, ronto, dewbacks, womp rats, krait dragons and eopi.

The planet's earliest settlers - referred to as the "Elderly" in local folklore, sought to profit from the exploitation of the ore found beneath the sands. This magnetic ore was soon found to have undesirable metallurgical properties. Weary miners and investors abandoned their failed mines and equipment and left this center of a forgotten world.

However, not everyone managed to leave the planet. Those who remained were forced to engage in moisture farming and trade in order to survive. When the Hutts arrived on the planet, they set up a lucrative business here. Tatooine was given a newfound life as a trading post and place of commerce for the Hutts.

Most of the settlers on the planet work on moisture farms or take part in the Hutt business. Small farms use devices called vaporizers (dehumidifiers) to extract water directly from the air. The resulting moisture is used for irrigation of underground crops or sold to interested parties.

The concentration of magnetic ore and the ever-changing winds made one area of ​​Tatooine's surface more inhabited than others. It is in this zone, where the temperature rarely exceeds 43 standard degrees, that the center is located for most of the world's population. The official capital of Tatooine is Bestine, located about 200 km west of Mos Eisley.

Slave Anakin Skywalker was brought to Tatooine at an early age. He worked for a long time in distant Mos Espa before being discovered by Jedi Master Qui-Gon-Jinn. A generation later, Anakin's son Luke Skywalker grew up on Lars' moisture farm.

Translation: Dmit

Sources: http://galactic-voyage.com/Planets-Tatooine.htm, http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tatooine

Nothing like this!

The adventure continues!

Now we will get into our powerful SUV driven by a reckless Kamaz (this is what the driver of the “Kruzak” asked to call himself) and rush into the desert.
In general, we are driving along the Paris-Dakkar race track.
Now, for various reasons, there is no such race anymore, but nobody forbade us anything and we will go along the route.
Just a little bit, but still!
We will be driven through all these sand dunes and potholes and taken to Mos Espu.
I'll tell you a secret, for the sake of this trip, everything was started.
They rubbed us so hard that Star Wars was filmed there that we wanted to see for ourselves that it was in Tunisia.

Surprisingly, fresh asphalt is laid here!
And we thought there was utter wildness here, Africa is all the same.

And the rain kept pouring and pouring.
We drove past the lake again.
It was no longer a lake, but some kind of dirty porridge.
Not a single SUV in the world will go to such abysses.
It gets stuck so that the tractor cannot pull it out.
And the tractor will get stuck too.
But now we are definitely convinced that this is really a lake, and not just a flat steppe.

We were taken with a breeze through the dunes.
The road is fighting here.
My tailbone won't let me lie.
We galloped over the gullies with all our hearts.
The tread on the tires is decent, for dirt and sand.
I looked specifically.
The drawing is good, the rubber is not bald. The year of release is fresh.
We will get there without any problems.

And so, having twisted back and forth across the desert, we stopped at the edge of a sandy abyss.
Stop.
You can take photos and pose for each other.

The rest of the cars from our caravan are gradually being pulled up from the desert.

And what are we worth?
So we have already arrived! Before us is the filming location of one of the Star Wars episodes.
To be more precise, the 4th episode of the New Hope saga was filmed here in 1976. The film itself was released in 1977, but it was shot earlier.
Those warmest tube-like Trush "Star Wars" from the days of the first cassette video recorders.
In fact, there is only confusion with this Star Wars.
The film was filmed in different locations.

And on Djerba, and in Matmata, and here.
And how many episodes have been plowed in total.
It's time to travel around the world only to the filming locations of the film.
Special tour for fans.
Therefore, confusion reigns here.
Horses and people mingled in a heap.
Someone says that this is the birthplace of Luke Skywalker, and someone that this is the birthplace of Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader.

So, in fact, Mos Espa, where we are now, is the birthplace of Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father.
It was then that Anakin became Darth Vader.
Luke Skywalker was born at the Polis Massa Medical Center, then secretly brought to Tatooine.
Luke was raised by his uncle and aunt along with Obi Wan Kenobi.
Okay, so it turns out that this is indeed the homeland for both Luke and Anakin.
The issue has been resolved.

By the way, there is the Mos Eisley spaceport on the planet Tatooine. He appeared in another episode.
Alas, we will not go there.
And Tatooine was ruled by the Hutt bandits.
Tatooine was that little place, a cesspool.
Smuggling, all kinds of gambling, the most powerful center of crime, the very bottom.
However, fans of "Star Wars" know all this better than me, I do not pretend.

Kamaz specially put our car on a slope so that we could crawl out of it with a squeal.
The photos are quite good.

Before us is the town of Mos Espa, the planet Tatooine.
It's funny, but the name is not taken from my head, somewhere in a hundred kilometers from here is the city of Tatavin.
And the town of Nefta is also nearby. Oil, no?

The place is lively.
There are a lot of tourist groups.
I understand that we are waiting for our turn, so as not to crowd all at once.
And most importantly, souvenir sellers should be able to huddle everyone gradually, they cannot cope with a large crowd.
This is a mega popular commercial tourist site.
If you went on a 2-day excursion to the Sahara, you will certainly be brought here.

Turn on the zoom, aha.
Houses, some kind of blue antennas and ... a camel without a head.
I thought that only ostriches do this, but this camel put me to shame.

I am planning another article on Mos Espu, so don't worry.
There will be a lot of photos and information.

And then the vile Kamaz called us into the car, squeezed the handbrake and the car rolled down.
And he didn’t turn on the engine.
Then the engine started, but Kamaz deliberately pulled the steering wheel back and forth, mocking us. So we rolled down.
From this angle it seems that the slide is not so big, but this is a deceptive impression.

I've never seen so many Cruisers in one place. Offhand there were 30-40 cars here.
And all with tourists!
Babkoches for the full program!

Here! This is not such a small slide!
It's really beautiful here! Desert wild beauty.

Our a cruise ship stopped at the parking lot at the entrance to the village.
We agreed on how much time we had for filming and the show began.

First of all, you will come across merchants.
They will shout about Viagra and shove you dates and various jars of honey and nuts for “a special price just for you, yes”.
Everything is in the best traditions of the oriental bazaar.

There are about 20 buildings in Mos Espa, the planet of Tatooine.
But let's not forget that this is still the scenery for the film, and not a residential village.

To be continued..

Pigs and Mos Espa, planet Tatooine

Decorations for "Star Wars" in Tunis (Tunisia) - description, history, location. The exact address, phone, website. Reviews of tourists, photos and videos.

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May the Force be with you.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

The scenery for George Lucas' iconic Star Wars saga is one of the must-see stops on this two-day excursion to the Sahara. Although since the filming of the first film of the epic “Episode IV. New Hope ”, for which they were built, almost 40 years have passed, the decorations are still viable and regularly bring a good income to the Tunisian treasury. In Mos Espe - this is what the place was called in the film - you can walk the streets hometown Anakin Skywalker, touch spaceships, try on the attire of the desert people and swing the Jedi sword. And, of course, take a photo in the completely realistic landscapes of the planet Tatooine.

A bit of history

Tunisia has many Star Wars filming locations used as nature for the Skywalker's home planet of Tatooine. However, if you are not one of the zealous fans of the movie saga, it is enough to visit these sets - they are the most ambitious and easily recognizable.

By the way, the cinematic Tatooine got its name from the real Tunisian city of Tataouin - it is located a couple of hundred kilometers from the scenery.

The film "Star Wars. Episode IV. A New Hope ”was filmed in 1977, this is the first part of the epic at the time of appearance. (Lucas started off with Episode 4, as he said he was eager to destroy the Death Star - which is what happened in this film.) Tunisia was chosen to shoot Tatooine due to its proximity to Europe and low cost onsite. The area between the Sahara Desert and salt lake Shott el Jerid was perfect for recreating the Skywalker homeland, a hot, dry planet orbiting a twin sun that can be seen set in the movie. There, the scenery of Mos Espa was built - a spaceport, a haven for adventurers and smugglers.

The area between the Sahara Desert and the Shott el Jerid Salt Lake was ideal for recreating the Skywalker homeland, a hot, dry planet orbiting a double sun.

How to get there

Organized tourist groups during an excursion to the Sahara. This usually happens in the early morning of the second excursion day after stopping at Shott el Jerid and visiting the Tozeur oasis. The location can only be reached by an all-wheel drive jeep - the road runs partly over a salt crust, partly over the dunes. For independent trip The most convenient way is to rent transport from one of Tozera's agencies.

Happy on Tatooine!

What to see

The Star Wars set consists of about two dozen houses of a characteristic rounded shape with air ducts and other external communications. Mos Espa is located in a circle, there are two wide streets and central square... You can enter any of the houses. Time, of course, takes its toll - the gypsum shell of houses is crumbling from the grid-base, and here and there holes gape in the buildings. The doors, however, are quite functional - so you can feel like a real inhabitant of Tatooine, looking out of the half-open sash.

On the square, there are models of starships and space weapons, dotted with numerous quotes from the film, thanks to the efforts of tourists. Enterprising Tunisians offer to be photographed in the robes of sand people (Lucas borrowed them from the traditional Tunisian clothing "burnous"), try on the mantle of Darth Vader and take a formidable pose with a Jedi sword for a modest bribe of 1-2 TND.

There is no toilet at the location, which must be taken into account when calculating the time in combination with your capabilities.

Prices on the page are for September 2018.

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"A long time ago, in a distant, distant galaxy ..."

Tunisian city Degesh ( Degache) became for us the starting point for our journey to the filming location of the legendary "Star Wars" by George Lucas. Here we had to change from comfortable buses to equally comfortable four-wheel drive Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps and go on an unforgettable jeep safari across the Sahara.

Degesh is a small town of seven thousand inhabitants in the traditional North African style. Nondescript squat sandstone houses, very dusty half-empty streets and extremely sparse vegetation. There is absolutely nothing to photograph here, so I'll go straight to the story of the jeep safari.

The first part of the Tunisian safari is a high-speed race in closed jeeps on a section of the track of the famous Dakar transcontinental rally-marathon.

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Rushing along the rocky part of the Sahara - the most majestic desert on Earth - at a speed of 120-140 km / h, you involuntarily feel like the smallest grain of sand in the world, where besides you there is only the infinity of the horizon, sand and the fearless jeep driver to whom we entrusted our lives. Extreme overtaking of neighboring cars and sharp turns at high speed are sometimes really scary.

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In addition, it happens that the jeep does not shake weakly on the unevenness of the track and you have to hold on to everything that is possible. In some places, the car does not drive along the track that has been rolled by time, but along the road that exists exclusively in the driver's head. The distances between the jeeps can be up to a kilometer, and the driver does not use any map or navigator.

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The second part of the safari is no less extreme than the first. The relatively flat surface of the desert ended ... All kinds of hills, hummocks, pits, sand dunes, etc. began.

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Without slowing down, the jeep flies into a huge hill and makes a sharp turn. The tilt angle of the car is already close to critical, but the jeep still maintains balance. The adrenaline rush is off the charts ...

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From the city of Degesh we have already retired 30 kilometers into the depths of the desert. Suddenly in front of us has grown enormous sand dune... The thought arises in my head that you can either fly it in a helicopter, or try to go around it. However, the driver has his own opinion on this matter ... the Jeep takes acceleration, and we take off at 45 degrees sand dune... The first time you can't overcome the obstacle, the car gets stuck in the sand and skids. It is not possible to force the obstacle even from the second, third, fourth, fifth time ... On the sixth or seventh time, we finally, slowly but surely, climb to the top of the dune.

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From the dune opens beautiful panorama desert landscapes and the main purpose of our trip - the scenery for the movie "Star Wars". Minute balancing on the dune ridge, shifting the center of gravity ... and now the car rushes down almost vertically, accompanied by the shouts of passengers in the cabin.

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Welcome to the planet Tatooine! Before, I could never believe that I could visit the places where my favorite heroes of the famous fantastic saga went. Even if today it is just cinematic scenery and crowds of tourists, but the feeling of unity with the place and the heroes of the film is indescribable and amazing! I'll tell you how it all began ...

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Long ago, in the summer of 1976, a delegation of 130 filmmakers arrived in Tunisia, led by director George Lucas ( George lucas). It was this North African country with its cosmic landscapes that was the best fit for filming the desert planet Tatooine, where Anakin Skywalker was born ( Anakin skywalker) - the future Darth Vader ( Darth vader). His son Luke also grew up here.

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The planet was named after the city actually existing in Tunisia - Fum-Tataouin ( Foum tataouine), which the Tunisians call Tatooine. The town is famous for its ksars - fortified clay Berber granaries. The most famous of which are Ksar-Uled-Sultan ( Ksar ouled soltane) and Ksar-Hadada ( Ksar Hadada). It was Ksar-Hadada that became the urban quarter of Anakin's hometown - Mos Espa ( Mos espa) - in certain episodes of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

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The shooting of the film went on as usual until a crowd of people, incomprehensible equipment and robots near the Libyan border caused concern among the authorities of the neighboring country. The film crew of Lucas was asked to urgently move away from the border deep into Tunisia ... Alas, we did not get to Tatooine, and therefore we will return to the scenery of Mos Eisley ( Mos eisley) in desert.

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They are located 15 kilometers from the Algerian border, on the outskirts of the Shott el Garsa salt marsh ( Chott el gharsa), in the desert between the settlements of Nefta ( Naftah) and Degesh ( Degache), from where we drove out in jeeps.

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The town was built from clay and sand in a short time of 2 months. 36 years later, the buildings look like new thanks to the hot climate and lack of rainfall.

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To get pictures of the scenery without tourists in the frame, I had to stand in one place for up to 15 minutes, waiting for the right moment. The presence of tourists inevitably attracts traders here with all sorts of small trinkets (stone roses, bracelets, beads), where they come from neighboring settlements on motorcycles. It is sad that there is not a single memento to be found here that would have anything to do with the Star Wars universe. Selling souvenirs of a similar theme is a gold mine for Tunisia, but, apparently, this is not interesting to either the Tunisian authorities or the corporation Lucasfilm... In addition, the distance of this place from residential settlements carries certain costs for protection and maintenance.

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Some merchants offer a scam famous in Tunisia for tourists - to take a photo for memory with a desert chanterelle - fennec. And the price seems to be inexpensive - only 1 dinar. Everything would be fine, but when the paying tourist took a picture, he suddenly finds out what was meant by "1 dinar for each of the crowd" ... It's useless to argue ... Be careful.

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By the way, I recommend to everyone who wants to visit this place to visit Tunisia in the coming years, as soon this town may disappear forever. The fact is that every year a large sand dune comes closer and closer to the scenery ... At present, it has already crept close to the walls of the outermost buildings. If some measures are not taken, it may happen that in a few years the decorations will be buried under tons of sand ...

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Not far from this place, on a nearby dune, there is another memorable point - the battle site of the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn ( Qui-gon jinn) and the Sith Lord Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The famous car racing from the first episode was filmed nearby.

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If we talk about the remaining filming locations of "Star Wars" in Tunisia, the following objects can be distinguished in the list:

Sidi Buhlel Canyon ( Star Wars Canyon) with a length of 91 kilometers is located east of the city of Degesh, in the mountainous part of Tunisia (mountains Jbel Bou Hélal).

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Most of Tatooine's landscape scenes were filmed here (in Episode IV of the saga), and there was also a sand crawler for mining - a giant tracked mechanism in which the Javs traveled through the sands of Tatooine in search of lost droids. Here the Javs attacked Luke and the R2-D2 and C-3PO robots. // blacktroll.livejournal.com

We visited Matmata and, of course, visited one of the Berber underground dwellings, though not the Sidi Driss hotel, but still ... A separate photo report will be published about this city later.

To the west of the oasis city of Nefta, there is another Star Wars attraction - the lonely Lars farm house in the middle of the desert. You can visit it by taking a local "taxi" in Neft or by renting a car.

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The most remote location for filming "Star Wars" was the Tunisian island of Djerba, on which the house of the old Obi-Wan-Kenobi is located, and some of the houses served as decorations for the large Tatooine city of Anchorhead.

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Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope was released on May 25, 1977, and Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released on May 19, 1999. The space saga consists of 6 episodes and the 7th part is currently being filmed.

Actor Mark Richard Hamill ( Mark richard hamill), better known as Luke Skywalker, once said: " I didn't even have to imagine that I was on Tatooine. I really WAS on Tatooine". Well, I will join his words.

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Additional Information:

Coordinates of Mos Eisley scenery: 33 ° 59 "39" N, 7 ° 50 "33" E
Lars dwelling coordinates: 33 ° 50 "34" N, 7 ° 46 "44" E
Coordinates of the battle site of Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul: 33 ° 59 "40" N, 7 ° 50 "57" E
Coordinates of Sidi Buhlel canyon: 34 ° 2 "16" N, 8 ° 16 "44" E
Coordinates of Luke's house (Hotel Sidi Driss): 33 ° 32 "33" N, 9 ° 58 "1" E
Coordinates of Mos Espa (Ksar Hadada): 33 ° 5 "57" N, 10 ° 18 "46" E

blacktroll
28/05/2013

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