Prater (2007)
"Vienna’s Prater is an amusement park and a desire machine. No mechanical invention, no novel idea or sensational innovation could escape incorporation into the Prater."

Title: Prater
Original Title: Prater
Release Date: 2007-02-10
Status: Released
Rating: 5.8/10 (from 5 votes)
Language: DE
Genres: Documentary
Production Companies: Unknown
Vienna’s Prater is an amusement park and a desire machine. No mechanical invention, no novel idea or sensational innovation could escape incorporation into the Prater. The diverse story-telling in Ulrike Ottinger’s film “Prater” transforms this place of sensations into a modern cinema of attractions. The Prater’s history from the beginning to the present is told by its protagonists and those who have documented it, including contemporary cinematic images of the Prater, interviews with carnies, commentary by Austrians and visitors from abroad, film quotes, and photographic and written documentary materials. The meaning of the Prater, its status as a place of technological innovation, and its role as a cultural medium are reflected in texts by Elfriede Jelinek, Josef von Sternberg, Erich Kästner and Elias Canetti, as well as in music devoted to this amusement venue throughout the course of its history.
Cast

Peter Fitz
Narrator

Veruschka von Lehndorff
Barbarella

Robert Kaldy-Karo
Magician

Elfriede Gerstl
self

Ursula Storch
self

Werner Schwarz
self

Herbert J. Wimmer
self