Heimat, fremde Heimat: Renegotiating and Deterritorialising Heimat in New Austrian Film

This thesis explores the complex relationship between the concepts of Heimat and Fremde in a number of contemporary Austrian films. Firstly, by revisiting and re-examining a variety of Heimatfilme, from the genre’s inception in the 1920s up until the present day, I aim to draw on the ideas posed by scholars including Johannes von Moltke which challenge the common assumption that Heimat exists in direct opposition to Fremde, and argue that the two seemingly contradictory concepts are in fact mutually contingent on one another. Then, focussing on key works by the New Austrian Filmmakers, Houchang Allahyari (I Love Vienna, 1991), Florian Flicker (Suzie Washington, 1998) and Barbara Albert (Nordrand, 1999), I demonstrate the manner in which these filmmakers continue to draw on the semantics and syntax of the Heimatfilm genre in order to re-evaluate the complex relationship between Heimat and Fremde within the context of post-1990 Europe. These filmmakers, as this thesis demonstrates, return to the Heimatfilm genre as a means to probe issues of space, place, identity and belonging, which, I maintain, also undergo a series of renegotiations and redefinitions within their films. By drawing on contemporary globalisation and migrant and diasporic film studies, and by critically engaging with contemporary Heimat discourse, this thesis seeks to investigate the manner in which these New Austrian Filmmakers attempt to renegotiate and deterritorialise the concept of Heimat in response to the changing needs of an increasingly globalised and multicultural society.