Austria's mountain villages - small-scale worlds in alpine seclusion. Their rustic appearance is often seemingly untouched by the passage of time. Yet the lives of the people here have changed fundamentally over the past decades.
In the 1950s, the villages were still predominantly characterized by the hardships of life in the mountains, but with the economic upswing, tourism has arrived and today dominates village life - from Styria to the remote high valleys in East Tyrol.
Many people still live as mountain farmers on small farms, which are unable to grow due to the alpine altitude. The documentary series visits mountain villages in Carinthia, Salzburg, Styria, Vinschgau and East Tyrol and gives an insight into a world that seems to be far removed from the hustle and bustle and problems. Austria's mountain villages, whether rough, steep or small, tell of the challenges that a globalized world poses for people.
Direction: Alfred Ninaus, Fritz Aigner, Amelie Stiefvatter, Karim Shafik & David Walter Bruckner
Production: RANFILM for ORF