A village is fighting back

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Movie
Original title A village is fighting back
Country of production Germany , Austria
original language German
Publishing year 2019
length 109 minutes
Rod
Director Gabriela Zerhau
script Gabriela Zerhau
production Kirsten Hager ,
Anja Föringer ,
Thomas Hroch ,
Gerald Podgornig
music Dominik Giesriegl
camera Carsten Thiele
cut Anke Berthold
occupation

A village defends itself , subtitle: The Secret of Altaussee , is a German-Austrian feature film from 2019 by Gabriela Zerhau with Fritz Karl , Brigitte Hobmeier and Harald Windisch . The premiere took place on June 29, 2019 as part of the Munich Film Festival in the New German Television series . The film was shown at the Biberach Film Festival at the end of October 2019 . The first broadcast on ORF was on December 11th, 2019. The film was shown on Arte on January 10th, 2020.

action

The historical film takes place in the last days of the Second World War . The Allies are moving closer and closer, but the National Socialists still rule Altaussee .

In hiding Altaussee salt mine is looted art for the planned Führer Museum in Linz stored. Miners from the Altaussee salt mine , including Josef Rottenbacher, drag sculptures and paintings into the tunnels, guarded by soldiers. Rottenbacher tries to stay out of everything and hopes for the end of the war. In contrast, his friend Franz Mitterjäger and his wife Elsa, who accuses Rottenbacher of cowardice, secretly care for deserters and partisans in the mountains . Although they are very careful, they do attract the attention of the Secret State Police . Rottenbacher can still warn his friend Mitterjäger, but he is shot while trying to escape. After the National Socialists refuse to give a burial, Rottenbacher and Elsa get the body, the villagers join in and Franz gets a dignified burial.

Before the capitulation , Gauleiter August Eigruber orders the tunnels to be blasted . So that the works of art do not fall into the hands of the approaching enemies, they should be destroyed. However, the miners, led by Rottenbacher, offer active resistance, not least because the destruction of the mine would also destroy their livelihoods. They receive support from Gestapo chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner , and in return he expects the Ausseers to put in a good word for him with the Americans. The miners, together with the partisans, oppose the demolition squad to prevent the destruction of the mine and thus the works of art. They remove the aerial bombs intended for detonation from the tunnels and blow up the entrance to the tunnels.

production

One of the locations: the miner's house "Steinberghaus" at the tunnel entrance to the Altaussee salt mine
One of the locations: Pürgg

The shooting took place from March 8th to April 24th, 2018. Filming locations were Pürgg , Altaussee and the surrounding area as well as Munich .

The film was produced by the German Hager Moss Film GmbH and the Austrian Mona Film co-produced it . The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation , ZDF and Arte were involved , the production was supported by the TV Fund Austria, the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Cinestyria Filmcommission and Fonds .

Thomas Szabolcs was responsible for the sound, Bertram Reiter for the production design, Monika Hinz for the costumes and Nanni Gebhardt-Seele, Tatjana Krauskopf and Aurora Hummer for the mask.

reception

Eric Leimann said in the Weser Kurier that it was a shame that perhaps the most interesting part of the story was only touched on in the last few minutes. "When the Allies marched into Altaussee and wanted to separate real resistance fighters from those who only pretended to be such, including many longstanding Nazis, they encountered a village that was supposedly 100 percent in opposition to the old regime."

Thomas Gehringer wrote on tittelbach.tv that the film did not want to celebrate Austria for its resistance, but on the contrary the "silent heroes" who were later still considered traitors in their own country. Gabriela Zerhau embedded the actual events in a touching and exciting story about the madness of the last days of Nazi rule and about the courage it takes to rebel against tyranny.

The first broadcast on ORF on December 11, 2019 was followed by up to 843,000 and an average of 727,000 viewers, the market share was 25 percent.

Awards and nominations

Romy Awards 2020

  • Nomination in the category Best TV Fiction Production (Anja Föringer, Kristen Hager, Thomas Hroch, Gerald Podgornig)
  • Nomination in the category Best Director TV Fiction (Gabriela Zerhau)

New York Festivals TV & Film Awards 2020

  • Gold Award in the Entertainment Program: Drama category

German television award 2020

52nd TV Prize of Austrian Adult Education

  • Award in the TV film category (Gabriela Zerhau, director and screenplay; Julia Sengstschmid, ORF editorial team)

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Munich Film Festival: A village defends itself . Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  2. A village defends itself. In: Biberacher Film Festival . Retrieved October 18, 2019 .
  3. ^ ORF premiere: A village is fighting back. In: ORF.at . Retrieved November 19, 2019 .
  4. a b Eric Leimann: A monument to the resistance. In: Weser Courier . December 6, 2019, accessed December 7, 2019 .
  5. a b c A village defends itself at crew united . Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  6. Martin Mandl: Film shoot in Pürgg and Altaussee: A village defends itself - the secret of Altaussee. In: Small newspaper . April 20, 2018, accessed December 11, 2019 .
  7. Fritz Karl shoots ORF historical drama “A village defends itself - The secret of Altaussee” (AT) . Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  8. Mona Film: A village defends itself . Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  9. TV film “A village defends itself”. In: tittelbach.tv . Retrieved January 10, 2020 .
  10. “A village defends itself” with up to 843,000 spectators. December 12, 2019, accessed December 12, 2019 .
  11. ROMY Academy Awards: The playing field for experts. In: Kurier.at . March 11, 2020, accessed March 11, 2020 .
  12. Hager Moss Film-Produktion "A village defends itself" honored at the 2020 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards. April 22, 2020, accessed April 23, 2020 .
  13. The 2020 nominations at a glance. In: deutscher-fernsehpreis.de. Retrieved June 4, 2020 .
  14. 18 nominations in four categories for the 52nd television award for adult education. July 31, 2020, accessed July 31, 2020 .
  15. Christoph Silber: ORF reporter legend Fritz Orter receives Axel Corti Prize. In: Kurier.at . August 27, 2020, accessed on August 27, 2020 .
  16. TV award to Zerhaus film "A village defends itself". In: The press . August 27, 2020, accessed on August 28, 2020 .