Memories of A Forest

From Viennale

The debut feature of Austrian filmmaker Katharina Rabl following three promising short films, ERINNERUNGEN EINES WALDES is a deeply personal project with autobiographical roots. Frieda, a university student, returns to her home village for her grandmother’s funeral. Once there, she discovers—to everybody’s surprise, not least her own—that she has inherited the family’s spruce forest. After learning that her parents are short on money, Frieda decides to help: assisted by a friend, she chops and collects wood to contribute to the funeral expenses. But soon she realises that the forest—once a source of joy and an investment for the future—is infested with bark beetles. In ERINNERUNGEN EINES WALDES, the subtle exploration of family phantoms is interwoven with the physicality of everyday gestures and labour. Julia Windischbauer offers a vibrant performance as a young woman torn between two possible life paths. Silences weigh heavier than words, and tensions emerge organically. Above all, the film is a poignant meditation on the complexities of inheritance—not just in a material sense, but as a series of patterns, expectations, desires and obligations passed (sometimes unconsciously) from generation to generation. (Cristina Álvarez López)