The Tightrope walker with his daughter on his shoulders crossing the Danube Canal at a height of 40 metres
Director: Victoria Halper
WINNER: Spirit Award
Cast:Christopher Hütmannsberger
Crew:Writer: Kai Krösche. Producer: Victoria Halper. Camera: Victoria Halper; Editing: Victoria Halper; Sound Design: Kai Krösche; Developmental Dramaturgy: Arne Mannott
Email:mail@darum.at
Synopsis
A visual exploration of the internal thoughts of a tightrope walker with his daughter on his shoulders based on the historical person of Josef Eisemann, who later fell to his death in post-war Vienna, Austria.
About the director
VICTORIA HALPER is a Vienna-based Canadian/Austrian director, performer and video artist. Along with Kai Krösche she heads the artist label DARUM, whose research-based work oscillates between film, installation, digital art and immersive contemporary performance - receiving the renowned NESTROY Theatre Award (AUT) in 2023 for "Homesick". This is her second experimental film to be screened at the Brooklyn Film Festival.
Filmmaker's note
“No circus in sight where you could showcase your skills:
They too fell victim to the barbarity of wartime.
But more than ever, people crave entertainment and sensation.
And you know, you must walk the tightrope again.
Now, not tomorrow.
High, higher, safety net or not.
After all, who would pay to see somebody walking a rope just a few metres above the ground?”
That is a short excerpt of the text written by Kai Krösche for the contemporary circus production “Eisemann” which we developed and directed together in November 2023. The show is about a man, who immigrated to Vienna from (nowadays) Serbia and worked as a tailor to make ends meet. He originally was a tightrope walker and occasionally a stuntman in films; however, the destruction of World War II and the economic turmoil thereafter left the city without circuses and without spaces for circus performers, let alone 'amateurs' like Josef Eisemann to perform.
The video material in this film is a result of the work on the production of “Eisemann”, though this self-encapsulated film is driven by the central question: what transpires in the mind of “The tightrope walker with his daughter on his shoulders crossing the Danube Canal at a height of 40 metres”?
Filmed in and around the locations where Eisemann himself once performed, the film seeks a genuine closeness to the event. Instead of recreating the literal act of looking
down on a rope over flowing water, I opted to film the perspective of looking upward at telephone and electricity wires against a background of fluffy clouds. This visual representation combines the audience's viewpoint of looking up with the harsh restlessness of clouds, symbolising the lack of security despite their playful nature. Over time, new wires superimpose upon one another, heightening the need for concentration and representing the worry and organizational effort required to accomplish the daring feat of crossing a body of water at 40 metres with another person.
Through these visual choices and the authentic backdrop of Eisemann's performance spaces, the film endeavours to evoke the emotional struggle and intricate organization needed for such a daring act. It is not a documentary per se but a creative exploration of the human psyche in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges.