VISTA MARE

Austria, Italy | 2023 | 77 min

Documentary observing and exploring the 'engine room' of mass tourism in the northern Adriatic, particularly between Lignano, Jesolo and Riccione. From the winter "season", in which legions of hard-working workers stockpile the precious sandy resources to protect them from storm surges, to the summer with the swarming of tourists and residents in search of their "place in the sun". But the film also focuses on the many people and companies that operate behind the scenes, such as the firms that produce umbrellas and deckchairs, the hotels that renovate and the restaurants that train new staff, the entertainment agencies and local police services, the water amusement parks and the lifeguard towers on the shorelines. The places par excellence of 'fun without limits' (to use the ironic expression beloved of Ulrich Seidl) shown between empathy and detachment with an alienating musical commentary, between the misty skies of autumn waiting and the dazzling light of a long summer at the seaside. (a.s.)