Julius Deutschbauer, Gerhard Spring :
Flüchtlingsdrama am Lunzer See

As artists in residence for the wellenklaenge festival at Lunz am See, Julius Deutschbauer and Gerhard Spring decided to crown their careers as a surveyor and a theatre wardrobe supervisor with a Heimat genre film. It would be not this notorious pair of precision workers if they hadn't pulled a new genre out of the barrel: the 'Mitspielfilm', a participatory feature film. The film is unburdened by a script, the directors disguise themselves as reporters and do what they like to do best: They ask questions, and these in a most uncomfortable situation about — for the most part — an uncomfortable situation. And then everything proceeded on its own: the participating residents of Lunz as well as holiday home owners in the town could choose their own roles as refugees or asylum-seekers, smugglers of refugees or immigration officers, and a Refugee Drama on the Lunzer See ran its course. Not only the setting for the film premier on the lakeside stage was worthy of the Academy Awards. The incentive for the film project came from a number of Chechen citizens, who were facing their fates in the area of Lunz, a committed festival director and the head of public art lower austria, who did not have to travel to Münster to know how vibrantly and auspiciously the format of film can be combined with public awareness. The artists approach their controversial topic astutely on steep pathways and at pub bars, and underpinned the mix of contradictions, provocations, banalities and ugly undercurrents with the loveliest of all postcard sceneries. World champions!
(Brigitte Huck)