Heidenlöcher

In the winter of 1942, the deserter Santner has been hiding in the dense forests and caves around his snow-covered mountain village for some time. He only ventures outside at night to look after his wife or the mountain farmer Dürlinger. One day, when Dürlinger's hand slips in front of his son, he threatens to reveal the secret. Both the Gestapo and the local police are hot on Santner's heels. This impressive feature film debut is not only one of the first Austrian films to vie for a Golden Bear in the Berlinale competition, but also one of the first ‘showcase productions’ of young Austrian film and a new kind of Heimatfilm, which is ascetic in form but all the more dense in content in its look at a time that was only reluctantly remembered in the mid-1980s. (Florian Widegger)