Moments of Resistance

Widerstandsmomente (Moments of Resistance) is a film about civil courage shown by women in the past and in the present. It begins with small but sustained acts of disobedience by women against the Nazi regime. With Anna Čadia who refused to watch as Jews were beaten and humiliated in Leoben. With Helene Pawlik who as a forced farm laborer fought off her brutal boss. With Edith Gadawits and the “Soldiers’ Council Group” who produced flyers calling on soldiers to desert from the German Army. People at work. Working landscapes. Today. At a printing works, robots load rolls of paper into the machine, a newspaper is printed. In a vineyard, the vinestocks are pruned back, the seasons change. Cleaners clean a university lecture hall, students attend a lecture. The voices of Anna Čadia, Helene Pawlik, and Edith Gadawits in these landscapes. Speaking about their resistance against the Nazi regime, resistance by working women. Organized, political, spontaneous, in keeping with their worldview, as selfdefense. In these working landscapes, periods of time overlap. The film does not remain in the past. The courage of the past is transferred to our present. Judith Umathum works with refugees. Together with Ana Antić, she protests against deportation. Having fled political persecution herself, María Cristina Boidi campaigns for women’s rights. Rúbia Salgado and Gergana Mineva found “das kollektiv”. Ines Mahmoud is active in the Muslim Civil SocietyNetwork. Support, education, critique. Collectivity as a way of shifting borders. Mementoes from resistance against the Nazis. A cardigan for a daughter, knitted in prison. A flyer exhorting people to work as slowly as possible. A secret message from prison to those in freedom outside. No heroism. Motivation and inspiration to do something against injustice. The women featured in the filmpick up on this history, take what they think they can use, think about it. Will you join us? The women of the “Soldiers’ Council Group” in Marie Paul’s graffiti. The Yiddish song in the poem by Rúbia Salgado. It’s Burning! Timeless moments, for resistance, now or tomorrow.