In recent years, Lisbon has become one of the European cities with a larger tourism growth. Each year, 6 million people come to visit the Portuguese capital: 200.000 tourists every day. Tourism brings opportunities in a city heavily hit by global crisis. But in the meanwhile, the city is basically disappearing: over the last 30 years, Lisbon lost about 300.000 inhabitants, vacancy rate is high. STADSLAB organized an international masterclass: the urban intervention case-study was focused on Mouraria, one of the oldest Lisbon’s neighborhood as nowadays, parts of Mouraria are already affected by tourism: cheap property prices and proximity to other tourist destinations raise realistic assumptions that Mouraria will soon face large influx of investment in real estate and tourism infrastructure. The opportunity is its economical development, but the risk is the lost of its identity. The film won the Public Prize at Arquiteturas Film Festival 2016, Lisbon.
About the director
Fabio Petronilli is a documentary filmmaker based in Milan. From 2007 to 2010 he was chief editor for the US satellite channel Current TV, operating on the main program and creating reportage in Brazil, India and Eastern Europe. He shot documentaries in Nairobi, São Paulo and Benin and his works has been selected in several international festivals and events.
His other film in a previous festival edition is H2T.