GOOD NEWS - VON KOLPORTEUREN, TOTEN HUNDEN UND ANDEREN WIENERN

In his heavily debated film debut, Austrian film director Ulrich Seidl juxtaposes two parallel worlds: that of young men from Egypt, India, Pakistan or Turkey, modern slaves selling newspapers in Vienna's outer districts; and that of the partially xenophobic people who buy them. In stylised tableaux, lingering within static frames for uncomfortable lengths of time, Seidl's camera captures everyday life on two ends of the social spectrum. Well-to-do Viennese read their tabloids in their Austrian living rooms while paperboys in their red and yellow uniforms with their motto "Keep Smiling! Keep Selling!" hang out in the holes they live in. This is about normal people, their pets and their little stories. The distancing, ironic lens picturing a stylised, plastic world, far away from the common trends of "realistic" hand held camerawork, leaves room for critical reflection. We begin to recognise for the first time the dreadful elements of our own daily lives that had become invisible just because they are there everyday. Like no other, Seidl shows the "terrible regularity of daily routine" and "the madness of normality." (Werner Herzog)

Awards: Vienna Film Award, 1990; Prix des Bibliotheques, Paris 1990

    Supporter of BEST.DOKS 20/20