Atmen
Director: Karl Markovics
Country: Austria
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
An 19-year-old inmate in a juvenile detention center on the drab outskirts of Vienna, Roman has lived in confinement since he caused the death of another boy four years earlier. With no family or connections, he has been nixed for release at numerous parole hearings. He holds scant hope that an upcoming one will be different. His counselor reminds Roman that his chances would be improved if he could hold down a job in the work-release program. He signs on for a trial period as a mortuary service provider, transporting corpses. This seems an unlikely road to stability, especially given his unfriendly treatment from co-workers. But as he assists in the solemn rite of bathing and dressing the body of an old woman, something approaching mutual respect is born between Roman and the the most antagonistic of his colleagues. When one of the body bags that passes through his hands is labeled with his same surname, Roman briefly suspects the dead woman may be the mother who placed him in an orphanage as an infant. That proves not to be true, but it prompts him for the first time to investigate his origins. ~ Cannes
Country: Austria
Runtime: 1 hour, 30 minutes
An 19-year-old inmate in a juvenile detention center on the drab outskirts of Vienna, Roman has lived in confinement since he caused the death of another boy four years earlier. With no family or connections, he has been nixed for release at numerous parole hearings. He holds scant hope that an upcoming one will be different. His counselor reminds Roman that his chances would be improved if he could hold down a job in the work-release program. He signs on for a trial period as a mortuary service provider, transporting corpses. This seems an unlikely road to stability, especially given his unfriendly treatment from co-workers. But as he assists in the solemn rite of bathing and dressing the body of an old woman, something approaching mutual respect is born between Roman and the the most antagonistic of his colleagues. When one of the body bags that passes through his hands is labeled with his same surname, Roman briefly suspects the dead woman may be the mother who placed him in an orphanage as an infant. That proves not to be true, but it prompts him for the first time to investigate his origins. ~ Cannes
