Elephy-Programm 2

**Hit Him on the Head with a Hard, Heavy Hammer**, directed by Rebecca Jane Arthur; Music by Paul Abbott. BE/GB, 2023, DCP (from 16mm), Color and B&W, 49 min. English ☼

**Jumping Hochhäuser**, directed by Tomash Schoiswohl; Cinematography by Georg Oberlechner. AT, 2022, DCP, Color, 16 min. German with English subtitles ☼

The sound of crashing blows echoes through these two films: the dissonant strikes of history and memory, of destruction and displacement, of capitalism and its contradictions. Rebecca Jane Arthur’s film begins with her father’s handwritten memoirs and his displacement during the war. Drawing on the concept of "The Self-Unseeing" from the poem by Thomas Hardy, it revisits childhood and the things that toughen us: upbringing, social status, education, work, and family ties. Tomash Schoiswohl’s *Jumping Hochhäuser* is a performative critique of urban housing transformations in Vienna, where social housing is replaced by luxury apartments. Both films are infused with a longing for a radically different way of living, searching for an impact more explosive than a hundred wrecking balls. (Stoffel Debuysere)

**Film discussion with** Rebecca Jane Arthur and Tomash Schoiswohl

Photo: Austrian Film Museum