Private Project

I CIMBRI - THE CIMBERS

lost horizons
40 kilometers from Verona, in the remote mountain town of Giazza, a culture is dying. "I Cimbri' or the Zimbers, now less than 250 strong, are the last representatives of a Germanic culture dating back to the 13th century. An autocratic group that lost its rights under Napoleon, the Zimbers further faded into obscurity as the 20th century progressed. Isolated by geography and bad roads, the Zimbers in the little church town of Giazza held on the langest, but as the eIder generation dies out. their language and way of life is being buried along with them.
Peter Schreiner, a somewhat experimental and personal maker of documentaries, first visited Giazza in the spring of 1988. I Cimbri - the Zimbers, his study in observation, was filmed over four consecutive visits, beginning in Feb. 1989 and ending in May1990.
He recorded what he, as an out¬sider, saw of their slow-paced life. And he recorded what the villagers - at least those who would speak to him - said, though the Zimbers, he notes, are people of very few words.
His film makes no thematic pretensions. I Cimbri is not an ethnological study or a modem Brigadoon. Nor are the Zimbers exceptional in their fate, Schreiner suggests. 'We live in a time when all is disappearing, so fast that we can't understand what is happening. The Zimbers are just one example of an ocurrence all over the world."

(Melissa Drier , Berlin 1991)

  • Peter Schreiner
    Director
  • Peter Schreiner
    Producer
  • Peter Schreiner
    Cinematography
  • Andi Stern
    Sound
  • Susanne Schreiner
    Sound
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    I CIMBRI - DIE ZIMBERN
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental, Feature, Other
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 56 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 1, 1990
  • Country of Origin:
    Austria
  • Country of Filming:
    Italy
  • Language:
    Italian
  • Shooting Format:
    16mm
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:1,33
  • Film Color:
    Black & White
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin, Forum des Jungen Films 1991 (International Premiere)
    Berlin
    Germany
  • International Film Festival Trento, 1991
    Trento
    Italy
  • International Film Festival Rotterdam, 1992
    Rotterdam
    Netherlands
  • Duisburger Filmtage 1991
    Duisburg
    Germany
  • International Film Festival Setubal, 1992
    Setubal
    Portugal
  • Walserherbst Festival 2008

    Austria
  • Diagonale 2010
    Graz
    Austria
Distribution Information
  • echtzeitfilm - Peter Schreiner Filmproduktion
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
  • Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e. V, Berlin
    Country: Germany
    Rights: Theatrical
Director Biography - Peter Schreiner

born 1957 in Vienna
studies at University of Music and Performing Arts,
Department Film and Television, Vienna
films since 1982
1982 Glaring Light (16mm, bw, 120 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
1983 First Love (16mm, bw, 100 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
1985 Children Film (16mm, bw, 110 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
1986-88 On The Way (16mm, bw/col, 120 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
1988-91 The Cimbers (16mm, bw, 116 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
1993-95 Blue Distance (16mm, bw, 95 min., sc, dir, ed)
2004-06 Bellavista (DV-35mm, bw, 117 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
2007-09 Totó (DV-35mm, bw, 128 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
2010-12 Fata Morgana (HD-DCP, bw, 140 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
2013-15 Lampedusa (HD-DCP, bw, 130 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
2015-18 Garden (HD-DCP, bw, 136 min., sc, dir, cam, ed)
Awards:
Main Diagonale Award (Best Austrian Documentary 2006/07)
Advancement Award for Cinematic Art 2009
Diagonale Award (Best Cinematography, documentary film 2009/10)
Diagonale Award (Best Artistic Film Editing, feature fiction film 2019)
"Big Stamp" for the best regional film 2010, Int. Filmfestival ZagrebDOX, Croatia 2009
IFFI-Award 2016 for Best Documentary, Prize of the Town of Innsbruck, Austria 2016
Mirabile Dictu ICFF - Award, "The Silver Fish" for best director, Rome 2016
Human Time - Award for Best Featurefilm, Human District IFF, Belgrade 2016
Winner of the "Critical Eye-­‐screening", Lume Int. Filmfestival, Brazil 2011
best cinematography, 4. Int. Documentary Drama Filmfestival, Saratov, Russia 2007
'Personale' (retrospective), Diagonale, Festival of Austrian Film 2010 - Graz / Austria
'Focus Peter Schreiner', Cinemigrante International Filmfestival 2016 - Buenos Aires / Argentina
festivals and screenings:
Int. Forum des Jungen Films - Berlin, Mostra Int. d'Arte Cinematografica - Venezia , Karlovy Vary Int. Filmfestival, Int. Filmfestival Rotterdam, São Paulo Int. Filmfestival, Buenos Aires Int. Filmfestival, DocLisboa Filmfestival, Denver Film Festival, Bradford Int. Filmfestival, Diagonale - Festival of Austrian Films, Documenta-Madrid, Era New Horizons - Wroclaw, Split Int. Festival of New Film, Duisburger Filmwoche, Saratov Sufferings Int. Filmfestival, DocPoint Helsinki, Full Length Festival Lublin, Austrian Cultural Forum - New York, Mediterranean Experience - Reggio/Calabria, ZagrebDox Int. Documentary Film Festival, Jeonju Int. Filmfestival - South Korea, European Film Week Tehran, Transilvania Int. Filmfestival, Cinédécouvertes Competition - Belgium, dfi-Symposium "Töne sehen - Bilder hören" - Köln, Italian American Institute - New York, European Film Days - Tokyo, Lume Int. Filmfestival, Int. Film Festival "A man`s shadow"- New Caledonia, Bildrausch Filmfestival Basel, Isola Cinema Int. Filmfestival, Festival du nouveau cinema - Montreal, Copenhagen architecture x film Festival, Shadow Filmfestival Amsterdam, Würzburger Filmwochenende, Int. Filmfestival Innsbruck, Filmschau Visionary - sixpackfilm, Walserherbst, Lessinia Filmfestival, Der Neue Heimatfilm - Freistadt, Riga Int. Filmfestival, Trento Filmfestival, Mirabile Dictu Int. Catholic Filmfestival - Rome, Human District Int. Filmfestival - Belgrade, A Film for Peace Int. Filmfestival - Udine, Indie International Film Festival Belo Horizonte - Brazil, Cinemigrante International Filmfestival - Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sose International Filmfestival - Armenia / International Filmfestival Carthago, Tunis, Tunisia / Festival Internacional de Cine de Autor, Guadalajara, Mexico / Viennale - Vienna International Film Festival a. o.
television:
ORF (Kunststücke), OKTO (Oktoskop)

Add Director Biography