passim

Rome 2000 / Vienna 2001, 28 Min

With: Lea Janninger, Barbara Sankofi, Franz Kapfer, Voice: Enza Scuderi, Music: Marcin Stelmasczcyk

Trailer: 02:47 (14,7 MB)

The video passim is based on the tragic death of the German beat-author Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, who died on London´s traffic in the 1970s and the obituary of his collegue Jürgen Theobaldy, who wrote about this accident and Brinkmann´s last days. Passim is a fictive obituary, a story about two women, who spent some days in Rome, based on Brinkmann´s fate.

"I will explain to you how I see things, and your life will change." - Frustrated by this unequivocal statement from afar, Irene, on a visit in Rome, hangs up the phone. She spends the rest of the time there with friends - especiallywith the narrator of the story, who lives in Rome - in search of the passionate lust for life that the city of the Dolce Vita seems to exude! They explore the city, eating out, going on boatrides, shopping, taking pictures and philosophying. The fatal car accident of Irene frames almost incidentally the (auto)biograpic travel narration, which also conveys with the classical stylistic means of an autobiography the authentic portrait of a woman who -looking at things in Rome and explaining them according to her own viewpoint- is concentraiting on a carrier change. She wants to sharpen her own perception and - not at all by change - become a photographer. The inspiration for Fiona Rukschcio´s passim was the tragic death of the German writer Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, who suddenly lost his life in a car accident in the streets of London. He lived -another parallel- in 1972/73 on a scholarship in Rome and tried in his collection of letters Views of Rome to present to his wife Maleen in Cologne his life there as acurate as possible. Rukschcio´s flashback works in a similar manner. Told in the third person, it conveys personal impressions of Rome as well as thoughts, considerations and motives of the main character and, with a certain degree of authenticity, her feelings and opinions. The kitschy framing of the pictures and stylized language accompany in addition the ficticous orbituary, which intentionally dares walk a fine line between emotional distance and personal consternation.

Christa Benzer, Translation: Brigit and Steve Ball