THE BORDER FENCE

Synopsis

A political satire about populism and its absurd consequences. In spring 2016, Austrian politicians fear an onslaught of war refugees via Italy and announce a new border fence. The residents fear the fence just as much as the supposedly threatening alienation of their homeland. At the end of the film, the fence is still curled up in the container, as the feared refugee rush never materialized. 

Credits

Awards

Festivals

Film Details

Biography

Nikolaus Geyrhalter was born in Vienna, Austria in 1972. Twenty-two years later he formed his own production company: Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion. He made his first film, EISENERZ, in 1992. Two years later, he shot his first documentary, WASHED ASHORE (1994) it is telling a story about the river Danube and often strange idiosyncrasies of the people who live along its banks. Geyrhalter’s static-camera, well-paced observational films tackle their subjects head-on, whether it’s exploring the terrain in Chernobyl, Ukraine (PRIPYAT - 1998), tracing the route of the Dakar Rally (7915 KM - 2008), or investigating the production of processed foods (OUR DAILY BREAD - 2005). In 2003 he received Austrian State Award for Film Art and in 2008 his film OUR DAILY BREAD won the Grimme Prize.