From technical genius to environmental pollution, from guarantor of jobs to public nuisance: 104 years of industrial history in St. Pölten, from 1904 to 2008. For two years Wolfgang Ritzberger travelled with a camera to grasp the spirit of the plant and to tell the story of the conflict around it.
For a century the Glanzstoff factory shaped the city of St. Pölten. It was an admired feat of engineering, a successful company and the town’s most important employer — and it became the environmental burden that the city fought over for decades.
The film traces that history from the founding to the present day: the inventions that took the plant to the top of its world market, the production processes, the people who worked there, and the dispute that divided the city. As an industrial site the Glanzstoff has been largely forgotten. As a factory complex whose core is a protected monument, it still belongs to St. Pölten.
Set against the wistful memories is the Glanzstoff Group itself: a modern industrial corporation and market leader, with sites in the Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Italy and China. And a finding nobody would have believed ten years ago — viscose now counts as a green product, because it is biodegradable.
On the grounds of the former factory, what will probably become the largest new district of the Lower Austrian capital is taking shape.
On 16 February 2016 the film was screened at the Cinema Paradiso in St. Pölten, followed by a conversation with the director.