Introduction
People are crazy and times are strange (Bob Dylan, Things Have Changed) Fictionistas have been experiencing tough times. How can their stories, one keeps wondering with empathy, compete with the present-day theater of the absurd? If the revelations that grace the headlines almost on a daily basis were part of a film script, who would find them plausible? Dylan’s words reverberate in a most uncomfortable way every time we skim through a trusted paper, watch the news, check the web in disbelief or observe what people post or tweet. That can not possibly be true, right? Sadly though: yes, it can because it is. Because it is just like the bard concludes: people are crazy and times are strange. So what does all this mean for the art of storytelling in general and for films in particular? Is it still possible to surprise and inspire with a drama that is grounded in our augmented reality? There are not too many ways out: escape into fantastic worlds – past, near or distant future, embark on another journey into deep space, unearth some artist whose life seems worthy enough to apply the biopic formula to or remake another of yesteryear’s classics and if it must be the here and now, then keep it private and painfully personal ideally locked into a chamber piece. Long live the big marginal. 2019 was also difficult in many other respects. Challenging for instance because everybody – unless you are feasting at the banquet of the Marvel franchise – was desperately trying to figure out how get in touch with an audience. How do we deal with the general Netflixation that keeps us red-eyed and spinning in its grip? 4
It certainly is a paradoxical situation that people watch more films than ever – but they don’t necessarily enter a cinema. The statistics clearly state that admissions are in decline. If anyone has an answer to this predicament – now is the time to show your face and offer sound advice! Of course, all of these topics also resonate loudly in the Austrian filmmaking world, keeping minds alarmed. For obvious reasons a small film industry like Austria’s needs to be creative: if originality proves essential, finding unusual approaches and unexpected angles is key. Pushing boundaries was an ambition that clearly paid off in 2019 – in fictional and factual films alike! When it comes to international visibility, it was a year that started on a high for Austrian filmmaking. Kicking off with a Berlinale competition slot for Marie Kreutzer’s mind twisting THE GROUND BENEATH MY FEET (starring Valerie Pachner, who would soon after leave a glowing impression at the Cannes Festival as the female lead in Terrence Malick’s A HIDDEN LIFE). If there was one film that ticked all the above mentioned boxes re ingenuity it certainly was another Berlinale premiere, DIE KINDER DER TOTEN by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion. Arguably the strangest and wittiest Austrian film of the year, this feature based on the weighty novel by Elfriede Jelinek has cult potential written all over it. Berlin’s prestigious Forum section was also the launching pad for Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s thought-provoking essay film ERDE and also featured the outstanding coproduction