Experiencing Interruptions?

500 Meters Beeline

This film is based on a spontaneous idea to depict - in a very personal and emotional way - the lives of different people who live close to Haimburg’s oldest house, the Pfleghaus 1. To reveal who they really are; genuine, authentic. Everyone living in their own little world. None of the scenes were reshot, slips of a tongue were allowed. This concept is rather exceptional in a world of make-believe where everything should be perfect. In a world where many people strive only for fame and fortune, the viewers will see what actually matters to people in the countryside. People in different life situations and coming from various social backgrounds, who talk about their views on life, their fates, and success stories. The scenery changes as the months pass, affording a unique mood that underlines the stories of the individuals; so too does the soundtrack composed by Franz Steiner.

  • Edwin Wiegele
    Director
  • Edwin Wiegele
    Writer
  • Edwin Wiegele
    Producer
  • Tanja Raunig
    Key Cast
  • Volker Helldorff
    Key Cast
  • Johanna Kräuter
    Key Cast
  • Hans Koschu
    Key Cast
  • Ramon Miles
    Key Cast
  • Lukas Fleisch
    Key Cast
  • Franz Mischitz
    Key Cast
  • Andreas Ickelsheimer
    Key Cast
  • Friedrich Lippnig
    Key Cast
  • Maria Wedenigg
    Key Cast
  • Mathäus Meschnark
    Key Cast
  • Maria Meschnark
    Key Cast
  • Friedrich Lamprecht
    Key Cast
  • Michael Hansche
    Key Cast
  • Herbert Amschl
    Key Cast
  • Helene Amschl
    Key Cast
  • Manfred Karner
    Key Cast
  • Irmgard Pitrounig
    Key Cast
  • Edwin Wiegele
    Key Cast
  • Franz Steiner
    co-worker
    film musik composer
  • Alenka Piotrowicz
    co-worker
    cello
  • Klaus Wachschütz
    co-worker
    sound mixing
  • Birgit Fuchs
    co-worker
    speaker
  • Edwin Wiegele
    co-worker
    concept, camera, cut, production, direction
  • Andreas Frei
    co-worker 2
    sound mixing
  • Manfred Plessl
    co-worker 2
    music composer /Heunburg Theater
  • Carina Rasse
    Translater English
    Subtitle English
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    55 minutes 18 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    August 1, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    6,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Austria
  • Country of Filming:
    Austria
  • Language:
    German
  • Shooting Format:
    1920 x 1080
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • K3 Film Festival Villach
    Villach
    December 15, 2019
    Austria
  • Heunburg Theater
    Haimburg
    August 29, 2019
    500 Meter Luftlinie
  • Hollywood Blvd. Film
    Los Angeles
    December 31, 2023
    Los Angeles
    Best Feature Documentary; 2023
  • CLOUT FESTIVAL Finalist WINNER 2 year distribution deal to play on Roku and Amazon Fire TV
    Sacramento
    January 22, 2024
    in Austria
    Finalist ...Best Documentary
  • Indiefare International Film Festival

    January 19, 2024
    15.-18. February
    Finalist
  • New York City International Film Awards FINALIST
    New York
    January 31, 2024
    FINALIST
  • 8 & Halfilm Awards
    Rom
    February 20, 2024
    Winners February/ Monthly
    BEST ORIGINAL IDEA & BEST ARTHOUSE DOCUMENTARY
  • FRIDA FILM FESTIVAL
    Paris
    February 26, 2024
    French New Wave New Hollywood film Festival
    Best International Documentary Feature; Best European Director
Director Biography - Edwin Wiegele

Filmografie:

1991 Mit anderen Augen, * 20 Min. Video-Film
1995 Videoclips zu eigenen Musikkompositionen
1996 Sag mir, Musikvideo zur Eigenkomposition
1997 Bilder einer Ausstellung
1998 Malerei – Musik – Video . Titel: „Lebenszeichen – Lebensraum“.
2000 Internationales Videokunstfestival, Galerie BOREY, St. Petersburg, „Meditation zur Orchestersuite Nr.3 v. J. S. Bach“
2001 Was – Wasser?, KELAG KÄRNTEN, Videoclip u. Film
2016 "Die Klangwelten des Franz Steiner", Dokumentation
2018 "Still,still ...", aus dem Musical "Stille Nacht"
2019 "500 Meter Luftlinie", Dokumentation; Premiere; Heunburgtheater; 90 min
2019 K3 Filmfestival Villach: Kinoversion 90 min
2022 ORFIII Sendung „500 Meter Luftlinie“, Neufassung; 55 min, gesendet am Sonntag, dem 7. August 2022 um 9 hÖsterreich, Südtirol ( Trentino); ORFthek

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

REVIEW OF THE FILM
I am convinced that writers, artists, and people who create culture are excellent sociologists - and this film bears witness to that.
A sociologically extremely valuable village portrait, characterised by complex, deep, soul-touching content, both intertwined and overlapping, which artist Edwin Wiegele of Haimburg clearly draws here with a sensitive and extremely overwhelming authenticity and a hand soaked in reality, creating and operating far beyond sensual boundaries.
When viewing the document, there is an almost perceptible reduction in the distance between the viewer and the narrator, a comforting reduction to an explicit, extreme minimum, which extends to an almost complete dissolution. At the same time, however, the comprehensive stage is left to the people narrating openly from an everyday life, on the one hand to create a grandiose familiarity, on the other hand to gradually enter relationships and especially resonances with strangers.
To combine this path with a wonderful and always melancholy and also beautiful-gloomy aesthetic, which Wiegele creates precisely through everyday life, landscape images that change visibly over the course of the seasons, harmonious film music and wonderful and aptly chosen quotations, thus rounding off the village portrait and sharpening its depth, is impressive. Simply fantastic!
Sebastian Grayer, cultural journalist, Germanist, and sociologist