Program 1

An undesirable society

in presence of director Marika Schmiedt

Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 6:30 p.m.

„An undesirable society“
Marika Schmiedt, A 2001, 70 min 

At the end of this film, we are left with images of Auschwitz under a cloudy grey sky. Director Marika Schmiedt wanders through the remnants of the place which stands emblematic for the national socialist murder machinerie. Her aunt Sophie survived Auschwitz, while grandmother Amalia Horvath was murdered in the course of the so called „Euthanasia“-program. „An undesirable society“ documents the persistent quest of the granddaughter in search of her grandmother. Her history-political research intervenes stubbornly and distorts the kafkaesque buerocracy of the archives.Those prove to be institutions of permanent exclusion, which are confronted by the film´s work of self-historization. Marika Schmiedt: „For me it is horrible and unbearable to see these connections to NS-history. (...) There are attacks, progroms, people getting killed. What else is necessary? Many people know about it, they are concerned for a short while but nothing changes“

Marika Schmiedt,

born 1966 in Traun/Upper Austria, is an activist, film maker and visual artist. Dealing with the situation of Roma before and after 1945 constitutes a major focus point in her artistic work.

For more information on the artist´s work:
www.marikaschmiedt.wordpress.com