To Welcome A Toadfish / 2023 / 8 min

This film weaves together documentary footage captured in Crete—featuring local fishing communities and marine scientists—with speculative, science-fictional elements to trace the symbolic presence of the toxic pufferfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus) in the Mediterranean Sea. Drawing inspiration from Japanese Kaiju cinema, particularly Godzilla, the film explores how certain species become mythologized, alienated, or rendered monstrous. To Welcome a Toadfish reflects on narratives of invasion and otherness, inviting viewers to consider what it means to receive the ‘unfamiliar’ in an era of ecological and cultural flux.

narration Yannis Anastaskis

sound consultation Alyssa Moxley

sound design Andrew Bunsell

supported by an Onassis Air research fellowship award