Home Is Not A Place

With Home Is Not A Place, Clara Trischler creates an audiovisual collage gleaned from fragments of her family´s history. Narrated memories are combined with filmic snapshots from the family´s private archive. Looking back in time, the filmmaker´s grandparents report to her about stages of life and particular crossroads. The framework introduced at the outset of the film serves to contextualize these elements and resembles a scrapbook of memories. Biographical scenes are recalled according to a linear pattern, telling about life together in former Czechoslovakia, subsequent work-related trips to East Pakistan and Kenya. So it comes to pass that this Slovakian nuclear family is on the road when the Prague Spring breaks out. They experience the upheaval from a distance and decide not to return home - they want to provide their growing children the possibility of a more autonomous life and individual freedom. Their flight is accompanied by the unease of leaving family members back home for an indefinite amount of time.

The film is interwoven with Super 8 footage, and the graininess characteristic of this material aptly conveys a blurry aesthetic that speaks to the evanescence of remembered images. Meanwhile, slow motion sequences and partly faded images mainly transmit the grandfather´s personal impressions of the 1960s and 1970s. The accompanying narration does not directly correspond to what is seen: Clara Trischler is more concerned with the interlacing of various temporal phases intrinsic to her family chronicle, and revealing ongoing repercussions of decisions made in the past.

This painstaking portrait of Trischler´s grandparents additionally outlines an understanding of the roles played within familial structure. But above all, Home Is Not A Place tells about lives shaped both by uncontrollable forces and self-determination, and about the fundamental human need for individual freedom. (Jana Koch)

Orig. Title
Zuhause ist kein Ort
Year
2015
Countries
Austria, Germany
Duration
14 min 25 sec
Director
Clara Trischler
Category
Documentary, Short film
Orig. Language
Czech, German
Subtitles
English
Downloads
Credits
Director
Clara Trischler
Script
Sarah-Christin Peter, Clara Trischler
Cinematography
Clara Trischler, Anton Hrabovec
Music
Stefan Trischler, Christian Mrazek
Editing
Sarah-Christin Peter
Sound Mix
Otto Pinto
Executive Producer
Anya Grünewald
Production
Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf
Production Manager
Norman Dickfeld, Clara Trischler
Editorial Department
(rbb) Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg
Translation
Adia Trischler, Katarina Trischler, Stefan Trischler
Available Formats
DCP 2K flat
Aspect Ratio
16:9
Sound Format
Dolby 5.1.
Frame Rate
25 fps
Color Format
colour, b/w
Digital File (prores, h264) (Distribution Copy)
Festivals (Selection)
2016
Wien - VIS Vienna Independent Shorts
Graz - Diagonale, Festival des österreichischen Films (Best Short Documentary)