Arena Squatted
Ruth Beckermann: Keep the Camera Rolling
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1h 15m
Dir. Ruth Beckermann, Franz Grafl, Josef Aichholzer - 1977 - Austria
A derelict slaughterhouse in Vienna hosts cabaret shows by the Vienna Festival in 1975. As the shows come to an end in 1976, the audience are encouraged to stay and squat the buildings to prevent their destruction. ARENA SQUATTED observes the squatting, the organisation of collective work, negotiations with the city, and finally the demolition of the majority of the building buildings (one remained to become the Arena Cultural Centre, still in operation today). Watched now, the film shows how a generation had been politicised through their involvement in the Arena movement.
"The social and political innovations of the Arena Movement, over which no political party or left-wing group achieved significant influence, are revealed in the tight, analytical arrangement of the material, with the beautifully shabby aesthetics of the amateur video vividly conveying the distinct flair characteristic of the Arena" - Gustav Ernst, Arena
Up Next in Ruth Beckermann: Keep the Camera Rolling
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Suddenly, A Strike
Dir. Ruth Beckermann, Josef Aichholzer - 1977 - Austria
In the Semperit tyre factory, the only strike after World War II takes place in May 1978, lasting for three weeks. The film shows the course of the strike in interviews, photos, graphics and talks at a pub; it draws attention to the positio...
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The Steel Hammer Out There On The Grass
Dir. Ruth Beckermann, Josef Aichholzer, Michael Stejskal - 1981 - Austria
On March 28th, 1981, 10.000 people in the city of Judenburg take to the streets to fight for their jobs at the steel plant that is threatened with closure. The film shows how the international steel crisis affected Austria...
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Return to Vienna
Dir. Ruth Beckermann, Josef Aichholzer - 1983 - Austria
A master storyteller remembers his youth in Vienna. Franz West (1900 –1985) recalls his Jewish family, his commitment to the workers' movement in Red Vienna along with the rise of Austro-Fascism and National Socialism. His memories of the d...
