2011
ABENDLAND
A + 90 min. + 35mm (HDCam) + Documentary
Some things can be seen more clearly at night: ABENDLAND, Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s new feature film, undertakes a long, associative journey, surveying Europe by night in terms of its many different facets. Pulsating society of service providers and prosperity, bulwark of security and exclusion, urban civilization, hedonistic temple of earthly delights, inspired and weighed down at the same time by its history, traditions and highly developed culture.
2010
ALLENTSTEIG
A + 79 min. + HDCam + TV-Documentary
The belief that there are no more white spots on Austria’s map is not quite right: In 1938 the German army established one of Europe’s largest military training grounds in northern Lower Austria. The over 160 square kilometers it covers is still restricted.
Nikolaus Geyrhalter approaches this literally occupied territory from a variety of new directions: the choreography of daily drills, the people who live on the edge of this area, and those who were resettled many years ago. Dozens of plant and animal species now live in this area, apparently without being affected by the activity and noise.
2008
7915 KM
A + 106 min. + 35mm (HDCam) + Feature documentary
A motor-sports spectacle that kicks up plenty of dust. On the trail of the 2007 Dakar Rallye 7915 KM undertakes a search, along the way encountering the variety to be found in Africa’s present in Morocco, Sahrawi Republic, Mauritania, Mali and Senegal. 7915 KM demonstrates the extent of this distance, which is the result of political and economic conditions, and also the ideas and prejudices to be found in both Europe and Africa. It also makes the closeness tangible, which becomes clear in the stories of everyday life, work, hopes and worries. Keeping the sobering reality in mind, it creates an homage to humanity and slowness which questions deep-seated perceptions and the role of Europeans in numerous, presumably African, problems.
2005
OUR DAILY BREAD
A + 90 min. + 35mm (HDCam) + Documentary
Welcome to the world of industrial food production and high-tech farming! To the rhythm of conveyor belts and immense machines, the film looks without commenting into the places where food is produced in Europe: monumental spaces, surreal landscapes and bizarre sounds - a cool, industrial environment which leaves little space for individualism. People, animals, crops and machines play a supporting role in the logistics of this system which provides our society’s standard of living.
OUR DAILY BREAD is a wide-screen tableau of a feast which isn’t always easy to digest - and in which we all take part. A pure, meticulous and high-end film experience that enables the audience to form their own ideas.
2001
ELSEWHERE
A + 240 min. + 35mm (HDCam) + Documentary
The year 2000, elsewhere. 12 months. 12 episodes. Weeks, days, single moments of different ways of life. Tradition and change. People of different cultural and geographical background. A film about their life.
A journey through voices and sounds from elsewhere, with no commentary added. Landscapes, outlooks on the world, outlooks on life: Desert, snow, valley, jungle, ice, rainforest, stones, swamps, mountains, the sea, forests, a South-Sea atoll. An homage to humanity at the beginning of the 21st century.
1999
PRIPYAT
A + 100 min. + 35 mm (S16mm) + Documentary
After the catastrophe in 1986, a 30-km restricted zone was erected around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and 116,000 persons were evacuated from this area.
PRIPYAT is a portrait of the people who still live and work there, and of those who have moved back. What is life like for these people, a life with the invisible and incomprehensible danger of radioactivity? How do they deal with the aftereffects of an accident which is claimed to be statistically improbable? Four protagonists tell their stories and provide a look at everyday life in “their“ zone.
1997
THE YEAR AFTER DAYTON
A + 204 min. + 35mm (HDCam) + Documentary
A portrait of the first year of peace in Bosnia. This is a human story played out before a background of a war which still makes itself felt, a story of a possible life together, which has on the other hand become impossible in many cases. Rajko, the Serbian mechanic and his family must leave their home for the second time. Nermin, the actor, lost both legs in the war and might have the chance to learn a new role. Halid, a shepherd from the Muslim-controlled region, risks his life to visit friends on the western (Croatian) side of Mostar.
1994
WASHED ASHORE
A + 86 min. + 35mm (S16mm) + Documentary
Life on the Danube is essentially determined by two factors: the river itself and the often strange idiosyncrasies of the people who live along its banks. And they are multifarious: fishermen and graveyard wardens, Buddhist monks, allotment holders on Danube Island, stranded shippers, tramps and soldiers. All linked by the great current against which they swim. The film tells their stories and their longings in tranquil images by an unobtrusive camera.
