I AM HERE!

I AM HERE! tells the story of a man, who is suffering from a traumatic experience. His life turned out to be an endless odyssee. Finally, he can accept his rootless existence in departing to another country, hoping to find a new home there. The story of this man brings us to a leading topic of humankind in our days. The cause for the present mass migration is in most cases due to traumatic experiences and to the hope of finding a new home somewhere else. (Director's and Producer's Statement)

"Ludwig Wüst is a veritable phenomenon of Austrian cinema — an outsider who delivers at least one fiction feature per year, with little official support, often shot in a day or two after careful preparations. Most of his films are improvisation-based, with Wüst putting his actors into a clearly defined space with a rough trajectory for their movements as well as the story's development — leaving everything else to them. The method changes somewhat from film to film, but the spirit of restless experimentation remains. In I AM HERE!, Wüst gave 16mm and its limitations on shooting a try, resulting in one of his most beautiful and intense works. Little happens outside childhood friends Monika and Martin talking while walking through a forest towards a barren field and a car. Their talk is simultaneously incessant and halting as they circle a history of hurt from their younger days. In the harsh decisiveness of the editing, one feels the carpenter that Wüst is by training, bringing a sensibility that makes his films often look raw yet whole and polished at the same time. Finally, this maverick found his way to IFFR!"
(Olaf Möller, IFF Rotterdam 2023)