Experiencing Interruptions?

Piggy Bank

Filmmaker Christoph Schwarz is broke. Fortunately, he gets an offer from an Austrian TV documentary series: “Striking Years". But does Schwarz really want to start a self-experiment as an environmental activist? Wouldn’t it be better to turn the project into a critique of capitalism, to live one year without money and secretly buy a desired weekend house with the film budget?

Schwarz discovers self-sufficient lifestyles, rescues food from bins, grows potatoes on roundabouts and protests against the dominance of cars in our cities with a yellow convertible upcycled into a herb garden. He organises bicycle demonstrations, hikes through the Austrian hills without money and blocks the construction of a motorway with activists from #LobauBleibt. The problem of having earned money while supposedly living without it for a year, however, is not so easy to get rid of.

  • Christoph Schwarz
    Director
  • Christoph Schwarz
    Writer
  • Daniel Bleninger
    Producer
  • Judith Revers
    Key Cast
  • David Sonnenbaum
    Key Cast
  • Georg Glück
    Key Cast
  • Hanna Schwarz
    Key Cast
  • Michaela Schwarz
    Key Cast
  • Robert Stadlober
    Offvoice Narrator
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    autofiction, mockumentary, cli-fi, activism
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 37 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 25, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    Austria
  • Country of Filming:
    Austria, Czech Republic
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.9:1
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Diagonale Graz
    Graz
    Austria
    April 7, 2024
  • Hofer Filmtage
    Hof
    Germany
    October 25, 2024
    International Premiere
    Hof Critics Award
  • Kasseler Dokfest
    Kassel
    Germany
    November 14, 2024
  • Max Ophüls Preis
    Saarbrücken
    Germany
    January 23, 2025
  • Glasgow Film Festival
    Glasgow
    United Kingdom
    February 27, 2025
    Scottish Premiere
  • Int. Filmwochenende Würzburg
    Würzburg
    Germany
    January 30, 2025
  • Watch Aut Austrian Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    March 15, 2025
    England Premiere
Distribution Information
  • sixpackfilm Vienna
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
Director Biography - Christoph Schwarz

born 1981 in Vienna, filmmaker & climate activist. Schwarz's projects mainly emerge out of self-involved set-ups, in which he blends fact and fiction into humorous narratives. "Piggy Bank" is his first feature film.

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Director Statement

‘I have been experimenting with the overlapping of different levels of reality for many years. The plot of PIGGY BANK fascinates me: a protagonist who, under the guise of a mockumentary, gives a disarmingly honest account of a major coup without being unmasked in the film’s plot, leaving the audience still searching for the truth as they leave the cinema. A strong driving force behind the content of all my films is my own search for identity, which I examine for its narrative potential. In doing so, I become entangled in assertions that, if they are made long enough, become part of my life and flow back into the film as some kind of feedback loops. Climate protection has been close to my heart for many years. My work on Piggy Bank combines my love of storytelling with a conviction that a major ecological transformation of our society is unavoidable.’ (Christoph Schwarz)