Spiegl

Spiegl tells a universal story of fleeing, through an organic mix of road movie, opera, and re-enacted memories. Yitschak Spiegl was the foster daughter of a Czech mother, and was living as a woman when in 1988 he fled Communist Czechoslovakia. Fragments of his personal history emerge as he visits places in Austria with filmmaker Vita Soul Wilmering where he spent time as a refugee. Chance meetings with people on the street unintentionally form a recurring thread that links up themes of exclusion and pigeonholing, which shape the painful undertone of Spiegl’s life story.

In a studio, Yitschak and Vita zoom in on significant moments in his life: the farewell to his foster mother; a raid on the asylum-seekers’ centre by armed police; his first love. Wilmering is concerned more about the process than the result, demonstrating both how memory works, and the trust established between maker and protagonist. The mini-opera, running through the film, elevates Spiegl’s experiences to a higher plane.

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Available on Festival Scope Pro from 26 January 9:00 CET to 14 February 9:00 CET