Into The White - Portrait of a friend

At first, morphine feels cozy; you can shut your eyes and dream. The only problem is with inhibitions: you lose them over time. And suddenly the moment arrives when you realize that you are in the steadfast grip of addiction. In amazingly intimate, fragile black-and-white images, the filmmaker portrays her childhood friend who is now addicted to drugs. Shots of smoking characters in Linz covered in mist blend with atmospheric guitar sounds and the captivatingly honest statements of the branded dreamer. The crystalline powder that is dissolved and heated before consumption appears as a refuge from the dismal white winter landscape. The hand camera remains steadily at eye level, in order to offer the addiction an honest opponent and to show the person behind it.
(Diagonale/ Anna Steinbauer)