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VISTA MARE


Julia Gutweniger, Florian Kofler, AUT/IT, 2023, 80'
WORLD Premiere
Screenings:
Tue. 8.8.2023, 11h00, La Sala
Wed. 9.8.2023, 9h00, Palacinema 1

en / it / de / fr

The beach is deserted, the view of the sea undisturbed. Empty ghost towns rise on the shores shrouded in winter fog. But soon these places come alive: Tractors and vans drive onto the beach; in a warehouse, a man tests the automatic opening of a parasol. Soon they stand in ten or twenty lines in a row, miles after miles on the sea shore, ready for the summer beach ballet. “Vista Mare” shows the cleverly devised choreography of a summer season in the large seaside resorts on the Italian Adriatic coast. Thousands of people from countless nations work around the clock to create the perfect holiday. They cook in the hotel's large kitchens, rent out beach places, and take lost children back to their parents.

The camera is distantly ironic, capturing bizarre scenes: A young man showers adults and children's feet instructing them: "Go left! Go right!" But we do not see where that is. Holidaymakers form a faceless mass that crowds the beaches and the shallow sea. The film focuses on those who keep this holiday industry going – for too little pay and leisure, as we witness in one episode: Protest marchers pass through one of these artificial holiday paradises, holding banners and chanting: “We are not slaves!” The choreography continues regardless until the beaches are depleted, the umbrella ballet dismantled, and the deckchairs stashed away in immense piles in storehouses. Until the view of the sea becomes peaceful again in autumn.

Brigitte Häring