Sebastian Wendelin

Places of longing loaded with expectations are usually only of a snowball throw away from the next disappointment. And on Austrian slopes the disappointments occur in the interpersonal realm. Bernhard Wenger stages his latest film as a painfully realistic, but also humorous, episodic mockumentary captured by weather cameras.

The death of Ottakring's last godfather and the encounter with a very clever young woman unintentionally turn the clever crook Sammy into the business-minded driving force of an Austrian parallel world in the midst of the global economic crisis.

In order to dissolve the deceased grandfather's household, Philipp and his father set off for their place of origin, Eisenerz. What Philipp initially wants to get over quickly turns out to be a journey into a past that lives on.

Svea Classen and Peter Pirnegger are happily married in Stralsund. They are married in a civil ceremony, and now that Svea is pregnant, they plan to have a church wedding in Peter's hometown, the Alpine village of St. Josef. Peter's parents, Inge and Joseph Pirnegger, the hotelier and mayor of St. Josef, live there. Svea can't imagine a church wedding in the Austrian mountains. After some hesitation, however, she agrees to one anyway. Joseph plans to keep them in the village long-term. Peter receives an offer to become chief veterinarian in the national park planned there—a dream come true for Peter.

Little Marie is turned into a maid, a Cinderella, by her stepmother, while her stepsister Clothilde is pampered. One day, Prince Leonhard and his friend Peter appear, both disguised as servants, and present Clothilde with an invitation to a masked ball. Cinderella falls in love with Leonhard and fights to be allowed to go to the ball because she wants to see her supposed servant again. However, the ambitious stepmother only gives her own daughter a beautiful dress. But the magic tree on Marie's mother's grave throws down a beautiful dress. Cinderella shines at the ball and enchants the prince, but just before midnight, before the spell expires, she flees. Will the prince be able to love a Cinderella?

On December 24, in the middle of the supposedly quietest time of the year, anything is possible! And this is exactly what the episodic film "Schrille Nacht" tells in seven short stories.

Svea and Peter are now parents of a daughter. Svea was elected mayor of the neighboring community of Klamm and, as such, fights for the interests of the mountain farmers. With Munich-based conservation expert Martin Gollan and her assistant Igor, Svea develops an alternative concept for the national park. Joseph, however, ensures that Peter, as chief veterinarian, stabs her in the back at a hearing. Peter has had enough; he's tired of being manipulated by his father again and is ready to return to Stralsund with his daughter Josefine and Svea.

A thirtysomething couple invites another couple to dinner in the suburban pad to which they’ve recently moved. Complications ensue. The less you know about this unsettling chamber-piece drama, the better. Suffice it to say, it deftly and deliciously wrongfoots the audience all the way to its enigmatic finale. The pieces of the film’s carefully constructed jigsaw puzzle elegantly slot together; even then, everyone will see a slightly different picture.