
DIEGO ABBATI | SPAIN + SWEDEN | 2026 | 17 MIN | ENGLISH EST
DIEGO ABBATI | SPAIN + SWEDEN | 2026 | 17 MIN | ENGLISH EST
Subtitles: English
As rising waters wash away Toronto's historic queer beach, its community turns to art, archives, and memory to keep its legacy alive.
Diego Abbati is a Spanish filmmaker and editor based in Gothenburg, Sweden, currently pursuing an MFA in Film at HDK-Valand (University of Gothenburg). He studied documentary filmmaking at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and completed additional studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. His work explores the relationships between people, space, memory, and identity, often bringing past, present, and future into dialogue. Previous works such as Like a Childhood Friend (2023) have explored immigration and exile experiences; his current research focuses on queer experiences within shifting urban and ecological landscapes.
After coming across Hanlan’s Point Beach in 2022, I experienced it as a space of freedom and intergenerational queer presence. Learning about its rapid ecological erosion inspired Eroded, a film exploring the relationship between environmental change, queer cultural memory, and place. Through archival home videos, contemporary encounters, and artistic practices, the film approaches Hanlan’s as a living archive, reflecting on how communities preserve identity, history, and belonging as landscapes and historic sites disappear.
Diego Abbati
Diego Abbati
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