Back to childhood places

She took eleven residents back to their childhood and encouraged them to relive memories of that time. The content of these memories led to the connections already mentioned at the beginning: a half-century-old science fiction thriller and a contemporary documentary both address the question – in very different ways, depending on the genre -: What turns people into criminals? And was “evil” genetically embedded in human development?

For the director, this documentary is also an examination of her family history. With her camera, she approaches the history of her hometown during the Nazi era. The focus: the widow of a fugitive. Gabriele Hochleitner conducted in-depth conversations with her relatives from different generations for her film. Their traumas are brought to light, as is the mechanism by which they are passed down through the generations.

In her film “In der Kurve” (2014), Gabriele Hochleitner reconstructs the events of 1944, when – in the area where the farm “Trug” is located – an SS battalion of around 1,000 men was deployed to combat deserters. The father’s brothers were shot by the Gestapo. In the new documentary, she explores how the effects of these Nazi crimes continue to cast a shadow over the families of the murdered deserters – the monotony of animation and the fantastical action of today’s cinema can be difficult to maintain, but if you get involved, they tell compelling stories.

information: Austria 2023. 120 min. Written by Ella Hochleitner. With Berta Hochleitner.