WHERE IS EVERYONE AUSTRIA : a poetry film

An empty house and the people who should have been there. 

As three Austrian poets come to terms with the prisons of the now and their host is forced to confront their absence, Where Are You Austria documents their poetic descent into madness. What follows is as uncanny as it is unlikely, and, ultimately, inevitable. An epic poetry film about the consequences of that which does not happen, the intimacy of isolation, metal work and Erwin Schrödinger.

Supported by Austrian Cultural Forum, London. A film by David Spittle. Written & conceived by Steven J. Fowler. Starring Franziska Füchsl, Max Höfler, Robert Prosser, SJ Fowler. Director of Photography and Editor : David Spittle. Music by Benedict Taylor.

A film as part of the European Poetry Festival Digital program. With no physical events in 2020, EPF digital reveals what can be created without proximity, generating new insights into poetic practice in continental Europe and creating ambitious film-poetry collaborations especially for this two week e-fest.

Franziska Füchsl lives in Vienna and Kiel. She studied German and English at Vienna University and »Sprache und Gestalt« (approximately language and form or figure or gnome or) at the Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design. She is a member of the Viennese based translation associations Versatorium and Neuberg College. The latter is an initiative to build a Col-lege at a former train station.

Robert Prosser lives and works in Alpbach / Tyrol and in Vienna. He studied Comparative Literature and Anthropology, travelled widly from Asia to Africa. A Performer as well as an Writer, previously active in Rap and Graffiti, now also a Moderator and Curator (p.e. for Babelsprech – Plattform for contemporary poetry). Important for his artistic work are research and the adaptation of the texts for the stage in form of recitation or performance. Publications include the novel Gemma Habibi (Ullstein, 2019) and the upcoming reportage Beirut im Sommer (Beirut in Summer, Klever, 2020). His novel Phantome (Phantoms, Ullstein fünf, 2017) was nominated for the German Bookprize. www.robertprosser.at

Max Höfler, born in 1978, is a Graz, Austria, based author, sound artist, curator and part of the renowned Austrian artist association Forum Stadtpark and the international radio art collective radia. He is the co-founder of the international literature network CROWD. Max Höfler is writing experimental texts, which are influenced by the avant-garde movements of the early 20th century. In his work he is focusing on the different manifestations of the coercions of capitalistic societies.