Images of the Summer are distinctly mobile, intrinsically marked by movement, even in the rare moments when there is no motion in the frame, or the film time flows more slowly. This is not only a result of the “nature” and logic of the film medium – which Bakotin’s experimental work constantly references – but also movement, its parallelism and opposition, represents the formal, (pseudo)narrative, and symbolic backbone of the film.
A powerful telephoto lens primarily captures close-up, hyper-exposed shots of both feathered and steel birds, with the sequences of landing at the Ćilipi airport reminiscent of the Saharan mirages in Herzog’s Fata Morgana, building a multi-layered coded texture that injects a streak of fatalism into the touristic dynamics of the “Mediterranean as it once was.”
The sound of bird calls seems to shimmer together with the lens flare, multiplied and following the logic of light, the staccato of crickets in the background forms a harsh noise soundscape, which gradually transitions (slow dissolves also represent a fundamental editing code) into the original score by the author himself, hidden under his standard musical alias Ruzina Frankulin.
“Images,” however, is still an excellently chosen term.
The dominant technique is sfumato, but with an impasto application, the depiction is impressionistic. All of this occasionally results in the illusion of animation: a boiling, dreamy meditation, whose dream proves final for some of the protagonists.
(Marko Pogačar)

It’s warm. It’s hot. Unbearable. The contours of sight blur into a dense and fluid image.
Like in a dream, the sound carries an illusion of freedom, paired with paranoia, leaving us with a glaring trace of the near future.
The intuitive process of filming thus gains an unexpected epilogue that we sense from the beginning.
(Alen Sinkauz)

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At first thought, the seagull’s routine changes only with extreme or sudden changes in weather conditions. But there is also an almost unnoticeable change, a slow change, change that runs in parallel. It is brought by human achievements. One of the most significant is air travel which consequently changes the economy and ecology. An observer of filmed archipelago cannot fail to notice the encounter of a bird and flying machines. An encounter that entails interesting reflections. In light of recent theories about the link between economics and ecology, the film subconsciously offers thoughts about the extent to which the economy can become an ally to ecology and prevent environmental catastrophe.
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The archipelago of the deserted Cavtat Islands is protected as a special ornithological reserve whose area is about 38 ha.
Of particular interest are the islands of Mrkan (St. Marco) and Bobara (St. Barbara) and rocks Trava, Hljeb, Raznjic and Mrkanac.
The archipelago is located in the NW-SE direction: 42°35’09.2″N 18°10’39.1″E
The open sea part of the coast is extremely steep and sharp due to constant rock erosion. The coast that faces the mainland is more accessible but the cliffs are equally sharp and mainly inaccessible to the visitor. Islands are covered with low macchia (maquis) and have been protected as a special ornithological reserve since 1975 as nesting site of Yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis). Dubrovnik Airport is an international airport located 15 km away from the center of Dubrovnik. It is the third busiest airport in Croatia and is a classic tourist air destination in the world. It covers an area of 24,000 square meters with an annual capacity of 3.5 million passengers and can accommodate wide-body aircraft such as Boeing B-747 and Airbus A350.

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The film is completed in May 2024.
It is supported by Croatian audio visual center (HAVC), Kino klub Split and Kultura Nova foundation.