Nomination for the Austrian Film Award 2012:

 

Category: Best Documentary

 

 

 

Grand Prix Special Mention,

Split Film Festival 2011

 

Winner: Nikolaus Geyrhalter for ABENDLAND

 

 

From the verdict of the Jury:

 

"This Austrian film takes us into the night world of work and life after dark. Opening our minds to what goes on after most of us are asleep, Geyrhalter has created a stunning work that not only reveals a rich fense of life, but also celebrates the human in each of us."

 

 

  

The Millennium Award

and

The Canon Cinematography Award, Honorable Mention

8. Planete Doc Film Festival in Warschau

 

Winner: Nikolaus Geyrhalter for Abendland



From the verdict of the Millenium Jury:

"Showing the underbelly of civilization as seen at night, Occident is a powerful indictment done with Nikolaus Geyrhalter's unique flair for composition and pacing. Occident's more common title, Abendland, means "the west" in German, or literally "evening land." As seen in "Our Daily Bread," his earlier film about industrialized agriculture, Geyrhalter applies a cold, clinical, and quite sharp critique of the extraordinary and unsustainable amount of technology, security and other means that maintain European cities -- from the high fences and constant patrols that keep Africans from getting into Spain to the simulated police trainings. Memorable vignettes throughout including a police crackdown on nuclear activists attempting to block a train car of nuclear waste, a mega-rave, a pornography shoot, a mail sorting facility, and much more. There are occasional lighthearted moments that crop up in this thorough indictment of "progress" and "modernity," all done without narration. What's remarkable is that Geyrhalter's distinctive voice and touch come through undiluted. Geyrhalter allows us to crawl down the manhole of the modern world to see what allows everything above ground to exist."

 

 

 

Best Artistic Editing of a Documentary Film 2010/2011

Diagonale, Festival of Austrian Film

 

Winner: Wolfgang Widerhofer for Abendland

 

 

Die Begründung der Jury:

"In ruhigen nächtlichen Totalen vermeintlich bekannter, aber auch verborgener und verdrängter Facetten der Normalität unseres Lebens, seziert der Film Abendland von Nikolaus Geyrhalter die Selbstgewissheit und Verlogenheit der Europäer/innen. Dem Schnittmeister Wolfgang Widerhofer gelingt es, der Fülle monolithischer Tableaus und sperrigen Materials, das eine Identifikation mit Protagonist/innen radikal verneint, eine narrative Struktur zu geben. Auf kongeniale Weise verleiht er den Realitätsfragmenten einen erzählerischen Atem, bricht, verbindet, konfrontiert  - und eröffnet uns so einen assoziativen Erkenntnisraum, den mit Sinn zu füllen wir noch lange beschäftigt sind."