The Last Summer

A short film by Ines Ballesteros, Michela Dal Brollo and Alicja Nowicz

RESIDENCY and INTERVENTION IN PUBLIC SPACE 7/2023

Halo Kultura, Międzytorze, Gdynia ,Poland

In 2023 during fourteen summer days, Michela Dal Brollo, Ines Ballesteros, and Alicja Nowicz take part in the dynamics of the Międzytorze. To start relating with the space they use a tool called cum-panis, a self-made portable pizza oven. 

During the moments of sharing, the phones used for filming pass from hand to hand, thus questioning who is the observer and who is the observed subject.

FILM SYNOPSIS

The last summer became a testimony of Międzytorze, a space in a postindustrial area of Gdynia (PL) that borders the city centre. 

In contrast to the hectic surroundings, life in Międzytorze moved in slow motion, as if waiting for its end.

This temporary unproductive land breaks the density of the urban landscape, becoming the house of human and non-human inhabitants, welcoming erratic beings and wild plant species.

A group of homeless people gave Międzytorze new rules, transforming it into a place with its own internal geography. Areas called Portugal or Spain were public spaces furnished with objects rejected by the city, spaces with room for confrontation, mutual support, and sharing frustrations.

The story of Międzytorze is the same story of millions of other places in the world. The wild cherry trees and spontaneous plants were replaced by skyscrapers and its inhabitants were forced to emigrate, defining a new periphery. The summer ended and with the spring came the bulldozers to destroy this place as we knew it. Real estate developers lay the foundations for skyscrapers to grow. 

Produced in the context of the artistic residency at Halo Kultura 

Co-financed by the City of Gdynia and Flanders State of the Art.

The movie was shown at Halo Kultura, Gdynia, and in the Archipel site and Het Bos, Antwerp.