When you hear the word piggy bank, you typically think of a small object with a slot where you can insert coins. When you need the money, you have to “break” the pig. The many metaphors contained in this word are taken to the extreme in this film. The director makes himself the (moral) piggy bank. He goes right up to the edge of embezzlement by spending the €90,000 he received from ORF for a documentary on a house in the Waldviertel that his wife Michaela desperately wants. However, he still needs to deliver a film, which logically now has to be a no-budget film. The director intends to film himself as he embarks on a year-long money strike. When the family goes on vacation in Carinthia, he walks there on foot. This is just one example of the many questions raised by his experiment. Right from the start, the film Sparschwein reveals itself as a mockumentary – an experiment with the documentary form while also serving as a satire. However, the satire unexpectedly takes a serious turn; the “free loader” becomes a climate activist, the frivolous money strike transforms into diverse activities ‘for future’, and in this role of acting and agitating against the apocalypse, despair lurks on the horizon as a real possibility.
Piggy Bank
Christoph Schwarz
Born in 1981 in Vienna/Austria. Studied Visual Media Design at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Active as a director
and video artist.
2010 SUPERCARGO, Kurzfilm
2011 GIFT ECONOMY WORKER, Kurzfilm
2012 RHODOPIA, Kurzfilm
2013 DER SENDER SCHLÄFT, Kurzfilm
2014 KROCHACARRALDO, Kurzfilm
BEINGWHALE, Kurzfilm
WINTERTHUR, Kurzfilm
2015 SUPERCARGO, Kurzfilm
2016 IBIZA, Kurzfilm
2017 LDAE, Kurzfilm
2018 CSL, Kurzfilm HOF 2018
2019 DIE BESTE STADT IST KEINE STADT, Kurzfilm
2021 ICH WERDE NICHT DULDEN, DASS IHR
MICH ALLEINE LASST, Kurzfilm
WIESO ES GIBT 3019 EMOJIS, Kurzfilm
CIVILIZATION, Kurzfilm HOF 2021
2024 SPARSCHWEIN, Spielfilm HOF 2024
Nov 12, 2024
The exciting program will offer reunions with several HoFies.
Oct 26, 2024
This year's director's prize goes to JUPITER by Benjamin Pfohl, the production prize to PIGGY BANK by Christoph Schwarz.