Manuel Wetscher, an Austrian filmmaker known for fiction shorts including Four Seasons, At Night When Mice Scream, and Magma, is making his feature film debut with Eklipse. The project world premieres on Sept. 5 in the Horizons section of the 83rd Venice Film Festival.
Eklipse draws inspiration from Wetscher’s personal history with his father, who died of AIDS-related illness in 1993 when Wetscher was a child. The filmmaker’s family initially concealed the true cause of death, telling him his father had pneumonia before later stating lung cancer. The truth emerged years later when a relative revealed the circumstances at a social gathering. Wetscher has stated his father died of Kaposi’s sarcoma, a cancer caused by AIDS.
Set during the 1990s at an alpine dairy farm in Austria, the film follows two teenage boys, Tomy and Chris, played by Moritz Hohlrieder and Finley Brown respectively, as they spend a summer working with Tomy’s uncle, portrayed by Hannes Perkmann. The narrative centers on the revelation that Tomy’s father is hospitalized with what Chris learns is AIDS, triggering fear and social rejection that threatens their friendship. Wetscher co-wrote the screenplay with Bernhard Jarosch, collaborator on several of his previous shorts. The cinematography is by Simone Hart and editing by Anna Kirst.
According to Wetscher’s director’s statement, the film examines taboos surrounding AIDS and fears of social exclusion, exploring how prejudice and ignorance affect interpersonal relationships within both family structures and broader social contexts. The production involved creative efforts to translate sensory experiences of the rural alpine environment into cinema, incorporating sound design and synthesizer work alongside visual elements. The film is produced by Eutopiafilm in Austria and Albolina Film in Italy, with Films Boutique handling international sales. Additional cast members include Lenz Moretti, Lisa Schützenberger, and Barbara Romaner.
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