The Föhn Wind Explorers
Filmfest 2008

A föhn wind is a type of dry downslope wind which occurs in the lee of a mountain range. It is a rain shadow wind which results from the subsequent adiabatic warming of air which has dropped most of its moisture on windward slopes... These winds are often associated with illness ranging from migraines to psychosis. A study by the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München found that suicide and accidents increased by 10 percent during föhn winds in Central Europe. Wikipedia A 'Forscher' is an explorer, an investigator. In part a surrealistic attack on the film subsidy system that had shut him out at the time, the film portrays the annual Oktoberfest beer wagon parade as a contrivance to transport Pershing II rockets with nuclear warheads - he calls them Herrschings - to the banks of Lake Ammer, which he calls Lake Yammer. He expostulates on his obsessions: the family, sexuality and love, and, above all, death and with his usual plays on words. It's a real crisis for him (his ability to make a living as a producer) but it's also a symbolic war on the forces of darkness.