In 1999, Tomy and Chris, who are friends, spend their summer together on a dairy farm in the Alps. Tending to the cows, assisting Tomy’s uncle, and exploring nature in their spare moments make up the boys’ ordinary yet precious routine. Soon, however, a fracture forms in their world. Rumor reaches Chris that Tomy’s father has contracted a ‘gay disease’ and, gripped by the fear of contagion, Chris begins to pull away from Tomy. The ignorance and prejudice surrounding homosexuality and AIDS cruelly drive a wedge between the two boys. The total solar eclipse at the turn of the century arrives as both fear and revelation, a collapse of order and a moment of transformation. The familiar world is momentarily plunged into darkness, and within that obscurity, the boys confront the feelings they had long turned away from. Resembling a sensory fashion film and a lyrical documentary, this work transparently captures the summer of two boys who come to know the world’s darkness for the very first time.
Born in Schwaz, Austria in 1986, he is a filmmaker and photographer who has explored universal themes of painful personal history, loss, and the search for identity through poetic realism. He has directed the short films Four Seasons (2018), At Night When Mice Scream (2021), and Magma (2022), as well as the short documentary Richard (2024). His debut feature Eklipse, co-written with Bernhard Jarosch, won the Carl Mayer Screenplay Prize at the 2022 Diagonale Film Festival. Eklipse, an autobiographical work drawn from his personal experience, had its world premiere in the Orizzonti section of the Venice Film Festival.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
