SYNOPSIS
At first glance, 35-year-old Michael seems like an ordinary employee. He doesn't talk much to his colleagues and lives alone in the Viennese suburbs, but neither his family nor his friends question that. But Michael has a secret: in his cellar he keeps ten-year-old Wolfgang prisoner. The two live a cruel daily routine: behind lowered shutters, Wolfgang is allowed upstairs from his dark cellar room for dinner, and when Michael has to go to hospital for a few days, he stocks up on bagged soups for Wolfgang. Wolfgang may still be a child, but he is no longer as weak as he once was, and so he begins to defend himself with words, and soon with deeds, against involuntary cohabitation with his tormentor.

ABOUT
Born in Vienna in 1971, Markus Schleinzer worked as a casting director from 1994 to 2010. During this time, he developed over 60 feature film projects, including Ulrich Seidl's DOG DAYS, Shirin Neshat's WOMEN WITHOUT MEN, and Michael Haneke's THE PIANIST and WOLF TIME. He was also responsible for casting the children in the film THE WHITE RIBBON. He was their coach throughout the shoot. MICHAEL ist his directorial debut, which won many awards including the European Film Award, the German Film Award and the Austrian Film Award, and was shown in competition at the Festival du Cinema in Cannes, and “Angelo” with Alba Rohrwacher & Lukas Miko. He also works with Michael Haneke as casting director.

Gerald Kerkletz was born in Graz in 1975 and is an Austrian cameraman. He studied graphic design at a higher technical college for artistic design and attended the Vienna Film Academy, initially as an associate student and from 1997 as a regular camera student. In 2005 he began working as a freelance cameraman specializing in documentary and feature films. His diploma film is STILLLEBEN (2011), directed by Sebastian Meise, with which he completed his studies at the Film Academy. He has received several awards for his work as a cinematographer.