Zechmeister

The Days and the Year depicts the life and agricultural work of Gottfried and Elfie on a small farm in the Waldviertel region of Austria. Having decided in favour of ‘small-scale’ farming, the two of them have consequentially pursued this aim, always regarding their animals as living creatures and the soil as a cosmos in its own right.

A parable on the relationship between human beings and animals, subject and object, thinking and life.

B for BARTLEBY is a documentary film essay about a very personal confrontation with this narrative: It becomes a re-encounter with a deceased companion, who wanted to film Bartleby all his life. Then a journey to the USA, to the farmhouse of Herman Melville. Here today's "classic" of American literature, conscripted the women of his family to "write off". We see performative experiments with women "learning" Bartleby and men practicing writing; we see everyday encounters with Bartleby in a cafeteria, a youth club, a center for the stranded. and a legendary offstage theater in New York. Goose quills scurry across blank pages, actresses memorize text that might be their own, costumed museum employees lead tours of "original showplaces," animals (beloved by Herman Melville above all else) glare at us. "Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!" It's about the desire and curiosity to find out how to peacefully cope with a personal visitation.

An Austrian documentary about the public employment service and its clients.