HAIDER

Jörg Haider, former leader of the Austrian Freedom Party, died in a car accident in 2008, and was the first in Europe to bring a right-wing party to the head of a government within Europe. He was an original: No one else had such appeal. No one else gained prominence so quickly. For many, he was an idol. He set trends. Who actually was the man who made all of Europe tremble in 1999 when his party achieved 27% in the National Council elections and entered the Austrian government? Was he a Carinthian traditionalist, Nazi, disguised Christian Democrat, metrosexual yuppie? FANG DEN HAIDER is a subjective journey into Haider's political, geographical, familial and emotional world. A road movie that takes a look behind the façade, traveling the furthest valleys of Carinthia to meet his former supporters and colleagues and to explore the environment that shaped him as well as the folk traditions he promoted. The film also attempts to reveal those illusionary and fraudulent political-populist methods that have since been established throughout Europe. A modern Carinthian anti-homeland film and an entertaining essay on a fading myth. And last but not least, a solid research on how Jörg Haider became what he was: one of the pioneers of right-wing populism in Europe. (Falter)