Transformiert Euch!

In the documentary „Transform!“ filmmaker Marie-Christin Rissinger sets out to meet people whose work focuses on the dwindling of finite resources.

Who would have thought some decades ago that buzzwords like „climate change“ and „transformation“ would win elections again? Things have changed since then, and overnight something known for ages has caught the public eye. „You are wasting our future“ it echoes through Europe’s urban centers every Friday and suddenly people are listening; and perhaps for the first time truly understand what has been preached by scientists and proclaimed by activists for decades. Climate change can no longer be stopped, but there are worlds between 1.5 and 4 degrees.

Large parts of society are willing to agree that something must change. But what should this change look like? Are we talking about climate change only or about transforming our entire system? And if the latter, how can such transformation be accomplished in the conflicting spheres of civil society, business, and politics?

„We are unstoppable, another world is possible!“ In visually powerful  actions, the activists of Ende Gelände are blocking fossil infrastructure. In the way they organize actions, communicate with each other and make decisions together, they live – at least briefly – their very personal social utopia.

„We believe that it is possible to be a profitable business and – not but or jet, AND – create a positive social and environmental impact.“ Over 50% of the waste produced in Germany is generated in the construction industry. If it were possible – the startup CRCRL GmbH is convinced – to build even a little bit more circularly, this would have an enormous impact. To prove it, they’ve teamed up with a foundation to buy a building in Berlin, where they plan to build completely circular housing.

„Impossible. The buildings would collapse!“ In Switzerland, it is mandatory to use 20% recycled concrete when constructing a new building. In Germany, this is „completely ruled out,“ Reinhard Kaiser, a former senior civil servant in the Federal Ministry for the Environment, now a retiree, knows to report while shaking his head at the absurdity of it all.

A film by Marie-Christin Rissinger
Produced by monochrom & Olympionik*innen Productions

Camera: Philip Leitner & Sophie Wagner
Sound: Moritz Geiser & Gustavo Petek
Editing: Anna Hirschmann
sound design: Gustavo Petek
Dramaturgical advice: Anna Hirschmann & Sophie Wagner
Grading: Philip Leitner
Producers: Günther Friesinger, Johannes Grenzfurthner & Marie-Christin Rissinger

Supported by: Robert Bosch Stiftung & City of Vienna
Project: Land*Stadt transformation gestalten

About Marie-Christin-Rissinger