Aus dem Nichts

Might it be possible to generate energy from empty space, from the void? In the 1920s, Carl Schappeller claimed to have developed a machine for this very purpose. With its help, a previously unexplored form of energy—“spatial energy”—was supposed to be released. Schappeller mobilised a large number of followers to his cause, including the Catholic church, the former German imperial family, the English marines and numerous private individuals; their financial support ran to millions. Was Schappeller a charlatan and a fraud? AUS DEM NICHTS sets off on the trail of this audacious idea. Silent films, documents, attic discoveries and memories lead the viewer into a fictional world in which Schappeller and his clan appear as ghosts. After diving into the past, the film then shifts form to land in the present: in an industrial desert in Germany, an experimental physicist further explores the idea of spatial energy, while the former head of an atomic power station in India is already working on a new kind of generator that is supposed to run on it. The film reveals connections, ruptures and continuities in the exploration of this phenomenon, and reflects on the question of what is reality or fiction. (Alexandra Seitz)

In the presence of Angela Summereder.

Angela Summereder (selection): BLUT IN DER SPUR (1979), ZECHMEISTER (1981), ABENDBROT (2008), JOBCENTER (2009), IM AUGENBLICK. DIE HISTORIE UND DAS OFFENE (2013), AUS DEM NICHTS / OUT OF THE VOID (2015), DIE TAGE WIE DAS JAHR (2018), SCHWESTERN (2020), BARTLEBY (2020)