Peek Inside the Hauntingly Beautiful World of Croatia's Abandoned Beach Resorts

A polaroid tour of "Miami Waters," the new music video from Berlin-based duo The/Das.

August 8, 2014, 4:00pm

Berlin-based dance duo The/Das (Anton Feist and Fabian Fenk) filmed the music video for their lackadaisial song of the summer, "Miami Waters," amidst the crumbling, faded glory of abandoned beach resorts near Dubrovnik, Croatia. These once-majestic hotels were destroyed by heavy bombings during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991; now, the sprawling ruins are home mostly to illegal raves and squatters.

The music video is actually based on bandmember Anton Feist's family legend: one of his ancestors, a vagabond sailor named Friedrich Feist, washes up on the shores after a shipwreck. All those lonely days spent looking for signs of a rescue cause him to lose his grip on reality: he starts treating the abandoned hotel like his own ship, complete with imaginary companions. Basically, Le Mépris meets The Grand Budapest Hotel meets Cast Away.

It's all very charming and intriguing, but the four-and-a-half minute video left us thirsty for more. So we asked Fabian to tell us what it was like behind-the-scenes—and he ended up sending us a bunch of polaroids from The Impossible Project, taken by their friends/collaborators, crystalmafia.

"I have fond memories of Alma and Kieran (crystalmafia) debating over the size of the book. We did another version of this shot, where the book was flipped. Since the wind was blowing quite hard, the sly sea-breeze would close the book sometimes and reveal one buttcheek. Of course there were nice elderly tourists shuffling by checking out what we were up to."

"I think Anton was quite happy to get a chance to show off his new Oxfords. What you can't see is me hoisting him up by his shoulders on the other side of the wall… and feeding him salty little sardines."

"Here you see how big our team really was. Needless to say that we had no time for romantic comedy since we had to stay in character. Though I do remember a few moments of mostly professional conversations about deep sea diving. A friendly fisherman took this."

"Yes, I have to touch and pick up a rusty piece of metal whenever I see it, for I'm very strong and a bit stupid. As I said, I had to stay in character. Oh, and I learned that kupari cactuses sting and leave tiny sneaky needles under your skin that make you itch all night while your compatriot is snoring safe and sound like a sea bear."

"Wise Man meets whiskey. Anton is not sure if I should talk about my affinity for stones. So I'll just say this: silence is sliver and stones are gold."