Ramsau am Dachstein

Between 1975 and 1977, national broadcaster ORF produced ten portraits of individual Austrian regions, commissioned from promising authors and filmmakers. Elfriede Jelinek, a declared cineaste, wrote her first screenplay with Ramsau am Dachstein. The film, directed by Claus Homschak, takes an unflinching look at Styrian rural and peasant life. Jelinek's text, which is partly spoken on screen by the author herself, deconstructs piece by piece those myths of naturalness that form the basis for the success of the tourist industry. The appeal to give things and circumstances back their history is immediately implemented by Jelinek herself in her interview with the old field hand Josefa.

The project was a source of conflict. The broadcast was met with protests from the ÖVP (the conservative party) and the Bauernbund, the farmers’ organization affiliated with it. Jelinek experienced her first major media frenzy. Ramsau am Dachstein, still topical (just think of Ischgl) and a key work in Austrian film history, was to remain her last television work.