Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Nikolaus Geyrhalter prefers to keep himself out of the spotlight, allowing audiences to draw their own interpretations from his films. It felt all the more special then to attend his IDFA master class, and get an idea of his working methods. Accompanied by his editor Wolfgang Widerhofer, the director seemed a little quiet at first, but once the debate got underway he was more than open to explain his personal view on his career.

Coming from a background in photography, Geyrhalter started his documentary career at the age of 22 with Washed Ashore (1994). In this film one can already discover his typical preference for shooting his “protagonists” with a wide angle lens - to keep a certain distance and present them in their normal environment. Interviews are really important for his work, as his films are all – with the exception of Our Daily Bread (2005) – oriented towards portraits. He tries to explain the dimension of the whole film to the interviewees so that the conversation automatically drifts in this specific direction. Thus, the subjects are often like real actors on a stage: they deliver a real exposé which is translated to Geyrhalter by several entrusted interpreters. While he is still shooting the film, his editor already starts working with the material at home in Vienna. “It is really challenging to find the balance between Nikolaus’ unique photographic moments and the narration of the film”, he admits.

Widerhofer explains that the director always chooses characters who are outsiders to society. Geyrhalter adds that films are a mirror of our society but that he prefers to present views from one of its corners. One can find in his work a strong historical interest, which often serves often as a starting point. The Austrian film maker is more interested in the big events (mostly catastrophes) which are already behind us. He wants to preserve these decisive moments as a kind of archive for future generations.

For this reason, and also due to his photography experience, he likes to shoot in black & white to indicate that something already belongs to history. This is the case for his film Pripyat (1999), about the city of the same name, which is situated near to the Chernobyl reactor. Amazingly, after the catastrophe in 1986, the work in the plant went on until the total shut-off in 2000. The film team stayed three months in Pripyat and got to be part of the village which was abandoned by most of its inhabitants. This aim of giving space to people forgotten by the media can also be found in The Year After Dayton (1997), a documentary about the post-war period in Yugoslavia. Geyrhalter is again into personal portraits, not mentioning to which of the enemy sides they belong. He explained this facility to approach the people by the fact that the team was very young, not very professional and that they didn’t act as journalists.

Generally, there is no real script for the films because he wants to be open for development during the shooting. In his opinion, for documentaries only limited research is possible: one can look for the places and the history, but not always for the people. Given that some producers don’t accept this “free” working style, Geyrhalter decided to found his own production company in 1994. This allows him to edit as long as he needs to, choose the scenes he wants to include, and select topics he is truly interested in.

One of the places he was always interested in was Africa. During the last years, he shot 7915km (2008). Originally it was a film about the Paris-Dakar rally, but it turned more and more into a portrait of the people living beside the tracks. After the European Premiere at IDFA, one of the spectators criticised that the film is superficial. Geyrhalter didn’t take it amiss at all but agreed in saying that he can’t present the complexity of the African continent in one film. His aim was to sensitise the public for a specific subject. In my case, he succeeded, not only in this film but also in his previous works screened during the master class.

Nina Henke