Benedikt Mitmannsgruber - 1996

What's it about?

As if from nowhere, Benedikt Mitmannsgruber turned 30 overnight. Surrounded by forest, cows, and farms, he reviews the past few years. In the attic of his parents' house, he discovers a yellowed album containing his family tree. For Benedikt Mitmannsgruber, this marks the beginning of a furious journey through his family's past and his own absurd everyday life. The journey begins at the beginning of the 20th century in a small village on the Czech border. There, Benedikt Mitmannsgruber's great-grandparents decide to have 15 children. In the 1960s, Benedikt Mitmannsgruber's parents are born. They spend their childhood next to the Iron Curtain in the deepest Austrian province. Nobody really knows whether the small strip of land actually belongs to the Czech Republic or to Austria. In the 1990s, the curtain falls, and Benedikt Mitmannsgruber's parents decide to conceive a son. He is born into a world he never quite fits into, but which he nevertheless loves with all its quirky inhabitants and peculiarities. A homage to growing up in the middle of nowhere. A declaration of love to the forgotten backwaters. A journey into one's own past. A bizarre look at our society and a world gone awry. Benedikt Mitmannsgruber's third program "1996" is dedicated to his two parents and four grandparents, who, despite a difficult upbringing at the end of the world with few prospects, shaped him into the Benedikt Mitmannsgruber he is today! Duration: 90 minutes Director: Jürgen Marschal