Curtea de Arges

The idea is equally simple and amazing. Ulrike Ostermann arranged postcards from the estate of a certain Ms. Prade to create an endless Alpine panorama, then explored her highly artificial landscape with the disinterested gaze of a weather camera. The final product is an almost threatening world comprising an Alpine idyll and economic wonder. Along with soft, almost sweet music by Vienna’s electronic duo kilo, the mechanical observer comes alive; restless and without orientation, it randomly burrows into the mountains, only to find itself in another oppressively narrow valley. In the end nothing is left for the viewer, who has been sent off to wander, but the conclusion that they are lost in this frozen, vibrantly colored 1950s romantic world.

(Verena Hochleitner)


Diving into the alpine panoramas of vivid postcards, the camera, in tune with the rhythm of the music, slows down to discover summits and cool blue mountain lakes. This searching picture sizes up the mountain idyll digitally, zooms jerkily in on hotel terraces and herds of sheep, distances itself and returns to its starting point.

(production note)


Go to the filmmaker´s HOMEPAGE (where the film is available as quicktime).