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    • CHIARA KEMPERS
    CHIARA KEMPERS

    Elysium (2021)

    19 min short documentary

    script, camera and director,

    with David Seeberg

     

    Elysium exhibits a ghost town during the pandemic, in which dreams of asylum seekers collide with the desire for relaxation of a few persistent tourists. It shows how homeward journeys of people living in hotels side by side can dramatically change from privilege to destiny.

    The southern border of Europe is marked by the Canary Islands. During the winter months, crowds of tourists usually besiege hotels and beaches, but in February 2021, about a year after Covid hit Europe, the vacationers stayed at home and most hotels remained empty—an economic disaster for an island like Gran Canaria, which is almost entirely dependent on tourism.

    Instead, people from West Africa have been reaching the island for the last few months. In small wooden boats, they accept the life-threatening route across the Atlantic. Those who survive hope to be granted asylum and make it to Europe's mainland. Because the Spanish government is overwhelmed by their number, they decide to accommodate them in the empty hotels. Within just a snap, the south of Gran Canaria transformed from being an artificial tourist center to one of the most recent spots for refugee arrivals in Europe.

    Letztes Projekt

    Elysium (2021)

    19 min short documentary

    script, camera and director,

    with David Seeberg

     

    Elysium exhibits a ghost town during the pandemic, in which dreams of asylum seekers collide with the desire for relaxation of a few persistent tourists. It shows how homeward journeys of people living in hotels side by side can dramatically change from privilege to destiny.

    The southern border of Europe is marked by the Canary Islands. During the winter months, crowds of tourists usually besiege hotels and beaches, but in February 2021, about a year after Covid hit Europe, the vacationers stayed at home and most hotels remained empty—an economic disaster for an island like Gran Canaria, which is almost entirely dependent on tourism.

    Instead, people from West Africa have been reaching the island for the last few months. In small wooden boats, they accept the life-threatening route across the Atlantic. Those who survive hope to be granted asylum and make it to Europe's mainland. Because the Spanish government is overwhelmed by their number, they decide to accommodate them in the empty hotels. Within just a snap, the south of Gran Canaria transformed from being an artificial tourist center to one of the most recent spots for refugee arrivals in Europe.

    Letztes Projekt