World premiere

Why Not You

Local title
Miks mitte sina
Original title
Hochwald
Director
Evi Romen
Country
Austria, Belgium
Year
2020
Programme
First Feature Out of Competition

The weaker a community senses itself to be, the stronger the pack mentality among its members. Eccentric Mario who lives in an Alpine mountain village has always felt like a black sheep whose pulsating passion for modern dance and underground club culture does not fit in with the local conventional tradition patterns. Is home a place where you have been born and raised, or is it a place where you are expected and welcomed?

Mario’s childhood friend and first love Lenz has found a way out in Rome where there are no boundaries. Looking for new opportunities, Mario escapes on the trail of his friend, but again ends up in a wrong place at a wrong time. After Lenz is killed by a random chance in a mass shooting at a gay club, the surviving Mario becomes a target of accusatory looks in his home village.

Inspired by the 2015 terrorist attack at Bataclan Theatre in Paris, the film dissects the sense of survivor’s guilt with psychological incisiveness and boldly casts light on blinding hatred in unexpected layers of the society. On hatred which is manifested in averted glances and derogatory distancing, and on a situation where injected poison in the blood seems to be the only way to protect the fragile sphere of emotions from the surrounding world. Pushed away, Mario starts to feel less like a black sheep and more like a dangerous wolf in sheep’s skin.

Co-Premiere with Zurich Film Festival.

Elise Eimre

Director
Evi Romen
Screenwriter
Evi Romen
Cast
Thomas Prenn, Noah Saavedra, Josef Mohamed, Kida Khodr Ramadan
Producer
Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu, Bady Minck
DoP
Martin Gschlacht, Jerzy Palacz
Editor
Karina Ressler
Music
Florian Horwath
Production
Amour Fou
Runtime
Language
Italian, German
Subtitles
Estonian, English
Director
Evi Romen

Evi Romen (snd 1967) on tunnustatud filmimonteerija, lavastaja ja stsenarist, kes elab ja töötab Austrias. Pärast Viini Filmiakadeemia lõpetamist on ta töötanud eri ametites mitmete auhinnatud mängu- ja dokumentaalfilmiprojektide juures. Võitis Austria Filmiakadeemia parima monteerija autasu Michael Sturmingeri filmi „Casanova Variation“ eest 2016. aastal. „Miks mitte sina“ on tema esimene mängufilmilavastus.

Trailer
Q&A with the filmmaker