Christine Sonvilla

For millions of Central Europeans, the Croatian coast is a place of longing, a popular travel destination with Mediterranean flair. But away from the beaches, a world begins that often remains hidden to us humans: Over 1,000 islands, more than 6,000 kilometers of coastline - a habitat between land and sea that not only offers scenic diversity, but also plenty of space for animal inhabitants. The new "Universum" documentary "Croatia's Coast - Endless and Wild" by Marc Graf and Christine Sonvilla takes us into familiar, but also little-known natural areas. With impressive images, the film awakens the desire to travel and opens up a view of a fascinatingly wild coast that is far more than just a vacation paradise.

Slovenia? For many, if not most passengers on any international airliner, Slovenia is easily missed while crossing its territory in less than ten minutes. A hiker on the ground, however, would be forced to explore, within an entire life-time, the stunning variety of natural monuments, scenic landscapes and wildlife lined up along a one-hundred-mile transect from sea to summit – from the olive gardens of Slovenia’s Mediterranean coast to the snow-covered peaks and high pastures of the Julian Alps. Connoisseurs have described Slovenia as “a world in a nutshell”, and with some justification: nearly two thirds of the country’s area are greened by unbroken woodland that reminds of Canada. Ancient Mediterranean oaks, beech forests with canopies like cathedrals, hanging pine woods clinging to near-vertical, inaccessible mountainsides up to the treeline harbour more pristine habitats than countries ten times the size of Slovenia.

For millions of Central Europeans, the Croatian coast is a place of longing, a popular travel destination with Mediterranean flair. But away from the beaches, a world begins that often remains hidden to us humans: Over 1,000 islands, more than 6,000 kilometers of coastline - a habitat between land and sea that not only offers scenic diversity, but also plenty of space for animal inhabitants. The new "Universum" documentary "Croatia's Coast - Endless and Wild" by Marc Graf and Christine Sonvilla takes us into familiar, but also little-known natural areas. With impressive images, the film awakens the desire to travel and opens up a view of a fascinatingly wild coast that is far more than just a vacation paradise.

For millions of Central Europeans, the Croatian coast is a place of longing, a popular travel destination with Mediterranean flair. But away from the beaches, a world begins that often remains hidden to us humans: Over 1,000 islands, more than 6,000 kilometers of coastline - a habitat between land and sea that not only offers scenic diversity, but also plenty of space for animal inhabitants. The new "Universum" documentary "Croatia's Coast - Endless and Wild" by Marc Graf and Christine Sonvilla takes us into familiar, but also little-known natural areas. With impressive images, the film awakens the desire to travel and opens up a view of a fascinatingly wild coast that is far more than just a vacation paradise.

Slovenia? For many, if not most passengers on any international airliner, Slovenia is easily missed while crossing its territory in less than ten minutes. A hiker on the ground, however, would be forced to explore, within an entire life-time, the stunning variety of natural monuments, scenic landscapes and wildlife lined up along a one-hundred-mile transect from sea to summit – from the olive gardens of Slovenia’s Mediterranean coast to the snow-covered peaks and high pastures of the Julian Alps. Connoisseurs have described Slovenia as “a world in a nutshell”, and with some justification: nearly two thirds of the country’s area are greened by unbroken woodland that reminds of Canada. Ancient Mediterranean oaks, beech forests with canopies like cathedrals, hanging pine woods clinging to near-vertical, inaccessible mountainsides up to the treeline harbour more pristine habitats than countries ten times the size of Slovenia.