Original subtitles

Yes, I'll be telling my own story

but where to begin?

In the first cut

the main character is going it alone

bracing himself for a big adventure

I wouldn't have minded

just letting the first minute pass without any action.

The audience settles in

to being bombarded with 90 minutes of non-stop talking

while the Lower Austrian Film Funding agency

is pleased to see the country already in the spotlight

Seriously?

However, Judith, my TV-editor

urges me to reconsider

The first minute is decisive, she says

it'll determine who's actually going to watch this film to the end

And what better beginning than a character

whose life has reached a complete dead-end?

He dies, or falls ill

But I am protagonist!

The ultimate crisis?

My 40th birthday

I need two attempts to buy wine for the party

Or there's nothing left on the card - maybe that's it?

I need to go back home again

to borrow money off my daughter

The thought haunts me all evening:

40 years old

and too poor for good wine.

Well, that thing with the aunt - I still don't get it.

My sample audience, assembled on the playground

approves to start off with my economic woes

If you don't know how to sustain yourself...

There should be a plan behind it

But robbing a piggy-bank for my 40th birthday?

That's hardly believable

the timing is too good

Happy birthday to you!

And, yeah, it also so happens

that I just staged this party for my camera.

I've repeatedly looted my daughter's saving accounts

and removed far larger sums

Gift voucher for Mexico

Maybe it's better to begin with complete honesty:

Dear Christoph!

My name is Christoph Schwarz

and as you can see I'm clearly such a VIP

that I regularly require new press photos

I'm taking the glasses off

it looks more handsome

I've spent the past years shooting self-obsessed short films.

They didn't earn me much money

but my parents

academic background

always supported me generously.

I'm blessed with a basic financial self-confidence

which I pass onto my children

though all those riding lessons

laptops and sailing permits

are also paid by my parents

Of course that's a video

Which brings me right back to the subject of money.

The starting point of this story

is my annual dinner with Judith.

We were together once, for one summer

Difficult in any case...

Judith worked for ORF3 cultural TV

and always ensured I got my share of film comissions

Now she's moved to documentary

it's exhausting...

We mainly talk about our kids

As ever, Judith saves the biggest news for the end:

A one-year self-experiment, or something like that?

ORF “Striking Years”

Her new TV-format: “Striking Years"

they are still looking for a striking project

related to climate change

Saving the planet

hasn't that always been my thing

at least in theory?

What's the age cut for

up-and-coming in ORF TV?

Until 50?

Until 50?!

Judith has put her finger on a sore spot:

so far, all my actions against climate change

were mostly just symbolic

For example, documenting a dried-up lake

near the hungarian border, together with Franz

I film his kids sliding into a dystopian future

but to get there

we actually borrowed a SUV

Or...

I made a point of documenting every year

of my daughter's young life

with a brand-new camera;

but what if I had made a point of taking

to the streets and protesting against climate change?

No!

So far, my smug, vegetarian, car-free life

always seemed enough

when our planet finally does collapse

at least it won't be entierly my fault

And my wife Michaela?

Since many years, she's been dreaming

of our own house in the countryside

I'm so happy we're talking

because we have no clue!

On our weekends, we visit friends in their country houses

Hey, is there even a men's and women's toilet?

And imagine destilling Schnaps and growing veggies

just like my great cousin Urban

That plum is two years old?

And how do you heat? And that's the alcohol?

But the real-estate market is out of control

and in any case: I have no money

The carrots look pretty good to me!

Are those carrots?

They've seeded themselves?

I'm way more tempted by Judith's offer

to go on a climate strike, as a self-experiment.

In Summer 2020, the City of Vienna is campaigning

"If we all chip in, the climate will win"

Oh come on!

Clearly, our politicians are bankrupt

they just reframe climate change as a private problem

Okay, it's a stupid slogan:

"Get off the gas, get onto your bike"

We're even invited to submit our own "good deeds"

Blockade, not building brigade, that's as good as it gets!

So I ask my photographer friend Florian to lend me a hand.

Wouldn't it be great

if we could force the City of Vienna

to officially recognize street blockades as a "good deed"

for the world's climate?

And laugh now! Or be confident!

I'm not really convinced by my activist posturing

I think yours is better!

But Judith is really impressed.

However, we still need to talk shop

before I can start saving the planet,

budget is 15.000€ for the director

90.000€ for production!

I keep cool

but actually I'm vibrating

I've never had so much money on my hands

climate activism isn't that expensive anyway!

And it's just for a little bit of climate activism.

Why?

All you need is your body and courage!

I'd really like to have you on board

That looks really huge!

The next weekend

Michi and I go hiking in the remote "Waldviertel" region.

We see a house for sale.

I'm on a hike with my husband

and I just saw your sign, for sale

The agent arrives within 20 minutes.

He'll be putting the house online in the next days, for 90.000 euros.

Bedroom, that's the old part...

Hold on, 90.000€

I tell myself

that's exactly what I could cover with the film budget

But there, that does look quite nice

Michi falls in love with this little old Granny-house

I can see myself in the shade of the apple trees

writing film scripts about the climate crisis

I'm already 100% in

you still want to think about it, or?

Karl-Heinz, the agent, senses we're interested

and gives us the weekend to make a decision.

So nice how the sun comes in here!

Michi is all excited

surely, she says, my parents would vouch for a loan!

I've already done the numbers

I just want to talk about it with you

I shouldn’t be the one hesitating

I should seize the opportunity and act!

Whenever I face a big decision

I pretend my life is a film script:

the main character has no money

but a unique opportunity

to purchase a cheap weekend house

and thereby resolve a conflict with his wife.

I want to call there now

is that alright with you?

But to go begging to his parents

is below his dignity.

At the same time,

an interesting TV-commission!

You are the filmmaker, do it your way!

The price of the house equals the filmbudget:

90.000 Euro each

that can't be a coincidence!

Suddenly, I have a childish thought:

how about solve all problems at once?

Couldn't I really

just buy the house with the film budget,

and then shoot a low-budget film

about a life without money?

As in:

the money is gone

but that's actually the plot?

The next morning,

I get a definate "go" from ORF TV.

I immediately get on the phone with the agent.

Yes, well my wife fell in love with it

For once, I don't want to hesitate

I want to act!

A week later,

we have a kick-off meeting in the TV production offices

where we present our strike projects.

We do want to see synergies,

but every project should stand for itself.

I just registered to get a hunting permit

because I feel that's more feasible

rather than slaughtering a cow

Rafael Haider wants to spend one year

eating self-made food

But if someone invites you for lunch

to their home

what then?

Well, that won't be possible

You're not going to go?

Or you're going to bring your own stuff?

I'll take something with me

a small packed lunch.

We're more and more dependent on all these likes

Catalina Molina will spend a year

living without the internet.

From now on, you'll only reach me by phone

or by mail

this is my adress

- You can choose! - Really?

- Wow, I had that one! - I also had that one!

Lisa Weber is going on a speaking strike.

I guess it doesn't make for great film material

a person who doesn't talk for a year.

I also need to be careful not to isolate myself completely.

I'm quite nervous

I want to explain how

I'll tell a story about climate activism

by challenging consumer society.

I'll have much better possibilities for getting into activist circles

if I'm the guy without money.

I mean, the best product is the one that you don't buy

in terms of CO2-emissions.

It's a totally coherent way

of taking this climate strike to the next level

Ani Gülgün-Mayr

our head of programming

is relieved to have the unpopular climate topic

out of the way

Spending no money is a subject that affects everyone

Everyone accepts that

working without a film crew

is "conceptually necessary”

Noone traces it back to the fact

that I'll be buying a weekend house

with the film budget

- Barter trade? - Yeah!

Of course the house

has a far longer life-span

than the film

my most important ally to pay out

the entire budget as a fee to myself

is Miguel, my tax advisor

You'll have 100% of your fee left over

and then you pay back the loan

Because interest rates

are much lower than the taxes?

We currently have a zero-interest period

I set up a production company, ARGE SCHWARZ

I'll also be doing cut and camera

I could also pay myself an acting fee

To make it look more professional,

I'll use my pseudonyms

You get synergy effects

call it shell companies

we're not the only ones doing this.

It always depends on the situation

If the camera work is too complicated

my friends Georg und Marie-Therese will help out

Now the screen is locked

Georg is currently going through

a period of soul-searching

for him, it's a point of honour

to work for free

on a film about a life without money.

So he get nicknamed “Generous George”.

Cameraboy George!

Michi thinks it's cynical

to want to live for a year without money

especially considering those who are really in need

You have your own pencil, right?

Nonetheless, she signs the contract.

She can't believe her good luck

- Who shall I give them to? - To Michaela!

Now she really own a house in the country.

I don't quite believe I'm really doing this:

I never owned anything

did I just spend the budget for a documentary film

about a money strike

on a property?

My director's fee

will pay the renovation

Perfect conditions for a year without money:

I don't have any left.

But how am I really going to manage without money?

Time to quit the studio

move the most important equipment

to my son's former bedroom.

Give away the rest on the internet.

If it's for free, people will take just about everything

even dustballs and wood shavings

I'd love to take it!

Update successful

I'll take care of my parents' house and their computer

they'll pay my share of the rent

Michi is so thankfull for the weekend house

that she'll pay the electricity and gas bills for a year.

Bizarrely, I also don't have have to pay my production assistant.

It's in the settings for login & access

Constanze wants to intern

so she can get a foot into the film industry.

I give her full access to my empty bank accounts

I'm dead serious:

for one year,

I don't want to have anything to with money.

I don't want earn it

touch it

or even think about it

The day before new year's eve:

my final big shopping trip

a confused, last-minute mix of luxury party goodies

and spaghetti

I stash away some emergency ration in the bookshelf

and I switch my mobile to a prepaid card

20 euros must be enough for one year

The last 500 euros are turned into art-prints

and dispatched to friends

proudly announcing my "financial sabbatical year"

they're also an upfront artistic payment for all the free drinks

I'm hoping to be invited to

Welcome, you're on TV!

You laugh, but you don't really know Pac Man, right?

On new-years eve

we have cheese fondue

I've spent my last cash on lottery tickets

as my nest egg

as an emergency exchange currency

I feel save with it

The last coins go to Rosa

I don’t need them anymore

I’ll save all of it

Untill the end of the year!

Just before midnight

we walk over to the Danube Canal

to watch the others' fireworks.

There was one!

A fitting image for the next year:

I'll make do

with whatever others leave behind.

3-2-1

And then it's 2021

January, Febuary, March, April, May...

My money strike has started.

Car!

January:

Dolphin

We spend the first days in happy hibernation.

What do you want?

Back in Vienna, things get serious

Carrots?

Or into the rubbish bins

To save food via a "foodsharing" -plattform

I first have to pass a tricky online quiz.

At 8 in the morning

we assemble at Vienna's Hannover Market

and pick through the waste left behind by the vegetable merchants

Wow, aubergines, awesome!

Whatever we can spare

gets deposited in public fridges

Do you want pizza sticks and breadrolls?

And there's more stuff to be found

in garbage rooms in my neighbourhood

- The stuff here is covered with coffee! - Well, I don't really mind.

- You don't mind? - No. I've often...

- Pastries covered with coffee?! - Some of it was actually really tasty.

Well, I don't know, they do actually look ok, these brown mushrooms

Abstract knowledge turns into tangible reality

You have shelves forever filled with fresh food

and behind the scenes, tonnes of perfectly fine produce ends up in bins

Alas, this also happens in organic supermarkets.

How are we doing with the mangos, Chris?

You want to have those?

Unlike those people who really depend on salvaged food

my freedom from money is my own choice.

I'm proud to be picking through junk

and I sense my moral compass shifting:

eating low-budget industrial meat

and long-distance strawberries from Brazil now feels heroic

Do you want saved food from the trash?

A money strike?

In practise, that means:

I do all my trips by bike.

My social insurance remains in place

but I don't go to the doctor.

I use no medication

except the free covid-vaccine

Washing liquid can be made

from soap and old schnaps

You can read new books

in the library

Due to the pandemic,

socialising takes place at my home

The dinner guests bring along beer and pretzel sticks

Yes, thanks so much for the kind invitation

I'm really honored...

In exchange for an online lecture

I get olive oil

as birthday presents

I go for Origami-flowers

and Michi gets a sound collage entitled:

"What your friends like about you!"

You’re such a special person!

You’re so talented

Actually, honest compliments should never cost anything

...youthful, on the other hand, you're very wise!

I like you a lot!

- Everthing’s ok? - Yes.

There's also something else I can exchange for food:

my own blood.

After donating, you can have a little meal

or a takeaway snack

How much can I take?

I explain that I absolutely need to film both.

February:

Which side, left or right?

Without the magic wand of money to fix things

my life has gotten rather impractial.

Meanwhile, Michi is earning sensational hourly wages as a nurse

taking nasal swabs

She's clearly more relaxed these days.

- Shall we meet outside? - Yeah.

As for Rosa,

my strike has definitely increased her fascination with money.

She's probably the next one I want

...and a horsewoman costs 20€, so you'll be at 28€

When we tell the owner of a toy store about my experiment,

he gives Rosa a second horse for free

perhaps hoping to win a future customer

Doing something for the young consumers!

That's really very nice of you!

Well, that's for you to say

I fear that you might buy some more horses

- My year without money? - Exactly, I'm on money strike since January!

- Like zero? - Like zero!

In these first weeks

I'm most impressed by "Robin Foods", a group of food savers.

David and his associates

are rescuing surplus food on a larger scale

and redistributing it in public space

- I haven't checked, when's the sell-by date? - Well, a week ago.

Transportation by bicycle is a must

their weekly cargo-rides on some of Vienna's busiest roads

are a way of projecting self-confidence to the outside

The same supermarket

that boasts of donating a food aid package

to charity every week

Yeah, fruit yoghurt!

Actually throws away huge ammounts of food every evening

- Orange-Mango-Carrot. - Super!

The true extent of the wastage

is not meant to be seen.

This also happens often, one breaks in the the box

- ...and all are thrown away - Exactly

Do we need to worry about this?

The sirens?

Yes! Let's make a move, or?

Left-overs for environmental education

To spread the word about Robin Foods and their work

I produce a litte video

Joe wants supermarkets to use a minus 100% sticker

If they give away everything half an hour before the expiry date

they'd have no garbage and it all goes to the people

I don't want to be part of a system

that creates things anew every time

David tells about all the things

he's already found in the supermarket trash

He provides me with video evidence.

...in a mixed garbage bin. Full of those lemonades.

We're talking about that road bump on Grinzinger Allee

where the accident happened

But I also film David as he plans protests

against the car-centric traffic policies in his district Döbling

Now I talk a bit more about Döbling.

What's even worse than climate collapse?

In Döbling:

a loss of precious car parking space!

That's a massiv traffic obstacle.

David's preferred protest strategy:

bicycle demonstrations!

I immediately join him

and make a fool of myself

standing beside bicycle paths with my big sign and handwritten flyers

That's the name of the local council leader!

At the meeting point, I hand out placards with juicy slogans.

Or "Let's make Döbling a cycling district".

The turn-out isn't exactly overwhelming.

We remain calm

even when aggression comes from other players

We stop at a crossing

where, just recently, a mother and her two children

were hit by a car

I wish I had the moral courage

to reach for the megaphone

but I'm too shy

and just shout our slogan

More cycle paths for Döbling!

In spite of the low turnout

David is unfazed

and organises two new cycle protest rides every month

In these days

he becomes my activist role model:

Don't hesitate

just do it.

I start my own first project of the year:

a food sharing shelf in our staircase

March:

In my search for self-sufficiency

I hit upon subsistence farming

Using old junk from the neighbourhood

we build a chicken pen

Michi plans to save some chickens from a factory farm

Or let's make a new compost on that side

and next year we can get good soil from here

A kids' brigade helps us

dig a vegetable bed

But wouldn't it be more exciting for my film

if I ventured into urban agriculture?

In my search for free land

I hit upon traffic roundabouts

Why not grow potatoes right here?

And show how valuable land gets sacrificed

for the free flow of traffic?

You could probably make electricity

If I know that the district is ok with it and supporting us

I make some unsuccessful phone calls

to the local council offices

Back to bureacracy, it's been a while!

After I mention my cooperation with national TV

a council representative agrees to see me after all

Well, I'm always up for talking about things.

Günther Cermak finds my vision quite charming

but hardly feasible

Roundabouts are governed by multiple, overlapping authorities

MA46, the landowner...

Cermak runs through practically all the city departments

I drift off

this is getting way too complicated

Until you actually have the permit in your hands

you can't really begin

As we say goodbye

I have a flash of inspiration:

wouldn't it be easier to sell this as an art project?

Definately...

Cermak confirms this.

I'd give it better chances as an art project in public space, absolutely!

For real?

Ok.

My perfect partners for artistic potatoe-growing

on a traffic roundabout?

Steffi for design

Lilli as head gardener

plus, she also owns a tractor

Doing this by hand would be kind of hard-core, or?

Our project title:

Vienna Potatoe-go-Round

We apply for art funding

In our budget spreadsheet, next to my name

is simply one word: MONEY STRIKE.

The feeling is, literally, priceless.

...but also low entry-barriers

a participative neighbourhood project

There are also parts of yourself

that are doubtful, or self-critical...

George, my camera guy

is currently way more into his self-development

than into making films

With his help

I come to realise

how fascinated I've always been with money.

In my very own wallet

I've been carrying photos of my children

printed onto foreign banknotes

My pre-diploma project at art university

was a fictional EU-agency

selling advertisement space on Euro notes

In performances,

I often made fun of the art market

but my focus was nonetheless:

money

The only thing I can tell you...

George's probing questions

make me realise

that my allergic dry skin

is doing much, much better these days

Into this bodily experience...

Studying my diaries in the evening

I detect a clear corelation

between periods of financial insecurity

and allergic episodes

Could liberation from the logic of money

finally lead me to

the liberation of my body?

- You can also do those tomorrow! - Yes!

Then do one more German excercise now.

Rosa's school has switched back to distance learning

...maths homework!

So I take her on a self-study excursion

in "political education"

For decades,

the environmental movement has been campaigning

again a tunnel under the "Lobau" National Park

This summer, the City of Vienna

wants to begin works on a highway link

The project is euphemistically branded as "Town Road"

Zwentenburg...

I create a video

showing how today's protests in the Lobau Forest

are directly linked

to some of the finest moments in Austrian environmentalism

So, instead of money

I'm now fishing for Likes.

But I only get 7

in spite of using the all-time magic formula

"nature plus children".

...ruin the ground with potatoes?

Or would that be too complicated?

April

we get permission for our potatoe art project

but only on sundays,

when traffic levels are low.

We propose a sign

describing our lifestyle as a "world war"

but the authorities reject this

as it might irritate some drivers

Mmh, I see...

But what if we actually work with this restriction?

What counts most for me

is that we can just do the project there

the fact that automobile traffic doesn't want to be reminded

of its own, disastrous impact?

I suggest that during weekdays,

we change our sign from "world war"

to "world market"

which also goes well with the business park next door

One week later, in our next negotiation

the authorities give us permission.

The sign would be changed back

to "we are in a World War"

At our next meeting,

Judith seems more earnest than usual:

nothing wrong with "cute" little feelgood-projects

like urban gardening, bicycle demonstrations

and food sharing in my staircase

But wasn't my money strike meant to lead me

towards more hard-core climate activism?

It's definately on my agenda...

something with cars in the the city!

Against.

Maybe go back to the starting point of the project!

After the lockdowns are over,

I start going to exhibition openings again

where I always find friends

willing to invite me for a beer.

Or, you're a greenie, just don't buy it?

Other people are paying for me.

But it's not so easy to persuade them.

So maybe that's the work.

Leonie and Thomas try asking trick questions,

to see if I'm somehow cheating

my way out of my money strike

Yes, but then what are the rules?

If someone wants to go with me on a trip to Lower Austria

I say:

sure, but you've got to pay.

But is that totally ok with you, if people pay for you?

Yes, but it's also ok with me not to do the trip

And when I start explaining,

why things are like this,

then it's actually always funny.

They ridicule me

for having my parents pay the rent

Leonie calls me a "compromise clown"

It's more about showing

that so many ressources are readily available

I'm not saying that everyone could live like this.

Yes, because someone else is paying.

I like to say:

it's given to some to take.

I'm kind of asking myself

how authentic things are if you process them in a film.

Later, Thomas says it quite directly:

I'm basically just performing my idealism

for the camera.

...somehow semi-staged

I'm in the mood to keep provoking him

but I'm hoping for another beer

I announce a big anti-car campaign

We're building a car out of cardboard!

These are good markers

Couldn't we expose the privileges given to automobile traffic

by claiming them for ourselves?

Which is kind of a bit annonying,

because bikes make no noise

and now we're making extra noise!

In the park, together with some kids

I build a decoy-car with a soundbox

How do we actually call this?

Any suggestions for a name?

They immediately come up

with a name for our creation:

a "Lauto", a loud automobile.

We hit the streets

Our good mood evaporates on the spot.

Bashfully, we circle around the block a few times

Then, I get into an argument with a neighbour

who usually greets me very nicely

it all just feels childish

I've had enough.

If you don't want any noisy cars

then you shouldn't be living in the city!

It’s just a stupid idea

To come up with more constructive ideas for protests

I visit a street campaign

organised by my sister Hanna

and the association "Geht.Doch.Wien"

meaning "Vienna, you can walk"

campaigning for more pedestrian space in the city

Hanna is enraged by the fact

that residents can get parking spaces

for just 10 euros a month!

There once was a funny intervention, with a flatbed truck

Couldn't I make a statement

by converting an old truck into a vegetable bed

a garden for everyone!

And then put a compost toilet on top

to protest against all this unfair... shit?

And as fertiliser!

That certainly hasn't been done before!

Or: you take a car, a convertible

and fill it up with soil

Hey, that would be amazing!

With stuff for everyone, like herbs or so.

So I hit social media

and start looking for a convertible

for climate activism

My neighbour Camilla reaches out to me

And that belongs to your aunt?

It belongs to her

it's not in great shape anymore

but I guess for your project...

Next weekend, I visit Christa

who reminisces about glamorous road-trips

But now the convertible has just become a burden

She thinks my project is visionary

and is happy to just give it to me

In exchange

I insist on some symbolic garden labour

We raise a toast to myself

proud owner of a convertible

but without a driving licence

how daring!

I also drink

to summon my courage for the return trip

without a ticket

hiding on the toilet again

My neighbour Robert helps me register the car

Hanna's association will pay the monthly fees

What's this?

That's the cooler.

A few days later

Generous George joins me

and we go to pick it up

In the boot

I discover an obscure 1990ies-tape:

Do you think the tape deck still works?

The "Kopyleft Liberation Front"

a free soundtrack for my year without money

perfect open-source music for me and my film

The band doesn't seem to exist online

Three...

Two

One

Zero!

Many of my fellow campaigners

also don't want to be paid

For example Stoffi, my brother-in-law

who will build the supporting structure

for our vegetable bed

How about 20 cm?

You don't need it for the herbs.

Whenever I take along my camera

and talk about my self-experiment

everyone feels flattered

and consents to being filmed

...write your name and adress here

Nobody seems to consider

that I actually had a budget for filming permits

and allowences

Their idealism

is paying for my weekend house

I want you to go up here...

Like in the circus

To explain the house to my friends

I expertly deliver a story

about Michi's rich aunt Rudi

who appeared rather unexpectedly

and died shortly thereafter

...have to sell something maybe

It's very cute

it's definately a special house

it has a certain charm.

They'll go to the people who live here!

No, they'll go to the people who do the work!

The people who live here could also work here!

It's easier if you take it like this

And just let it drop

Like this, right?

May:

Our sundays are now spent

on the traffic roundabout

But instead of using Lilli's tractor

the work has to be done by hand

I'll be more than happy

if we get the water here

and this one hut

David and Anna deliver four water tanks

with their cargo bikes

isn't that proof enough

that mobility without cars is workable?

All you can drink, David. Help yourself!

World War mutates into World Market

As long as the Euros keep rolling

the flow of traffic must not be disturbed

In my opening speech

I don't mention my money strike

I'd rather be seen as a courageous climate activist

than a guy scrambling for free potatoes

...so he was quickly let in with his big box

to the city councilor Svihalek...

Take a long swing!

David introduces me to climate campaigners

of “Extinction Rebellion”

I film their so-called "week of rebellion"

I want to give a voice

to the people behind the banners

Okay, looking at you!

Go down a bit, so we see you too

If the animals die out

the insects

if the food chains collapse

then eventually it will be our turn, too

We've seen that it's possible

that we can take crises seriously

It gets more intense every year!

We have not much time left

And all we get to hear from politicians

and corporations

and from industry

is greenwashing, empty promises

And I can't

just sit on my hands and watch it happen

When the time comes

to look myself into the mirror

I want to be able to say:

“We did something, back then”

It was clear, the facts were on the table

But in the media

the climate crisis is completely eclipsed

by the pandemic

which makes me really angry

And my videos are making hardly any difference

Couldn't I go one step further

and pit myself against fossil-fuel capitalism

with my very own body?

But spelling out my motives on a placard

turns out to be surprisingly difficult

Sincere feelings appear all too naive

but I can't well block a road ironically

I'm happy that I'm finally...

sitting on the side in front of the camera

We gather in Vienna's central park

to discuss the split of roles:

I will let myself be arrested

...better would be 4 and 4

Then we're off!

The cars oppose us

with a heavy chorus of honking

one lady

drives right through a banner

paralysing the traffic

isn't an end in itself

but the only way

publicly pressure politicians

into finally implementing their own climate goals

The police seals off the street within 15 minutes

The officer in command curtly suggests

we'd better get up

or else risk catching a cold on the wet ground

I thought he was talking about his colt...

The demonstration is dissolved

but Manfred, Werner and I still stay seated

We should get a fine

The police should actually haul us

in to check our identities

but mercifully

they let us run

The officers make us promise

that we won't go right back

to blocking the next road

these contacts with the cars

they didn't stress me at all

because I didn't feel them to be humans

they're just cars, honking

Keeping up such a project for an entire year

is stressfull enough as it is

So we'd also have the possibility for you

to see a therapist

After five months of money strike

time for a first recap at the ORF television offices

And these snails live at my place

they reproduce like crazy

in the bathroom

in the bathtub

Rafael presents footage of his snail farm

He's already built a loyal following on YouTube

presenting foundational research

on all things edible

It's like an oyster

that tastes of chicken

That you meet in real life

that you really share photos with each other

Catalina's internet strike has evolved

evolved into a weekly slideshow-night in a bar

we project it

like on a slide night

a sort of substitute for social media

and the start of a story about people

who from the very start committed themselves

to living without the internet

I'm closer to myself

it really makes me feel much better

I'm not missing anything

Lisa has completed a course for sign language

and communicates via musical instruments

and a small soundbox

That's why I stopped using it very soon

and stuck with the “Computer Lisa”

Was is it a long casting-process

to know which voice will speak for you?

And the pandemic?

Is that having an additional effect now?

Pleasant!

Well, that's nice.

I present my experiences as a food saver

and the bureacratic world war on the traffic roundabout

Ani suggests that

my life without money

seems to be going just a bit too well

To be honest

that's just a bit too picture-perfect

There were a number of moments

were it was really problematic

not to have money

But all in all

I just got everything organised

pretty well beforehand

You're getting a director's fee

for your money strike

Don't people keep asking you

about how that goes together?

Mmh...

Well, so far

that hasn't really been an issue

It kind of worked like:

he's the activist

and that's why we're all helping out as well

it was more like:

it works without money for everyone

Lisa is right, of course

I should just feed my director's fee

to the animals!

Or, even better:

a ritual money-burning ceremony

as an anti-capitalist climax for my film

You're so silly...

it's of no use to you anyway

But...

I've put all the money into the weekend house now

so I'd have to fake the burning somehow

In January

Rosa and I found an envelope for the christmas carollers on the street

The note burns well

I don't feel anything

I have go

at looking for counterfeit money in the dark net

A Czech supplier has the best ratings

I still own one-tenth of a bitcoin

which I could transfer

via an old-school computer

and open wifis

as a safe address:

an appartment in Prague

It's end of May

officially we're invited

to the wedding of Michi's cousin

but while we act

as an innocent tourist family

we're actually waiting

for mail delivery

of 15,000 Euros

in small notes

On the last night

the doorbell rings

for three Pizzas

which I never ordered

Michi, did we order Pizza?

In the middle box:

the Europizza

- Did you know that he'd be coming now? - I actually thought it's coming by mail.

You're making fun of me now, right?

Because that looks damn real!

We're scared...

but we cover it up by inventing names

for this "delivery service"

Okay, I start:

Cash al forno

We feel like serious criminals,

although legally speaking

burning counterfeit money is no crime

Rather a good deed!

It's what the police

would do as well

You mean like this?

Little Bello is in charge

of the money transport

we board the train with a massive hang-over

when we finally cross the border

we are extremely relieved

June:

I invite selected friends

to my ceremonial money-burn

on the banks of the Danube, near Kritzendorf

...support the success of the movie

I got some last-minute reassurances from my tax advisor

yes, a burnt director's fee is indeed tax deductible

...an investment into the film

and therefore tax deductible

well, then we can make those

- I don’t like you - Why?

My nephews are enlisted as helpers

Why are you doing this?

The kids are extremely anxious about my plan

Money is valuable!

And display some serious capitalist concern

- It's only paper! - That's just stupid.

I collect all phones

today something radical is going to happen

Thomas, sorry.

I feel like a teacher

Who else wants to make a spit?

Rafael suggest

we could also smoke the banknotes

I need you as witnesses

that this is really happening!

Money is unnecessary!

- Bravo! - Money is unnecessary!

And then: a pathetic speech

Our grandchildren will stand on Europe’s border

the climate crises calls for radical anti-consumerism.

Don't light the the good money on fire!

Paradoxically

the best way of reducing money's CO2 emissions

is simply to burn it

That money is stopping us

from saving this planet!

I love how worried

my poor friends look

and how admiring the rich

The twenty euro bills burn better

I've also invited Thomas

eager to prove to him

that my money strike isn't just a fun little project

...staging itself as a model green city

and then building highways in the suburbs

My nephews are

constantly trying to steal money

which kind of stresses me out

The Czech counterfeits

must be completely burned

else I'm really in for some trouble

Nobody suspects the true extent

of my criminal energy

organising fake money

to fuck over everyone

Generous George

gives me a conspirative wink

takes 50 Euros

out of his own wallet

I can't tell him the truth either

And then...

I get competely drunk

which makes my show

even more believable

I mean, for real:

did I just blow a small car

into thin air?

Exactly...

if you'd get out

of the Vienna Bubble a bit...

A few days later

Judith shares a deep insight with me:

all "pioneers of money-free living"

went on a big journey

at some point

It'd actually also be exciting

if you travelled somewhere

Oh, this guy takes a sailing boat

to cross the Atlantic!

How should I do this?

You don't have to sail

but what about the Danube?

Of course

I've already been thinking about

how to join my family

on their vacation in Carinthia

I obviously can't

do climate road blocks

and then privately travel by car

...this is not something where you're saying

it has to be in the film

Look, I also just want it to be good

Why not have another glass of wine

and then you tell me the truth?

So, I'll go by foot

You can just try it

Worst case, you get scared

and have to drive back to Vienna

Fast-forward through the rest of June:

Me documenting the

"First Vienna Traffic Light Race"

which highlights some impossibly short

green lights at pedestrian crossings

After a long search

for a hairdresser

who's willing to exchange his services

I finally find Billan

and babysit his daughter

Launching an improvised

money-free summer cinema

with Constanze and David

We give ourselves a glamorous name

to persuade up-and-coming filmmakers

to share their newest works

When it rains

we shelter beneath the U-Bahn-arcades

A last house maintenance service for my parents

I'm always happy

when I can give something back

for the rent they're paying

Should I put all that into my rucksack?

And see how it feels?

July

Feels better.

Michi buys me a chocolate bars

and takes me out for ice-cream

It's for real now, or?

She clings firm to her belief

that I'll still change my mind

Take care of yourself!

Assures me that she'll be ready to rescue me at any time

Don't you dare loose your phone

And then I'm off

my life boiled down

to three clear tasks:

cover the distance

find food

organise shelter

for example at the guest flat

of some friends' communal living project

For the second night

I havn't organised anything

I roam the suburbs in Laaben

in the Vienna Woods

In my imagination

it had been so easy

to ask for dinner left-overs

and a place to sleep

now, I feel like a crook

In the “Schöpfl" mountain lodge

the landlady lets me know

that going on a money strike is idiotic

her piece of free cake

is a humilation

Sure, I get it

I can't expect everyone

to believe in my project

Or did I just sell it badly?

For the hike!

Wonderful!

The lady in the bakery in Rohrbach

is happy that someone still wants to

eat yesterday's baguette

And I have one advantage over real vagrants:

my camera

The hotel "Steinschaler Hof" near the Pielach river

takes me in for a night

in exchange for a promise

to include their

marvellous wild herb garden

in my film

here we go:

7 seconds silence

between all the talking

an authentic advert

for the "Steinschaler Hof" Hotel

I can't promise that yet

it would just be a scene in my film

Using the same trick

I spend two nights

with Ursula, Hans and Thomas

in a minimalistic wooden box

how long does Petra last in the freezer?

Whenever food supplies run low

Rafael is my emergency call number

when in need

the devil eats snails

Could I charge my phone here?

Soon enough

I learn how things work in restaurants:

first, just ask to charge your phone

If that leads to a conversation

coffee and cake will follow

sometimes even dinner

The fastest route is along the main roads

where cars shoot by, like projectiles

Noise

pollution

dead animals everywhere

My contempt for cars

grows into pure hate

My phone lasts well!

And then my parents drive to Carinthia

planning their journey

so that they can invite me for a lunch

and give me a ride

Inside the car: a lovely silence

a gentle glide through nature

accompanied by Schubert's Piano concertos

The driver isn't a violent barbarian

he's just...

my father

In the match Austria versus Italy...

Farewell, Christoph!

Thanks for the lunch!

I hereby call this mismatch

between inside and outside perspectives

the "Automobile Paradox"

And I still have some kilometers ahead of me

to think about it

My gratitude

for bed and dinner

is boundless

Money

keeps us coldly at a distance

I think to myself

as I pet Lady, the alsatian

only without money

do we become human

Not if you're a refugee from Afghanistan

retorts a social-media editor

back at the ORF

where, two weeks later

I present my footage

You don't have to show every goodbye...

Judith thinks I could start shortening things a bit

I really like the thing with the snails!

But in my view

the days in Admont Abbey

were especially significant

Now I am in Admont Abbey!

Show it to us, she says

Cultural monuments in the Austrian Countryside

are perfect for television

Sorry...

Aren't the frugal Benedictine monks

who live without any possesions

obliged to host me?

...Christoph Schwarz speaking

the pennyless pilgrim

And indeed:

I'm allowed to sleep in the monk's closed quarters

and recieve generous nourishment

from the abbey kitchen

The long hike is starting to drain my forces

I have incredible back pain

Father Thomas treats me

to a herbal gel from the abbey's pharmacy

...Father Thomas will take care of that

It's on his account

I hike up into the Tauern mountains

my back still hurting

You're my saviour!

My guardian angel appears:

Generous George!

We speed up the toll road

into pristine nature

where I strike a thoughtful pose

in front of his camera

couldn't we see

the alarming temperature increases in the Alps

as a positive opportunity?

Coffee plantations?

Normally, I have to do it in secret

or I don't dare

could I take a packed lunch

for my hike?

Silva from the hotel packs me a free lunch

Yes?

Farewell to George

who paid for everything

today I'll be sleeping in the moutains

I don't drink beer

I hike up towards the summit

A true environmentalist

shouldn't shy away from outdoor sleeping

I find a slanting

rocky platform

Cheers!

Darkness falls

I'm enveloped by a frightful silence

pressing me against the starry canopy

of an unbearably vast universe

Impossible to sleep here

At half-past-four in the morning

an assault of aggressive mountain wasps

forces me to flee

back to the valley

I've had enough of nature

I hitch a ride

for the first time in my life

and within a few hours

I reach Carinthia

Hi, it's me, Christoph

I crash at Jürgen's self-sufficient farm

I met him at a street blockade

20 kilometers before reaching my goal

I give up

a good spot for you to get me!

Michi rescues me

You smell a bit not-so-great

Ah, yes, Extinction Rebellion

that's also good

There's going to be more action then?

Judith is disappointed

that I didn't take to the streets again with Jürgen

while the social media lady

is impatient to know

if I still have any plans with the convertible

Yes, perhaps if it's combined with a prize contest?

August:

the convertible

After witnessing my money burn

Thomas is completely convinced

of my activist credentials

He helps me with the finishing touches

We could plant it there

Camilla and I have yet to finish

planting the herbs

and already there's a snapshot in the newspaper

Yes, it's already in the...

amazing how quickly that happens

Our message is simple:

one hand to the side...

the easiest path to planting herbs in the city

is, absurdly:

a convertible

Let it dangle, the watering can

For an unbelievably cheap 10€ a month

you can privatise 10 square meters

of public road

Why does that not apply

to raised vegetable beds?

The public, however

interprets a soil-filled convertible

as an act of revenge:

a stag night?

A marriage crisis?

The dominance of cars in our cities

seems completely natural

why would anyone protest

against Natural Law?

I got it as a gift.

Want some sparkling wine?

The intervention strikes a chord

Can't you do that everywhere?

At our opening party

complete strangers stop for drinks

My video goes viral

That’s perfect!

That’s a great pose!

Vienna will be wow!

Exactly!

Heading into the weekend

I'm greeted by own smile

on the title-page of a free newspaper

Let's hope my new-found celebrity

will earn me a free pass if I'm caught without a ticket

Ha, I have another one!

At the roundabout:

That’s disgusting!

A potatoe beetle attack

in the midst of a concrete desert

What are we going to do with it?

Throw it away!

But where?

Just because we say:

the first highway is congested

let's build a second

even bigger highway

and screw the forest

And then our resistance

against the planned new highways

gets more and more intense

The City of Vienna

wants to push this through

planned for 40-60.000 cars

right through residential areas

at a time

we're in the midst of a climate crisis

We block the access roads

to the freshly fenced-off construction sites

Our activism isn't appreciated by everyone

This is a violation of freedom

this is a public road

if you don't leave

then I'll run you over

I don't care!

You're on video!

For these 460-600 million

you can get a tenfold

increase of tram tracks built

Plans are made

at a big networking meeting in the Lobau forest

Then, the action quickly unfolds:

a protest camp is set up

in the 22nd district in Hirschstetten

a few days later

two construction sites are completely blocked

I shoot a video in support of the mobilisation effort

"How to Occupy a Digger"

More movement!

Who wants to stop new highways

flocks to the 22nd district in Hirschstetten

3... 4...

Apocalypse!

Lobau!

Must remain!

Lobau?

Must remain!

Soon, there are rumors

of a potential eviction

The more people

spend the night at the construction sites today

the better

I’ll keep filming here...

And if it gets dark, I'll come over

...comfortable jogging pants for sleeping

But nothing happens

no police

So, the next morning we carry right on

and occupy a third construction site

If I develop public transport

more people will use public transport

if I invest in roads

more people will drive by car

Many people who live here

are against the project

but they've given up

or they think nothing can be done

We want to show that something can be done here!

September

The arts scene also starts

taking an interest in activism

a German curator

invites me to a talkshow

in an urban development area

near the occupied construction sites

I bring along some harmless ballons

and explain to Tim

that the night before, we inflated them

by tapping air from SUV tires

Tim senses my fake

and asks me to redo the ballons

in front of his camera

There's no SUV to be found

so I hijack a family van

Once the camera is gone

I diligently pump the tires back up again

For most people

occupying construction sites

and deflating tires

is taking it way too far

a convertible converted into a herbal bed

earns you sympathetic supporters all around

A few days later, however...

the authorities threaten to tow away our car

They claim it's not really a functioning car

We'd definitely drive it to a different road

So we hunt for a new parking spot

The authorities aren't satisfied

a car must be ready

to drive at all times

You immediately saw

how public space unfolds such power

once we use it for things other

than just parking out cars

If it's being given away so cheaply

then all citizens should

be allowed to use this space

to have a vegetable garden for €10 a month

or table-football

a coffee-table

a video-editing desk.

The media quickly latch onto

this cat-and-mouse game between

the authorities and our convertible herbal-garden

but it kind of distracts from our core message:

if you invest 3 billion euros

into building highways

More space for people

less space for cars

So, we remove the soil from the driver's seat

and fit it with a big pot of herbs

At first glance

the authorities have won this game

but:

we suddenly gain mobility

On the way to a street fair

Flo parks in front of his favourite bar

to impress his friends

Could we have mojitos?

Our car-grown mint

is used to mix a Mojito

which is fine with me

as long as I don't have to pay

I can’t drink all...

I have to go by bike

You also have 0.5 per mille, right?

Hold it straight, please!

- Like this? - Yes, sure, straight!

Hello!

Would you like to have a drink with us?

Without the dog, afterwards?

What happened to your idea...

of putting people in the center?

If you build this stupid city highway!

The next wave of Extinction Rebellion protests

is also directed against the city highway:

Straighten the banner once more!

Anna and Werner smuggle themselves

into the headquarters of the Social Democratic Party

Please, no more concrete-pouring politics!

Once again, Conny performs her anti-highway anthem

...we must enter the Lobau forest!

Cars make noise!

We make music!

Make public transport free

and party on the streets!

My convertible is summoned to a big street blockade

as a symbol of resistance!

I think chaining myself to the convertible

is too much for me

But...

is it worth sacrificing

our good understanding with the authorities?

You know, I think

it stands out even more

if you hold it upside-down!

A planning meeting at the occupied construction site

phones off and out, actually

my camera isn't exactly welcome

That's the emergency access-corridor

The plan is to block a bridge

over the Danube Canal

with cable drums

and park the convertible smack in the middle

I'd need a buddy who will drive it away

before it gets towed off

Two days later

is the big day

and I've not been as nervous

as this all year

I repeat my mantra:

"Everything is insignificant

in the worst case it's a good story

and in the end I'll play piano

And then you drive in there

and park yourself in the middle

With Florian, I wait for the starting signal

my fingers tremble

I'm trembling!

Yes, you're totally trembling!

Aren't the police

going to tow away

our peaceful herbs-on-wheels on the spot

if we turn it into a barricade?

Right on the medial strip!

But once the blockade is in place

I'm flooded with euphoria

the police seems to have no intention

of removing us

Normally the slogan is:

"Vienna, you're a parking lot"

but today it'll be:

"Stop the destruction, create the transformation"

David is also here

he mentions money problems

he doesn't know

how to pay the rent

for the club house

he's not amused by my joking

suggestion to go on a rent strike

Exactly, there'll be some donations

also at the camp

We have some dumpster food

what more could you want?

Some dumpster energy drinks

The last day of late summer:

a big street party

owered by the climate justice movement

Let's briefly discuss the dramaturgy

let's see which plot lines

October:

Ani wants us to decide

which plot lines we are going to focus on

I'm more and more into

the whole subject of foraging

you just bread it like a schnitzel

Rafael is super-successful

with his survival cooking courses

he breads and fries tree bark

and old leather shoes

it just tastes of breadcrumbs

International

Intercultural

Please stop talking!

Lisa presents footage

from her speechless everyday life

Watching her boyfriend Severin

call a monastery in Thailand

to book her into a silent-retreat

is seriously funny

W-E-B-E-R-L-I-S-A

It means "Lobau Forest will Stay"

I earn praise for having evolved

from a charming beggar

into a serious climate activist

This is super exciting!

Definitely follow it!

But what exactly

does my money-free life

boil down to

other than the fact

that you need to be rich

to afford poverty

...your family and children

I don't need it

it gives me time

energy

My colleagues appear

to be on top of their game

I would absolutely recommend it to everyone...

outside, Catalina confesses

that she's having major arguments

with her protagonists

They find it completely contradictory

since parts of it are going to end up

up on the internet again

ORF is putting them online

Her plan B

is to switch to working with friends

who have followed

and also gone on internet-strike

I have two friends

they are open for it

Just between us:

they’re actors

I haven't hired them

but they're actually actors

so they have no problem

with having a camera

pointed at them all the time

I often dream

of being allowed to talk again

but no longer being able to

I'm seriously scared

that some of my muscles are withering

And Lisa, since a few weeks

has been battling with nightmares

And what if you just sing

for yourself a bit, at night?

By now I'm also increasingly scared

of hearing my own voice again

Oh no...

Next Sunday

we gather on the traffic roundabout

for a harvest festival

The children find the car park

more exciting than the potato field!

Ok somebody else?

Hanna, would you like to bet?

I thing 89kg!

You're all so optimistic!

Christoph, tell me!

I said 40kg!

It's great that so many people

trust a roundabout

to be able to grow something here

That we have managed to

turn this non-place

a meeting place

a place where you feel comfortable

I personally

liked this the most

Steffi reads out the results

of pollutant testing

our potatoes are safe to eat

...below the threshold

Let’s get going!

Get to the tool

If it helps

I can count the rhythm

Stab

lift

pull

While the others start digging

I can't help wondering

about the essence of my money-free year

I was able to master all challenges

thanks to the help of other people

Is this the deeper message

that everyone wants to hear from me:

Potatoe bugs!

We'll only survive

the coming crises together?

We've just been thinking

what to do with the water tanks

they might be useful for a street blockade

but the police

would simply run them out

On this day

we harvest 90 kg of potatoes

Proudly, I heave my share

6 kilo!

That's how I get through the year!

It was really nice today!

Yes, really good.

November:

the protests against the new city highway

come to a head

Everyone does

what they do best:

Lud-will-ig

willfully wants to

pave over Hirschstetten

Joe has composed a protest anthem

dedicated to Vienna's Mayor

Lud-will-ig

willfully wants to

undermine Lobau forest

pull the heavy goods traffic

During a bike protest ride

I meet the actor Robert Stadlober

He declares, in complete earnest

that he'd love to play the role

of a highway interchange

How does he actually feel?

We zoom in really far

and you explain little by little

Who am I?

Like a

knot of pretzels made of concrete

I lie there

on my walls...

sprayers spray

Together, we develop a series of animations

illustrating how

the most beautiful recreational areas

of Vienna

are being sacrificed for motorised freedom

What would the Danube Canal be without me?

A generic recreational area

without character!

Who am I?

Interchange Nussdorf

But on the weekends

I retreat to the countryside

Michi pays my train tickets

I do my best to look like a gardener

press home-made apple juice

to reconcile climate campaigning

with second home ownership

We're about to park away

our convertible for the winter

but then there's an invitation

to demonstrate in front of the Social Democratic Party headquarters

I'm supposed to give a speech!

Now is the time

to get over my fears and anxieties

Wanna say somthing?

I rehearse with Hanna

she's very encouraging

“You’ll get there!”

Private transportation

Private transportation

which your party...

I feel we should call him

"climate change adaptation councilman"

A real climate councilman

should be a leader in the fight

for mobility transition

And take a stand against

the councilwoman for mobility

when she talks about

"upholding the rights of motorists"

Things I've always wanted to do

but never dared:

to give a flaming speech

at a demonstration

Check.

...and cementing in a mobility concept

for decades to come

Alright, the convertible season is over!

A few days later

the Green Party's Minister of Transportion declares

The Lobau Highway

and the tunnel going

directly through the nature reservation

will not be built!

Long live Leonore!

Long live Leonore!

Are you happy? Great day, right?

We celebrate

this first big victory

at the christmas market

eerily empty, thanks to Corona

in front of the town hall

all that remains to be done

is to convince the Mayor of Vienna

that a cancelled highway means

we also don't need to build

the highway connection roads

People, we need to get onto the barricades

because it works!

Lobau, Lobau, Lobau?

Will stay, stay, stay!

And hopefully for ever!

Thanks to all of you for coming!

Let's get out of our cars

let's get into the Lobau forest...

At this point

I'm thinking:

what a success-story

this could be the climax of my film

everything else is just

banal coping with everyday life

But then

I get another opportunity

to burn money:

December

As a participant in the

"Ecocide" group exhibition

I present a simple method

for installing a sandpit

in front of your door:

just repurpose a convertible

...the things you have to do

to give this space back to kids

They're also rescued

but not from the garbage...

David hosts a garbage-bin buffet

Mmh, a cherry-chocolate-cake

...keep your minimum distance

I bought CO2-Certificates

for 10 euros

to compensate

As an opening performance

I literally carbonise my artist's fee

we'd actually like to

make sure we

don't hit any climate tipping points

but first of all

we need to ensure

that the economy recovers

after Corona

Then, perhaps...

I'm not too good with handling fossil fuels

you always carry that with you

in case there's some money that needs burning

but happily Osvaldo, the in-house technician

always has an extra bunsen-burner with him

Standing in the first row

and taking pictures is David

But after the performance

he's gone

And I get a text message:

"Bro, that was real money.

You could have donated it"

He tells me he no longer

wants to appear in my film

...come back again

and we'll talk about it

I thought, you knew about it

But...

you signed a contract

I can't just let you get out now...

I can't do that, or?

Nooooo...

Beautiful!

Looking at it now

this performance

was probably the tipping point

Bravo!

If I had bought myself a small car...

I had often boasted publicly

about burning my director's fee

...you can't do that

you could do so much good with it

it was quite a liberation

but only now

did I really have a story

a few days later

I hear from Judith

on the brink of losing her nerves

I burnt my director's fee

The social media department

shared the videos of my money burn

leading to heated debates

amongst the TV board members

There was already talk

of ousting the director of documentaries

with a no-confidence vote

You have no idea

what I'm currently having to deal with

The director in question, Dr. Leitner

is all but furious

about what she calls

"mocking public art subsidies"

Burning tax money

has fatal effects!

She certainly has no intention

of loosing her job

to protect a wannabe-director

What were you guys thinking?

We didn't know...

Wasting 15.000 Euros?

We didn't know...

much higher sums were dumped for nothing

You have to understand...

But my ill-judged actions

would be a perfect excuse

to cut funding

for truly critical documentaries

And guess which party

is going to jump onto the bandwagon

I want a solution by midday

Well, 15.000 Euros is actually not that much

I also don't think it's that radical

You've burnt taxpayer's money

Christoph, don't you get that?

I'm really sorry

how things went

We've already had this discussion

What we're going to do is this:

we say, it was toy money

Okay...

what if the burnt banknotes

were actually only toy money?

Ani asks

...the money to this NGO

Judith agrees:

Christoph only burnt toy money

and actually donated his director's fee!

I remain stubborn

How come I'm not allowed

to burn my own

hard-earned money?

...and I'll also loose my

anti-capitalist reputation

I'll just be an activist clown

who burns toy money

Exactly!

You should have thought of that earlier!

The next day

I'm in Ani's office again

she appears way more relaxed

Thank you!

Comes with a peace offering

We've come up with an idea

we'll give you those 15,000 Euros

once more

so that you can actually donate them

but I'd like to ask you

not to burn them again

if possible

Any film- and photo-recordings published by me...

I sign a statement

Ani hands over a savings book

and then I'd donate the money

to a climate-activist organiation

you'd have to donate it, exactly

- Exactly... - Exactly!

Exactly...

The TV supervisory board is pacified

Somehow, I've managed

to conclude my money-free year

with a net gain of 120,000 euros

and I still get invited to

free drinks at the christmas market

I guess this is

what my self-experiment boils down to:

Money is as shy as a deer

a deer that always ran away from me

But now

that I've left the forest

it follows me whereever I go

quite okay, as always

funds are low, as always

To make good with David

I tell him most of the truth

Did I tell you

that I burnt a lot more in the summer?

After all this money burning

I'm doing really well, financially

so I've been thinking, we could make a deal

and could support his association with 1500 Euros

but officially, let's say

I donated 15,000 Euros

Yes, let's do that

David and Joe are immediately on board

Donation for climate justice, perhaps...

15,000 or 150,000?

150.000!

Two days later

we dress up for a press photo

the mixed-up decimal points on the cheque

Nobody will notice

Banana box!

Buy yourselves something nice!

Thanks...

...demand you to end the occupation

However, I do get a letter from a lawyer

you can't be asked...

threatening legal procedings

you aren't the occupation

against everyone involved in the occupation

of the construction sites

via a "collective liability"

The mayor of Vienna seems hell-bent

on cementing in his highway-links

roads to nowhere

this is a public announcement:

I hereby explicitly distance myself

from any occupation of this construction site

I immediately make my way to Hirschstetten

and distance myself

...not about a highway link

between the Seestadt district and a main highway

it's a completely normal local road

where you're not allowed

to drive faster than 50 km/h

the 7000 new flats in the northern part of Seestadt

of course need a connection

to the national road grid

because from the moment

people buy a washing machine

or order a kitchen

they obviously depend on their cars

and on good roads

Yes, there is a man-made climate crisis

But we won't stop it in Vienna!

Subversive affirmation

always a great go-to strategy

my views and likes go through the roof

You can't transport a washing machine

on the U2 underground

On the way home

I'm caught without a ticket on the underground

To avoid paying a fine

I suggest various creative compensations

A debt collection agency is already on the case

I dismantle our doorbell

I really don't care anymore

so long as I can stall the payment until next year

Likewise, merry Christmas!

And then it's finally over

my long year without money

1-week vacation voucher

for Michaela, Christoph, Ferris, Rosa

Monaco!

Granny Jana!

Last year we went riding!

We want Formula 1 in Monaco!

On new year's eve

we play WHO AM I

I'm Scrooge McDuck

It takes me only one round to guess

22!

The money-free year ends

in a most unspectacular manner

just like it began:

watching other people's fireworks

Then, I reenter the world of money

On the second of January

I cash in the TV money on the savings book

my new slush fund

That's where it gets heavy.

I buy myself a new computer for video editing

An indispensible tool

for completing my film?

Or rather a rebound-effect

because I've saved so much money?

Chock-full supermarket shelves

are too much for me to handle

It takes me a few weeks

to surpress my memories

of rooms stuffed with garbage

Can I still wear this?

Over the last year

I kind of turned into a hobo

but I just can't bring myself

to buy new clothes

A lot of people come with this problem

Ok!

Couldn't a seamstress

use my worn polo-shirts

and torn protest t-shirts

to design a new collection?

...don't you think?

Or a bag, here

with this frog!

Three weeks later

I try on my new, old clothes

I feel so grateful to Ulya

you've saved me!

I could have paid here three times as much

Lobau must remain!

But they...

they have again...

or not, I mean...

Highway?

On a tuesday, mid-february

the construction sites are sparsely occupied

The police arrives

with a special-command unit

The nearby underground station

is shut down

there's tension in the air

the police are nervous

Lud-will-ig

willfully wants to

undermine Lobau forest

Some activists have chained themselves

to the inside of the pyramid

and are able to delay clearance

by at least a few hours

You are not alone!

As the digger approaches

to tear it down

everyone holds up their phones

the images of the pyramid being wrecked

have something iconic

they stand for something bigger

I can't stop watching them again and again

especially backwards

super funny, that a film-director

that a film-director was fooled by actors

In a group meeting amongst ourselves

Catalina confesses to having encountered

some serious contradictions

in her editing process

They say they can't really

put on a real internet-strike

because it's their job to be visible

Her co-protagonists

her acting friends

only pretended to be on an internet-strike

It seems I'm the only one

who went for a real internet-strike

Lisa, who is finally allowed to talk again

says she'd like to reenact

and film her nightmares

Because otherwise...

it's totally boring

I can show it to you

Rafael hints at the rather speculative nature

of his "edible city"

...those weren't real leather shoes

no-one's going to believe that anymore

The trick is the frying

you always think

anything that's fried is edible

with ketchup

What if we proposed

a concept change to ORF television?

Suggests Catalina

...a mockumentary

What if:

our films were "autofictional self-experiments"?

...this is actually not a real documentary

While the group warms up

to a "contemporary approach to truth"

I suddenly see the light:

if I presented my film as a mockumentary

a fake documentary

and could thus - as opposed to my collegues

tell the true story of my year?

Christoph, what about you?

Yes, well...

it's making me think, hearing you

that it could be a possibility

Could I pack all those rather unsavoury moments -

such as

my weekend house

the Czech counterfeit money

my falling out with Dr. Leitner

my dubious moral standing

as a publicly funded climate activist

who makes everyone work for free

Could I pack them into my film?

I can imagine they'd be up for it

especially if the four of us come together

and say we all want it

I rework my script

and send it to Judith

who is highly amused

She calls it a

"creative firework of highly original meta-rockets"

in fact it's just the naked truth

This is a bit hard to explain, but...

Because I claim that

it was not real money in our bonfire

The legally problematic moments of my self-experiment

which are of course the most exciting ones

now need to be reenacted for my camera

I want to pay George for this extra work

but he categorically refuses

I think it just doesn't fit with the project

We rent the same appartment in Prague

My old friend Jiri

actually resembles the original Euro-Pizza delivery guy

The role of Dr. Leitner

is played by an actress

Ani insists on renacting herself

during the money-handover

totally over the top

in a parking garage

here you are

And if even my very own story

is spoken by an actor

if you need an offvoice

who wants to feel less guilty

for his countless short-distance flights

Climate solidarity projects I do for nothing

I mean: without money

then

No one will believe even one word

Yes!

Super!

Could you have a worse conscience?

Yes

I thought about the short-distance flights

because I don't actually fly short-distance

But is it okay to say that?

Yes

It probably lives up to the actor's cliché

my guilty conscience comes more from driving

I have one of those VW buses

Maybe I'll just say: “Minivan"

VW bus?

The point is simply that it's clear

that it's all fake

The guilty conscience too?

Yes!

No, that's real!

Okay!

Well...

The next months highlight

how quickly activist credentials

can be converted into cash:

my backwards video

of the pyramid's destruction

wins an art prize

my banknote-prints

rally on the art-market

2 out of 40

gallery owner Lena has already found a collector

willing to pay 650 euros

if you need more...

I can also buy them back from my friends

Lena argues

subversive artistic practises

deliver the best long-term returns

art that deals with socially critical themes and activism...

Suddenly, my protests

turn into "works"

and get exhibited in a hip gallery space

I call the exhibition "cute sabotage"

It still paid off for me!

I painted that!

This time, the air for the innocent party-ballons

was really extracted from the tires

of local weapons of mass destruction

A ballon filled with air, one tire

you don't notice!

But the sensor notice!

No!

Big bike protest!

Next friday!

This here is a disaster

3-4 lanes for cars

this is a highway

the next protest bike ride

on the central Ring-Road

should be really big

we mobilize a lot

a second protest ride

like a critical mass

We've got to tell people:

we urgently need a transformation

Nonetheless, 30 minutes prior to departure

I'm still waiting on my own

at the meeting point

It's on the Gürtel road today

Last year, we never managed

to mobilise more than 200 people

Every first Friday of the month!

But it soon becomes clear:

today, we are really many

Today, no-one can claim

that cycling in the city

is just a hobby

All our efforts

have been rewarded after all

Werner, you've won a book!

After the protest

I'm in party-mood

It's a super nice event

David remains earnest

Totally different things

would need to happen, he says

to bring the masses onto the streets

Maybe people will take to the streets

but only, when there's no more clean water

coming out of the taps

to bring more people onto the street

As we pack up

I ask David

what "different things" he's thinking of

That sounded like a plan

Before we slide into social collapse

He eyes me sadly

the Vienna forest would need to burn

Maybe it can be done

when there aren't that many animals

staying in the forest

At the "Days of Transformation"

in the Melk Abbey

we're mobility activists

on a work retreat

but in reality

we're thinking about arson

is it better if the catastrophe starts earlier

then we might still have

a better chance of reacting

The logic is compelling

if we do nothing the next 20 years

it's all over anyway

It's pure escalation

Yes, but...

To sacrifice the thing you're fighting for

But what does logic know about morals?

We can't end a world war

by being the ones who open fire

Realising this leaves us paralysed

Are we too nice

to enforce a transformation?

Yesterday night

200 firefighters

were already in action

in Reichenau an der Rax

And then the unthinkable happens

The forest is actually burning

According to the fire department

this is the biggest forest fire

ever witnessed in Austria

and there's no end in sight

for the firefighting efforts

Day 3 and the wildfire...

I spend the next days glued to the screens

waiting for the climate uprising

...so the firefighters

are barely able to reach the fire areas

But it soon becomes obvious

that even 100 hectars of burning forest

don't trigger any mass protests

Would one thousand hectars be enough?

Ten thousand?

What would it take

that climate anxiety

brings all people onto the streets?

In these days I finally lose control

of my sulky self-experiment

I dedicated two years to climate activism

but didn't consider

where that might also end:

in despair

David does not give up

He co-founds the climate protest movement

"Last Generation”

and goes on to block highways

with saved foods

he glues himself onto roads

and negotiation tables

...like a 100 km/h highway speed-limit

even goes to prison for doing so

...speed-limit will save 80 million liters of fuel per year

these are my Montessori-materials

Disillusioned, Hanna quits activism

signs a teaching contract

She thinks her energies

are better invested into education

I try to overcome my climate-depression

by playing pratical jokes on parked cars

The "Vienna Auto-Lottery"

is my way of supporting the city

in reaching at least one of their

self-proclaimed climate goals:

A minus one-sixth reduction of private cars

by 2030

I issue fake

but highly realistic parking tickets

informing drivers that as of now

the municipality will terminate

400 parking permissions every month

on a lottery basis

This morning, some drivers

were in for a rude surprise

The intervention causes a stir

but doesn't change the fact

that the public is perfectly satisified

with nice sounding climate targets as they are

But no-one want laws and policies

to actually reach them!

The City of Vienna's omnipresent greenwashing

finds its way into the media

Far too often

On the ground

where last year we had our protest camps

you can now already drive onto the highway

They claim

to build the city of the future

and it's the past that blows up in your face

I ask myself

are we eventually also going to explode

smash windscreens

decorate car bodies

or empty their batteries in the dark of the night

Just imagine what you can rent for 10 euros elsewhere

Vienna, you're a parking lot!

For this film

I only ever meant to play

the role of the climate activist

Vienna, you're a parking lot!

In the end

I've become one

We must reclaim our city

all these innocent fools like myself

who would normally never do anything

they've got to climb onto the cars

and say: we want to get this space back!

Vienna, you're a parking lot!

I think it was always the ones outside

The first showing of my film

is a test-screening on a playground

If a child shows up

we've got to quickly remove the screen

Blockade, not building brigade...

There's a lot of laughter

and grave silence during the forest fire

In the audience discussion

everyone agrees:

the film needs some sort of reconciliation

...in the very end

with less confrontation

and more community

perhaps at the weekend-house?

...didn't help either

If that's the last thing that remains

maybe do it differently?

It’s a pity

In August, I invite everyone to "reconcile" themselves

in a final scene at our weekend house

...the street where the cats are traditionally run over

That fits amazingly well

also because she's wearing the right t-shirt

I hammer the "Rich aunt" narrative into Michi's head

I try to imagine...

and after repeating it three times in a row

she ends up believing it herself

Never, I only met her once in hospital

Why did you inherit it then?

Because she didn't have anyone else!

Nonetheless, I feel nervous

showing my friends around

the stairs lead up to the kitchen

But nobody has any moral objections

to a money-free climate activist

inheriting a weekend house

it also spews tonnes of CO2

All the more so

if he adresses those objections himself

...this way you get new power for your activism!

You know, we’re about...

Judith is also more than happy

to buy into the Aunt-Rudi-story

Austrian heirs

she tells me about her new documentary series

"Inheriting Austria"

would love to have me on board again

Perhaps Michi...

Yes, Michi, that would really be a good idea!

Johanna, so nice to have you here!

I give a thank-you speech

it's time for David’s applause

Where’s David?

David!

But he's nowhere to be seen

could you have a look where he is?

Last summer...

I find him on the hillside

I made tonnes of apple juice here

For the first time in weeks

I feel really good again

We even joke about the

tinder-dry forest on the other side

...surprising in the end, it comes down

to a few individual people

I want to thank him for all his activist energy

and inspiration

he confesses that

beginning in autumn

he'll take up work as a programmer

for a London-based weather app

They are hiring people

So you move away?

He speaks of having sacrificed

the best years of his life for activism

Not even the most basic emergency measures

have come through

Just because I'm a climate activist

why shouldn't I be allowed to have a job

where I can earn more money

That's so sad, David!

Well..

Somebody will take over

if one day our kids question us

why didn't we do anything against climate crisis

at least we can show them

my film

I'm thinking:

As a souvenir...

in spite of all the bitterness

these could be good closing words

Would you be able to repeat that

in front my camera?

Then I'll just go

fetch it now

and I'll film you

telling this to me

Yes...

Yes?

You wait here?

Yes, sure...