"Souvenir Wien 1938 Scrub Brush" (c) 1993 Melissa Gould

THINGS. PLACES. YEARS.

Documentary l Austria 2004 l 70 min l colour l DV-Cam l English (with German subtitles)

World Premiere: Diagonale 2004
Theatrical Release: 20 January 2005 TOPkino Vienna

Directors, Concept & Interviews: Klub Zwei (Simone Bader & Jo Schmeiser)
Concept & Filming Locations: Rainer Egger
Camera: Anita Makris, Daniel Pöhacker, Rainer Egger
Editing: Maria Arlamovsky, Klub Zwei, Dieter Pichler
Sound: Daniel Pöhacker, Zenzile & Jamika Ajalon
Cast: Geraldine Auerbach, Josephine Bruegel, Erica Davies, Katherine Klinger, Elly Miller, Rosemarie Nief, Lisbeth Perks, Anni Reich, Ruth Rosenfelder, Nitza Spiro, Ruth Sands, Tamar Wang
Production: Amour Fou

stills l press

Festivals:
Dissolvenze Film Festival Gradisca Special Program "Amour Fou Pour Vous" 30.11. - 4.12.2005
20. International Munich Documentary Film Festival 6-14.5.2005
Diagonale 2004
Leeds International Film Festival 2004
Jüdische Filmwoche 2004 (Week of Jewish Film in Vienna, 2004)

The knowledge of Jewish Women. Absence and Presence. Vienna and London.

Things.Places.Years. comprises interviews with Jewish women of the first, second and third generation. The film´s protagonists are not only women who escaped from Nazi Austria as young children, but also their daughters and granddaughters who were born and brought up in the United Kingdom. The film tries to show that experiences of emigration, diaspora and genocide are passed on from generation to generation. It investigates how these experiences continue to have an effect on the lives of young Jewish women – until today.

When talking about presence and absence, about lack and loss, these words can mean entirely different things – according to who is speaking. Thus descendants of survivors of the Holocaust speak of "The Presence of the Absence" (Katherine Klinger) and thereby mean the presence of the loss of their whole family, the loss of their parents’s mother tongue, the loss of places their parents loved, places that still exist in Vienna – unchanged until today. But what does "The Presence of the Absence" signify for us, as decendants of the perpetrator society? It means to deal with "The Past in the Present" (Ulf Wuggenig), to work against the old and new antisemitism and racism that Jews and migrants are confronted with in Austria today.

Often, in their representation, experiences of expulsion, emigration and the Holocaust are treated as things past. The documentary Things. Places. Years. recognises the past as part of the present. This past is part of our identities, as the descendants of those deported and forced into exile, as the children of witnesses, bystanders and perpetrators.

Things. Places. Years. shows the impact of forced emigration and the Holocaust in the lives of three generations of women in London. The film also focuses on their work. Nearly all of the twelve women featured in the film found their occupations in the cultural field. Most have a Jewish background. However, it is difficult to define what these women have in common. Is it their Jewishness or their interest in art and culture? Or is it how they confront the past?

The film does not construct a homogeneous female identity. Rather, Things. Places. Years. goes beyond the dilemma of ascription and determination. It gives these women ample space to speak about their identities, which is much more multifaceted than their identification as being Jewish. An identification that was cause for deportation and murder during the Nazi era. An identification that makes Jews out of men and women with a Jewish background. Until this film was made, these women had rarely been asked how they identify themselves.

Things. Places. Years. brings the women´s experiences and analyses to the screen. But it also focuses on quiet moments, silence and contemplativeness. In familiar surroundings, such as their homes or workplaces, the women talk about their relationships to places, to things and about their Jewishness. The film also offers the opportunity for us to confront ourselves with anti-Semitism today. Something we should all take time to do. For, the past recurs in the present. (Rosa Reitsamer)