Of Stains, Scrap and Tires

The film begins with the blasting of a rock face on the Erzberg mountain—and with a poem by Brecht from the interwar period, which reflects on the close connection between the Styrian automobile industry and the arms industry. Two long pans through a gray landscape follow, while mild men’s voices from the off attempt to conduct business on the phone. Of Stains, Scrap & Tires is a calm, documentary miniature that chooses the auto export business of three young Nigerians in the Erzberg region as a point of association and departure for formulating something more fundamental about the first and third worlds, movement and standstill, business, space, and freedom. Director Sebastian Brameshuber demonstrates his appreciation of sculptural still life and fine moving-image compositions: car tires bounce through the garage as though possessing a life of their own, and the men perform physical labor on the car wrecks that they sell to Africa in whole or fileted pieces. Brameshuber hints at economic connections and processes, but is equally interested in the painterly traces of rust and paint, the inner lives of the motors and the view of the containers piled on top of one another in which the cars will be shipped. The acoustic has an equal position to the visual in this staging: in the off, a small radio play takes shape from the sounds of tools, buzzing motors, and the rattling paintball gun. The precision of form keeps the narrative openness in check, the pointed montage delivers impressions, fragments of a very special average workday.; allows no overview, but instead, coolly protocols the interplay of bodies and machines, sticking close to the details of the garage, the fork lifts, paint guns, and heaps of rubber and rims. (Stefan Grissemann)

Translation: Steve Wilder

A remote industrial site in a valley in Upper Styria has new users. Cliff, a young man and native of Nigeria, has been managing a company exporting used cars. It is a Nigerian microcosm in the middle of the Styrian nowhere which seems to have fallen out of time and space. (prod. note)

More Texts

VIS - Award 2015, Begründung der Jury (Award)

"Der mitreißende Dokumentarfilm erzählt von drei Nigerianern und ihrem Geschäft mit Gebrauchtautos und Autoteilen. Brameshuber gelingt es soziokulturelle Elemente mit der Realität der Arbeit zu kombinieren und so eine Erzählung voller Spannung zu erschaffen“.
Orig. Title
Of Stains, Scrap and Tires
Year
2014
Countries
Austria, France
Duration
19 min
Category
Documentary, Short film
Orig. Language
German, English
Subtitles
English
Credits
Director
Sebastian Brameshuber
Cinematography
Klemens Hufnagl
Editing
Sebastian Brameshuber
Sound
Matthias Kassmannhuber
Editing Assistant
Eva Hausberger
Production
KGP Filmproduktion, Le Fresnoy
Actor/Actress
James Robertson, Clifford Mgochukwu, Magnus Chitioke
Executive Producer
Gabriele Kranzelbinder
Production Manager
Marie Tappero
Supported by
Land Steiermark Kultur, Land Niederösterreich, Wien Kultur, Kultur Oberösterreich
Available Formats
DCP 2K flat (Distribution Copy)
Aspect Ratio
1:1,85
Sound Format
Dolby 5.1.
Frame Rate
25 fps
Color Format
colour
Digital File (prores, h264) (Distribution Copy)
Festivals (Selection)
2014
Viennale - Vienna Int. Film Festival
2015
Berlin - Berlinale Internationale Filmfestspiele
Graz - Diagonale, Festival des österreichischen Films
Ghent - COURTisane Festival
Linz - Crossing Europe Film Festival
Wien - VIS Vienna Independent Shorts
Prizen/Kosovo Dokufest Doc Film Festival
Milano International Film Festival
Jihlava - East Silver Market
Kassel - Dokumentarfilm- & Videofest
Torun - TOFIFEST
2016
Busan - Intern Short Film Festival
Paris - Rencontres International Paris/Berlin/Madrid
Nijmegen - Go Short Film Festival
Hamburg - Dokumentarfilmwoche