All Inclusive

A workout on the sundeck, a conga line in the dining room, or a photo shoot with the captain: cruises guarantee around-the-clock fun. In the beauty contest for kids, all the girls are princesses and all the boys are captains. The exotic locations and the luxury of a floating hotel used to be the main attractions, but now there’s no need to ever leave these gigantic ships for your entertainment. Cruises have become available to the masses, and the seas are teeming with seafaring holiday fortresses vying for customers with luxury interior design and non-stop entertainment.

Director Corina Schwingruber Ilić sees the cruise as a microcosm of society in a confined space, where the opposites of our times collide: wealth and poverty, mass and loneliness, nature and artificiality, culture and commerce. Her carefully framed shots often have a sense of the absurd. We see them without any commentary, yet they do express a judgement: what a curious species human beings are!