AUSTRO-AMERICAN YOUTH

Austro-American Youth is a film about the loss of home in one’s own country, about the recovery of happiness in a foreign country, and a new threat from scratch. In 1941, youthful refugees from Nazi Austria founded the club Austro-American Youth in New York. In a short time, the group becomes a sort of home for several hundred people. There are excursions to the greenery, dancing, singing, gossiping, and not a few find in the club the love for life. But behind the unshakable facade of the Austro-American Youth, there is also an explosive political dimension. The war is only a few years past, the freedom gained is still quite fresh, and fate hits a second time. America is in the cold war and Senator Joseph McCarthy blows to the communist chase. Two co-founders of the club are exposed as Communist spies, and the entire group is targeted by the FBI.

CREDITS:

Idea and director: Albert Lichtblau
Camera: Bernhard Braunstein
Editing: Martin Hasenöhrl
Premiere 2017