Michael Glawogger never returned from a planned trip around the world, and the material he shot had to be completed by his editor Monika Willi. The result is a visually powerful work that uses images of waste, decay, and death to show the all-pervading energy of life. The picture is accompanied by Glawogger’s poetic commentary.
In December 2013 Michael Glawogger set out on a fateful trip to make a documentary that would be even more radical than his previous work. He wanted to investigate the world as an observer-traveler, capturing it in its entirety without pursuing a clear theme, having a concrete plan, or making preliminary judgments, and led only by the principle of lucky coincidence, i.e. serendipity. His three-member crew traveled through the Balkans, Italy, and West and Northwest Africa. Unfortunately, in April 2014 he died of malaria, and there his journey ended. Glawogger’s editor Monika Willi considered the material he’d shot a responsibility she owed to the deceased. Without his guidance, she had to go it alone, embarking on her own journey in the editing room. The resulting form is visually moving, similar to Glawogger’s prior work, and is thematically linked as well. The images achieve maximum effect when, full of decay, they show the indomitable élan and vitality of people and animals. The picture is accompanied by Glawogger’s poetic commentary as read by Fiona Shaw.
Vít Kořínek
107 min / Color, DCP
Director Michael Glawogger, Monika Willi
/ Screenplay Michael Glawogger, Attila Boa, Monika Willi
/ Dir. of Photography Attila Boa
/ Music Wolfgang Mitterer
/ Editor Monika Willi
/ Producer Tommy Pridnig, Peter Wirthensohn
/ Production Lotus-Film GmbH
/ Coproduction Razor FilmProduktion GmbH
/ Sales Autlook Filmsales
Michael Glawogger (b. 1959, Graz, Austria - 2014, Monrovia, Liberia), cameraman, screenwriter, director, and author. Before his sudden death while filming in Liberia, he had created a number of documentaries and features. He drew attention with visually powerful essays such as Megacities, Workingman’s Death, and Whores’ Glory, but he was also successful at dramas (Slumming, Das Vaterspiel, Contact High). His novel 69 Hotelzimmer was published posthumously. Monika Willi (b. 1968, Innsbruck, Austria) is an award-winning editor of documentary and feature films. She worked often with Michael Glawogger (France, Here We Come!, Workingman’s Death, Contact High, Whores’ Glory) and still cooperates with Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher, Time of the Wolf, The White Ribbon, Amour, and Happy End, his latest). She also regularly works with Barbara Albert and Florian Flicker.
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Monika Willi
Film Director, Film Editor
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