Chuzpe
Peter Ily Huemer
Vienna, late 1970s. Chuzpe, the Austrian capital’s first punk band, jolts life into the “dead city”
Director Peter Ily Huemer brings together anecdotes from people who were active in Vienna’s punk scene and intimate recollections of the band – and condenses it all into a deeply Viennese portrait of the city’s underground, which now, decades later, proves to have been truly avant-garde.
A joyful reminiscence of punk, new wave, and the young Viennese who had the cheek – if not the Chuzpe (chutzpah) – to go up on stage with a three-chord repertoire. Because none of them were musicians. It was about resistance, rebellion, drugs, and the urge to destroy. The lyrics were subversive, the sound simple.
A critical commemoration, an enjoyable, intimate film in which band members from Chuzpe, Gleitmittel, and Blümchen Blau are permitted to raise their voices once more.
Director: Peter Ily Huemer
Country: AT
Year: 2017
Duration: 88 minutes