Critical Tourism: Mediterranean
The program continues a years-long exploration and examination of the phenomenon of critical tourism – an approach that reflects on and analyzes the consequences of unplanned touristification and its social and aesthetic effects. The aim of this concept is to create space for discussion about the monoculture of tourism in Croatia and beyond, as well as its impact on cultural, social, and spatial development.
Franziska von Stenglin: Baħar Biss (Just Sea)
2024, 25 min
Against the dramatic cliffs of Gozo, Malta, fisherman Salvo reflects on the sea’s fading vitality and the vanishing traditions of his craft. Through haunting images and an elegiac soundtrack, Baħar Biss laments the toll of industrial fishing and the irreparable loss of marine life.
Christian Avilés: La herida luminosa (Daydreaming So Vividly About Our Spanish Holidays)
2024, 25 min
A surreal coming-of-age tale where British teens travel to the Balearic Islands to “store the sun” inside their bodies. Inspired by the tragic phenomenon of “balconing,” Avilés crafts a luminous, dreamlike reflection on youth, risk, and longing.
Kevin Walker & Irene Zahariadis: Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World
2025, 26:40 min
In a remote Greek village, elders relocate ancestral remains to a mountaintop mausoleum, confronting mortality with stark intimacy. Blending fiction, archival material, and documentary fragments, Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World explores death, memory, and the traditions that keep them alive.
About authors
Franziska von Stenglin is an artist and Filmmaker. She was born in Munich and grew up in the Czech Republic, Senegal, India and Germany. In her work she links aspects of her own biography with
local myths, people and their stories who she encounters on her travels and artist residencies. She lives and works in Berlin.
Christian Avilés (Barcelona, 1997) is a director, screenwriter, and composer. His debut short film, La herida luminosa (Daydreaming so vividly about our Spanish holidays), is his final degree project and his first short film- a fiction in which he delves into themes of teenage spirituality, magic and suicide. It was nominated for Best Short Film at the European Film Awards and was honored with the Short of the Year recognition from the SFC at Clermont-Ferrand. Premiering at Berlinale Shorts 2023, it was selected at over 100 prestigious international festivals and awarded at events such as PÖFF Shorts, Uppsala, DokuFest, and Mecal Pro. His work has been distributed by MUBI, ARTE.TV, and Movistar+, while broadcasting on the Franco-German channel ARTE. Avilés is an alumnus of the Locarno Filmmakers Academy, and a member of both the European Film Academy and the Catalan Film Academy. He is currently in post-production on his second short film — a production by Archivo Guardián and Escándalo Films, with support of Movistar+ — which is connected to his debut feature film project, currently in early stages of development.
Kevin Walker and Irene Zahariadis are a docufiction directing duo originally from New York City and Athens, Greece, respectively. They are members of the filmmaking collective COSMIC SALON.
Irene Zahariadis (co-director, co-writer): Irene Zahariadis is a writer, filmmaker, and translator living in New York City. Born in Queens, New York, she moved to Nisyros, Greece at the age of two and began schooling in Athens a few years later. After studying Creative Writing at the University of Warwick in the UK, in 2018 Irene moved to Manhattan to begin work as an editor at The US Sun. Her parents still reside to this day in Nikia, Nisyros. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World, which had its world premiere at the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam, is her first film.
Kevin Walker (co-director, co-writer): Kevin Walker is a filmmaker originally from Baltimore, MD, now working out of New York City. He is a co-founder of the filmmaking collective and production company COSMIC SALON. Things Hidden Since the Foundation of the World is his third short film, had its world premiere at the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam. His short film, Roundabout, co-directed with NYC filmmaker Jack Auen, is currently being distributed by Varicoloured HFA. His debut short film Marblehead, also co-directed with Jack Auen, was selected to screen in-competition at the London Short Film Festival, the Vilnius International Short Film Festival, the Short Waves Festival (where it won the Jury Prize III and the Audience Award), and was one of a select few ‘Market Picks’ at Clermont-Ferrand. Marblehead also played at two Oscar-Qualifying festivals (the Athens International Film + Video Festival and the Woodstock Film Festival).
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