Renée Felden

Des visages inconnus perdus dans Vienne. Âmes en peine dans une grande ville morne et terne. Leur petit rayon de soleil ? Un chien, un cochon d'Inde, un lapin blanc... Des compagnons de longue date, témoins privilégiés d'un quotidien écrasant, des amis, voire plus si affinités ! Un chien qui fait le beau, et son maître qui vient l'embrasser. Seidl filme sans détour une société de l'animal roi et de sa présence jetable.

Chris, a young man from the country, dreams of a big career as an escape-artist. He wants to become famous like his idol, Harry Houdini. He meets Mischa, an expert in the art of living, who feels himself called upon to support Chris in attaining fame and an international career. Chris is very much attracted to Nada. Mischa's sister wants to break away from the Yugoslav workers' milieu. A spectacular performance is planned by Mischa and his friends to draw the medias' attention to Chris. Tied up in his strait-jacket, Chris wants to jump into the Danube and free himself under water. But neither newspaper journalists nor the TV turn up. Nevertheless Chris jumps into the water and frees himself. He wins Nada's love and restores his self-confidence. Malambo is a comedy, which portrays the dream world of an endearing community of friends, who are building 'castles of air' for themselves, in search for a better life.

A naive innkeeper arrives from the Alps into town to investigate his shady investor only to discover that he owns a sex shop. Needing money for a good cause, he and his sons join in. However, his partner is actually a diamond smuggler.

Menschenfrauen is a film about relationships and the psychological oppression of women in society. Franz, a journalist, maintains relationships with four women. His three mistresses are introduced with television dreams of intense emotional violence (in the first dream, a mother shouts at her daughter, explaining that as a girl, she does not deserve a room of her own), and the fourth is his wife. He is desperate to have each to himself. Franz never offers a substantial sign of love, but is willing to say anything and make any promise for affection. His dependence on women for fulfilment is explained through arguments with his wife. He claims "I am my own sound. The women produce voices within me." An understandable and sometimes sympathetic antagonist is one of the films greatest strengths. The emotional damage he causes becomes believable.

In a city of the future, man has triumphed over nature and at the same time destroyed the environment. In the highly mechanized cities, all goods and services are equally available for everybody. Each person recieves an "energy chip" on their 16th birthday which serves to pay for everything: Food as well as transportation, bar visits and other leisure pastimes. When an energy account is used up, the person must die. The "executors" take care of this...

A documentary with fictious elements. Ms. Elisabeth (Lieschen) Müller from Austria comes to Bonn, Germany to find herself a man. During the search she investigates the connections between neckties, political power and prostitution, and tries to look for the influence the german feminist movement had on the men in Germany's capital.

Judit is up to her neck in art studies and the elitist art community but chucks it all to pursue a successful career as a billiard professional -- not exactly a likely alternative in real life, but certainly more lucrative. Just as she is finally at the apex of her chosen second field, Judit encounters male jealously and/or aggression in the form of intentional snubs from this different class of snobs, or in the worse instances, rape. Director Kitty Kino portrays many of the male figures in this film as weak, or drunk, or simply offensive, and because of the emphasis on those traits, the film will raise objections from some viewers. On the other hand, many women might see this film and feel that at least it brings up the difficulties women can face in getting ahead in a male-dominated arena, instead of side-stepping or ignoring the role of male prejudice.