Favoriten

Over three years, Ruth Beckermann filmed a kindergarten class in Vienna comprising 25 non-German-speaking pupils from Ukraine, Turkey and Syria. Located in the working-class district of Favoriten, the school is drastically short of resources and suffering the consequences of job cuts. This chronicle unfolds over time to create an exquisitely sensitive portrayal of the day-to-day learning process in this multicultural micro-society, where everyone is determined to do their best. The mise-en-scène does justice to the work of an incredible teacher who draws deeply on her energy and love to pass on knowledge, expand a sense of community and emphasise peace. Her affection for the children is contagious. By turns joyful and focused, the little ones are all too aware of the stakes when it comes to their results, which are anxiously awaited in a school system that favours streaming from a young age. Favoriten brilliantly demonstrates the extent to which the notion of meritocracy is an illusion, and the emotional power of its heartbreaking ending resonates like a call to political action. 

Cloé Tralci

Favoriten, 2024
Mutzenbacher, 2022
Joyful Joyce, 2019
The Waldheim Waltz, 2018
The Dreamed Ones, 2016
The Missing Image, 2015
Those Who Go Those Who Stay, 2013
Jackson/Marker 4AM, 2012
American Passages, 2011
Mozart Enigma, 2006
Zorro's Bar Mitzva, 2006
Homemad(e), 2001
A Fleeting Passage to the Orient, 1999
East of War, 1996
Towards Jerusalem, 1991
The Paper Bridge, 1987
Der Igel, 1986
Return to Vienna, 1984
The Steel Hammer out There on the Grass, 1981
Suddenly, a Strike, 1978
Arena Squatted, 1977