lower austria

Heinzi Boesel and Kurt Fellner are two Austrian health inspectors forced to work together, traveling through Austria. Over time a beautiful friendship evolves between the odd couple who couldn't stand each other initially; a friendship that even overcomes the boundaries of great tragedy.

Based on a popular 1931 play, the film tells the fate of a naive young woman named Marianne, who breaks off her reluctant engagement with Oskar the butcher after falling in love with a fop named Alfred who, however, has no serious interest in returning her love. For this error, she must pay bitterly.

History professor Baisch, his depressive and tablet-addicted brother-in-law Anzengruber and a manic cabaret artist have a car accident on a remote country road after a party. Wedged between two trees they get stuck, doors and windows can no longer be opened, the windows made of bulletproof glass cannot be smashed. Injured and with no chance of escape, they wait for days for rescue. Their only provisions are a bowl of herring salad and a few bottles of Prosecco. Fits of rage and fear alternate with overwrought hilarity and desperate fits of crying. But it gets worse...

Lower Austria in the 80s. Anna helps out in her uncle's tavern to fund her studies and meets handsome Kurt who casts an eye on her. But when the local factory closes, life in the valley changes. Anna learns that Kurt is going to marry. Then a terrible accident occurs. The film conveys the rural society's changing self-conception and outlines the conflict between staying or leaving for the city.

A Kellergasse – the cellar lane – is one of the distinguishing cultural and physical features of the winegrowing region Niederösterreich – Lower Austria. There are more than a thousand of them. Until recently, wine was not only stored in the Kellergasse, but pressed and fermented there as well. Today, the Kellergassen have less to do with occupation and more with recreation. A documentary by Georg Riha follows a year in the life of this valuable cultural legacy.