Widerstandsmomente

Wie Widerstand aus weiblicher Sicht aussehen und was er bedeuten kann? Die österreichische Filmkünstlerin und Aktivistin Jo Schmeiser geht anhand unterschiedlicher Frauenporträts der Frage nach, wie widerständige Momente – in Ausnahmesituationen wie im Alltag – zu einer politischen Lebenshaltung werden. Die quer übers Land verstreuten Erzählungen mehrerer Generationen sowie klug eingesetzte historische Tondokumente – vom antifaschistischen Widerstand der vierziger Jahre bis zur Zwangsarbeiterin – formen dabei einen eindringlichen Kanon. Vor allem aber einen Ruf nach Öffentlichkeit, nach Engagement und kollektivem Schutz. Ein filmischer Appell. (Michael Pekler)

In Anwesenheit von Jo Schmeiser und Peter Janecek (Produzent).

“Our town is burning”: it is with those words – written by Mordechai Gebirtig in 1938 – that Jo Schmeiser introduces us to modern resistance.
The film takes us back and forth in time, trying to define what it means to resist, to take action against the injustice and curtailed freedoms that go unnoticed in our daily lives. It is a gallery of portraits united by their resilience and determination, by their lucidity and strength. MOMENTS OF RESISTANCE escapes the usual format of the militant film, creating a space for reflection in which the spectator takes active part.
The film itself is imbued with the same sense of urgency that is expressed by all the characters: an imperative need to stop the fire burning our towns and to call everyone to join in the struggle. The camera seems to take part in this movement, going from places to faces looking for a sign, a trace of the fights being continued every day in an exhausting routine that neither scares nor weakens the fighters on the screen. The film lays pieces of experiences in front of us, recordings, writings, places, and ideas that form themselves little by little into a timeless call to action: a call that resonates in our eyes beyond the end credits. (Rebecca DePas)
 
In the presence of Jo Schmeiser and Peter Janecek (producer).