Marija Burtscher

During an ascent up the mountain Felix (17) realizes that his older brother Paul (24) is losing mobility and strength. Suppressing his doubts, Felix tries to find a way to communicate to his brother. While they walk, memories of their childhood are awakened and a deep fear about an uncertain future grows.

18-year-old Anouk’s life revolves entirely around synchronized swimming. When she suddenly has to leave boarding school, she moves back in with her father and loses her grip on everyday life. A job offer as a junior coach forces her to face her past as a professional athlete and to make a decision.

In the hope of getting closer, Elli and her father, who is suffering from cancer, paint his apartment together. Her father's harsh manner makes communication difficult and pushes the young woman away. In order to move forward, she has to confront the ghosts of the past and break through the layers of conflicts that have been kept hidden for too long.

Mrs. Pospisil lives alone in an apartment in an old building in Vienna. The elderly lady's increasing forgetfulness prompts her son to suggest that she move into a nursing home. But then suddenly a crack opens up in one of the walls of her apartment, through which something enters Mrs. Pospisil's world that will change her life forever. Paul Ertl's highly efficient and picture-perfect The Crack is a psychologically underpinned mid-length horror miniature that transforms into a utopia as casual as it is original as it is gently disturbing, and is ultimately also a powerful plea for the autonomy of older people.