Total Refusal, Kinderfilm, 2023 (poster)
The Austrian collective Total Refusal will introduce their new work, Kinderfilm, at the Locarno Film Festival, which is currently taking place in the Swiss town (August 2-12 2023). The machinima is featured in the prestigious Pardi di domani – International Competition. Similar to its predecessors, Kinderfilm unfolds exclusively within the confines of a video game universe. However, it diverges from the documentary-style approach adopted by earlier installments, venturing into the realm of full scale experimentation and sheer absurdity. Set against the backdrop of Grand Theft Auto V, the movie follows the perplexing journey of an NPC grappling with the very essence of its existence. In short, more Charlie Kaufman and less Karl Marx (and the beach scene does remind us of Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid). We are happy to share the first stills, trailer, and synopsis. Clocking at 11’ 35”, Kinderfilm was directed and written by Adrian Jonas Haim, Robin Klengel, Michael Stumpf and shot with/in Grand Theft Auto V.
Watch the trailer below:
Below is the extended synopsis:
On a typical day within the virtual realm of Grand Theft Auto V, the streets bustle with cars, pedestrians adhere to their daily routines, and leisure activities like backyard barbecues and beachfront sunbathing are the norm. However, amidst this seemingly ordinary backdrop, an ominous void looms—the conspicuous absence of a future held back by safety apprehensions. The central character, Edgar, undertakes the enigmatic task of unraveling the clues left by this absence within the fabric of his simulated reality. As he delves into the eerie aspects of his routine existence, he unearths a paradoxically captivating yet unsettling realm that had slipped from his grasp—a world that is both beautiful and nightmarish in its essence.
Total Refusal describes themselves as “a pseudo-marxist media guerrilla focused on the artistic intervention and appropriation of mainstream video games” who “upcycle video games in order to reveal the political apparatus beyond the glossy and hyperreal textures of this media.”
Total Refusal (the Kinderfilm team: Adrian Jonas Haim, Robin Klengel, and Michael Stumpf)
Adrian Jonas Haim (*1991 Vienna) does film and politics in Vienna and elsewhere. Studies of Political Science & Experimental Game Cultures at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Involved in various writing, music and art projects with a focus on marxism and ideology in cross media culture. Former editor at MALMOE Zeitung, programmer for film series on politics of remembrance (Filmclub Tacheles, Vienna Jewish Filmfestival, This Human World Filmfestival). Joined Total Refusal in 2020.
Robin Klengel (*1988 in Graz), lives and works as an artist and cultural anthropologist in Vienna and Graz. He researches, writes texts, gives lectures and courses and makes films in the field of artistic-scientific research of urban and digital spaces. He studied cultural anthropology in Graz and Berlin. Since 2021 he is co-chairman of the interdisciplinary art and culture space Forum Stadtpark in Graz. He co-founded the collective in 2018.
Michael Stumpf (*1985 in Wels), studied Philosophy in Vienna as well as Media Culture and Art Theories in Linz (unfinished). His research interlaces a background in phenomenology with media and culture semiotics, analyzing the relevance and operating mode of popular cultural tropes. He works as an artist, designer and coder. Stumpf co-founded the collective in 2018.
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