Search The Archive

Search the film archive

"Sailors are like terrorists. They arrive in ports with a bomb called love. They attack and leave, destroying hearts." – Sandy

A woman named Sandy talks of her life and loves: the many sailors in whose arms she's found joy and sanctuary. A prostitute in a Spanish harbour town, her romances have been necessarily fleeting, driven by the relentless schedules of the container ships that tie together our world. But there can be beauty in transience, and Sandy has seen more than we can ever know.

A hauntingly beautiful tone poem of love and longing, Exotica, Erotica, Etc is the mesmerising documentary debut from director Evangelia Kranioti, who won the Emerging International Filmmaker Award at the 2015 Hot Docs festival. Filming over more than 16 months spent on creaking cargo boats and living with sex workers in isolated port towns, Kranioti has crafted as an expressionistic and unexpectedly romantic vision of the maritime world – both a stunningly shot tribute to the ocean and a daringly intimate reflection on the nature of desire.

"There is a poetic and meditative beauty to the way Exotica, Erotica, Etc unfolds … a sensational debut." – Cinema Axis