CLEANING & CLEANSING
Austria / 2024 / 91'
CLEANING & CLEANSING
The film offers a meticulous and haunting meditation on modern society’s obsession with purity, order, and control. Through a series of observational vignettes, it examines spaces and practices where physical cleanliness intersects with psychological and ideological cleansing. From sterile corporate environments to ritualistic purification ceremonies, the film reveals the invisible systems that dictate how we live, work, and relate to one another. With precise cinematography and a minimalistic narrative approach, the director challenges us to reflect on the boundaries between hygiene, surveillance, and conformity and as the film unfolds like a quiet, unsettling symphony of routines and regulations, he also invites us to question what lies beneath the surface of our polished realities.
Director: Thomas Fürhapter
Script: Thomas Fürhapter
Photography: Judith Benedikt, Manuel Zauner, Thomas Fürhapter
Editing: Thomas Fürhapter
Sound: Joseph Nikolussi, Andreas Hamza
Music: Xing Li, VOCES8, and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy
Production: Zhao Weina
Selected Filmography:
- Zusammenleben / Living Together (2022)
- Die dritte Option / The Third Option (2017)
- Michael Berger. Eine Hysterie / Michael Berger. A Hysteria (2010)
- Das Gelb ohne Zebra / The Yellow Without Zebra (2004)
Festivals & Awards:
Madrid Indie Film Festival – Best Feature Documentary, Spain (2025), The Doc Screenings IDFF – Best Feature Documentary, Georgia (2025), FIPADOC, France (2025), Ji.hlava IDFF – Award for Original Approach, Czech Republic (2024)
August 22 / 21:00 / Kurshumli an
Tickets:
- Buy tickets for live screening HERE.
