Snowman
Antonia is stuck in her everyday life. She oversleeps, procrastinates and searches the internet for a happy life. Spontaneously, she decides to give structure to her existence and asks her fling for a steady relationship. (Crossing Europe Catalogue 2018)
“Thats me”: Antonia, a disproportional wooden figure who appears unfinished. Antonia, a young woman in front of the mirror – eyeing her proportions, slipping into the role of the roommate, imagining how it is to be someone else. Both of them are poorly conceived and furnished with cracks; the Antonia out of wood and the “real” one of flesh and blood. Antonia, who lives for the moment, and the one that her father has carved for her. Both travel by train and stop over to see a young man – the lover – before arriving home. The man has his own mind, his own rough edges. The sex is disappointing. “Antonia, give me an answer,” he says. She has given him a piece of her mind – as metaphor. She took with her the sunglasses that she found in front of the mirror.
In her short film, Leni Gruber tells of fragments of a day – gentle like a summer breeze, with the humor of a decent smile; a film that deals with the fleetingness of being, of becoming, and passing. Recognizably dominant in between is the wish for permanence: to create something, to be tied to one´s environment, whether by a sculpture that one is aligned with or friendships and contacts that one tends, not being alone, a relationship that one wants to be a solid part of – but everything is flowing. Letting go, its a part of maturing. Something that you first have to admit – like the man in the YouTube video who talks of a snowman. Back to the womb; no way takes you there. In the world is where were formed, deformed, and in the end, also where we melt (into). (Sandra Schäfer)
Translation: Lisa Rosenblatt
Local Artist Award CROSSING EUROPE (Award)
Leni Gruber demonstrates impressive talent in her portrayal of a young woman in search of happiness. The relaxed and sensitive way in which the filmmaker addresses commonplace, but no less serious problems is convincing in both form and content. The desire for stability finds its cinematic expression in SCHNEEMANN, mirroring the anxieties and needs not only of a single person, but also of an entire generation in Europe. (Jury Statement)
Jury-Begründung
Leni Gruber zeigt ein beeindruckendes Talent bei der Inszenierung einer jungen Frau auf ihrer Suche nach Glück. Die lockere und feinfühlige Art, mit der die Filmschaffende ganz alltägliche, dabei nicht weniger schwerwiegende Probleme thematisiert, überzeugt inhaltlich wie formal. Die Sehnsucht nach Stabilität findet in SCHNEEMANN ihre filmische Form und spiegelt dabei nicht nur Ängste und Bedürfnisse einer einzelnen Person, sondern einer ganzen Generation in Europa wieder." (Jurybegründung)
Schneemann
2018
Austria
20 min