Stillstand

Along with everybody else, globetrotting documentarian Nikolaus Geyrhalter was grounded by the Covid-19 pandemic. Training his camera on his home city of Vienna from March 2020 until December 2021, he captured scenes that are universally familiar and yet already feel remote and alien. Deserted city squares, ghostly trams travelling without passengers, makeshift hospitals inside warehouses, news reports routinely announcing escalating death statistics. Should it be reassuring that the film seems at times like a work of sci-fi, or does our ability to disassociate imply that we failed to learn an important lesson?
As usual, Geyrhalter refrains from passing judgment; his signature mode of framing—static, frontal and centred—strives for objectivity. Uncharacteristic, on the other hand, is his extensive use of interviews. Whereas in the majority of Geyrhalter’s previous films images did most of the talking, here members of different sectors of society, from business owners, to teachers, health workers and politicians, share their experiences in real-time as the different stages of the pandemic unfold. The complex societal portrait that emerges is at once a testament to our collective fortitude and a sobering reminder of our vulnerability. (Giovanni Marchini Camia)

In the presence of Nikolaus Geyrhalter and members of the team.

AUDIO DESCRIPTION FOR BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE
Audio description will be provided for the screenings on Oct. 20, 6 pm, Gartenbaukino and Oct. 24, 12.45 pm, Urania. More info here.

Nikolaus Geyrhalter: ANGESCHWEMMT (1994), DAS JAHR NACH DAYTON (1997), PRIPYAT (1999), ELSEWHERE (2001), TEMELIN. EIN DORF IN SÜDBÖHMEN (2002, TV), UNSER TÄGLICH BROT (2005), 7915 KM (2008), ALLENTSTEIG (2010), ABENDLAND (2011), DONAUSPITAL (2012, TV), ÜBER DIE JAHRE (2015), HOMO SAPIENS (2016), DIE BAULICHE MASSNAHME (2018), ERDE (2019), MATTER OUT OF PLACE (2022)