The true story of a child, his heroin-addicted mother, and their love for one another. Adrian Goiginger’s debut feature tells his own childhood on the edge of Salzburg — and was named Best Feature Film at the Austrian Film Awards in 2018.
Synopsis
Adrian is seven and wants to become an adventurer. The outskirts of Salzburg are his territory, his mother Helga his closest ally, and together they invent a world in which anything is possible. That Helga is addicted to heroin, and that their flat is a meeting point for the local scene, is simply part of how things are.
As long as the outside world stays outside, this is a sheltered childhood for him — the best of all worlds. But it cannot be kept out forever. Helga knows she has to get clean or lose her son. To do that she has to face down something that has beaten her every time so far.
Adrian Goiginger wrote the film after his mother’s death. Not a report of misery, but a tribute to a woman who did everything in her power, under the worst of circumstances, to give her child a happy childhood.
Awards
- Berlinale 2017 — World premiere in Perspektive Deutsches Kino, winner of the Compass-Perspektive-Award
- Austrian Film Award 2018 — Best Feature Film, Best Director for Adrian Goiginger, Best Actress for Verena Altenberger, from nine nominations
- Diagonale 2017 — Audience Award, Grand Diagonale Acting Award for Verena Altenberger, Diagonale Award for Best Production Design for Veronika Merlin
- First Steps Award 2017 — Feature Film
- German Directing Award Metropolis 2017 — Adrian Goiginger
- Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern 2017 — Audience Award and NDR Directing Award
- Moscow International Film Festival 2017 — Acting Award for Verena Altenberger
Cast
- Verena Altenberger — Helga
- Jeremy Miliker — Adrian
- Lukas Miko — Günter
- Michael Pink — Grieche
Credits
- Written and directed by — Adrian Goiginger
- Produced by — RitzlFilm, Vienna. Producer Wolfgang Ritzberger
- Co-produced by — Lailaps Pictures, Germany. Producer Nils Dünker
- Cinematography — Yoshi Heimrath
- Editing — Ingrid Koller
- Production design — Veronika Merlin
- Costume design — Monika Gebauer
- Production sound — Ed Cantu
- Sound design — Marvin Keil
- Music — Dominik Wallner, Manuel Schönegger
- Production management — Viktor Perdula, Mathias Hammer, Eric Bouley, Christopher Sassenrath
Key facts
- Genre — Drama
- Format — DCP, 100 minutes, colour
- Language — German
- Countries — Austria, Germany. Austrian majority co-production
- Location — Salzburg
- Shoot — Spring 2016, 30 shooting days
- World premiere — 11 February 2017, Berlinale
- Austrian release — 8 September 2017, distributed by Filmcasino & Polyfilm
- German release — 28 September 2017
- Austrian admissions — 102,788
- Austrian television premiere — 26 October 2018 on ORF eins, 272,000 viewers
- Original title — Die beste aller Welten
Supported by
- Austrian Film Institute
- Province of Salzburg — Culture Department
- MFG Baden-Württemberg — Media and Film Corporation
- German Federal Film Fund
Broadcast partners: ORF under the Film/Television Agreement and SWR.
