"The Spirit Callers“ is a filmic collage on the subject of self-portrayal. A visually stunning archaeology is unleashed, removing the masks of human constructs of the ego, and attempting to lay open our innermost parts.

All is fair in love and war when advancing deeper into the well encapsulated core: burning civic documents, cosmic rituals of self-exposure, fighting with fears and demons, unrestrained ecstasy…

A symbolic suicide, and refuge into the embrace of the Alma Mater. Abundant associative quotes from pop culture as well as art and film history accompany the quick steps – be it Anselm Kiefer’s enraptured human of his work “The starry sky above me and the moral law within me”, sequences from “The Exorcist”, or the steady reminiscences of Alejandro Jodorowky’s surreal imagery, which resonate as a metalevel.

The formal concept is pure unadulterated free style, which is primarily up to capture the moment. A collage-like rhythm of images is being portrayed by amateur actors, who interpret their roles without preparation in the first take. Spontaneity and immediacy lastly answer one purpose: to break up the determined patterns of behaviour and reception, to clear the way from the “I”/ego to the cosmos, to go from separateness to a notion of oneness. The universe is my lover.


CREDITS:
Director & Producer: If Nickl
Editing & Post-Production: Marlon T.L. Fink
Cinematography: Clemens Plank-Bachselten, Manuel Schaffernak, Elmar Gubitsch, If Nickl
Cast: Florian Lierzer, Vanessa Kröll, Mickey Fritz Nickl, Lila Belamaric, Georg Dinstl, If Nickl, Marlena Fink, Gernot Passath, Nina Markart, Elmar Gubisch, Sylvie Leiner, Manuel Schaffernak, Hanna Besenhard, Jasmin Abfalter, Jan Krizanic-Nessmann
Makeup & Hair: Marlena Fink
Scenography: If Nickl, Nina Markart, Georg Dinstl
Music: Pascal Holper & Nada Aiko


LINKS to director If Nickl