Glossary of Broken Dreams is a 2018 Austrian/American documentary film directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner. The essayistic feature film tries to present an overview of political concepts such as freedom, privacy, identity, resistance, etc. Grenzfurthner calls his project an "ideotaining cinematic revue" about political ideas he considers important. Grenzfurthner cites frustration about the current level of political debate as a primary influence for making the film. He couldn't tolerate "ignorant and topically abusive comments on the 'Internet' anymore." So he teamed up with writer and activist Ishan Raval to "explain, re-evaluate, and sometimes sacrifice political golden calves of discourse." The film features performances by Amber Benson, Max Grodenchik, Jason Scott Sadofsky and others. The film was produced by art group monochrom.
Concept Johannes Grenzfurthner, who defines himself as a 'lumpennerd' in the film's intro, functions as a storyteller and host who guides the viewer through the narrative. Glossary of Broken Dreams does not make use of classic documentary-style interviews and aesthetics. Instead, the film presents different political and philosophical concepts in the form of short films and essayistic chapters featuring fictional characters. These bizarre and exaggerated characters are performed by actors, voice performers and musicians (for example FM4's Hannes Duscher and Roland Gratzer). The film can be seen in the tradition of reflexive documentary films and performative documentary films. In an interview with Film Threat, Grenzfurthner describes his project as follows:
It's a peculiar film for nerds of a peculiar set of interests, but at the same time it's talking about topics that are so goddamn important that more people should know about it. I guess that's why I made it. No idea if there is even a target audience for it, but one can try. There is a lot to process. And cat meme drunk masses will probably not even scratch the surface. But my idea was: better to challenge the audience than to dumb it down. The film incorporates art and illustrations by Bonni Rambatan, Matt J. Frith, James Brothwell, Clemens Kindermann, Stevyn Prothero and Steve Reeder in a variety of different cinematic styles. The film thus works as a fast-paced collage, utilizing a singer-songwriter duo, puppet shows, LucasArts-style pixel animation, Japanese anime, live action sequences and stock footage. Glossary of Broken Dreams can be considered a loose follow-up of Grenzfurthner's first documentary feature Traceroute, but expanding his critique of capitalist (nerd) culture. The film was produced by Günther Friesinger and Johannes Grenzfurthner, with Michael McEnroe acting as an associate producer. Austrian and German media personalities such as Stefanie Sargnagel, Gerald Votava, Peter Hörmanseder, Katharina Stemberger and Jolyne Schlien Schürmann make cameo appearances in the film.
Chapters
Production
Process
The basic script was written by Johannes Grenzfurthner and Ishan Raval, supported by language consultant Chris S. Sims. Due to the fast production process, the different chapters were written while other parts were already being shot and edited. Final decisions about length and content were made in the editing room.
On the basis of [the theoretical texts], I went on to develop the characters and the plot of the movie and started filming with the actors. At the same time, I was cutting scenes that were finished and started to put the movie timeline together. Everything was happening simultaneously. Compiling, writing, filming, cutting. And sometimes not even in this order. It felt like creating a jigsaw puzzle and trying to solve it at the same time. But in a short time – the production took about 5 months – it was doable without losing track completely. Principal photography commenced August 4, 2017, and ended November 14, 2017. The film was completed on January 2, 2018. With a budget of US$15,000, the film can be considered microfilmmaking and guerrilla filmmaking. In an interview with futurezone, Grenzfurthner called the making of the film an ongoing process of "radical DIY". He worked with different teams of people on different chapters, for example LA-based filmmakers Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein, who were visiting Vienna for an art residency with monochrom at Museumsquartier. The film's main language is English, but features various musical interludes by Duscher&Gratzer and other music groups, performed in German.
Sound design Daniel Hasibar created the sound design and audioscape underlying Grenzfurthner's narration.
Music
The film features music by Michael Donaldson, Inti-Illimani, wobblersound, Kasson Crooker, Duscher&Gratzer, Bottervogel, Christoph Burstup Weiss, among others.
Distribution The film's world premiere took place at Diagonale Film Festival in Graz, Austria on March 16, 2018. The festival called it a "popcultural wholesale assault". The North American premiere took place at Vermont International Film Festival on April 11, 2018. Grenzfurthner has a proactive approach to peer-to-peer file sharing. In his interview with Boing Boing he mentions that he put donation info into the film, anticipating its appearance on torrent sites. The film was released on January 31, 2019 on Vimeo on Demand and can be bought or rented.
Reception
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