Page - 64 - in Siting Futurity - The “Feel Good” Tactical Radicalism of Contemporary Culture in and around Vienna

64 siting futurity That said, one cannot discount the influence of religion in Viennese culture-clash films. Another reason the Turkish pro- tagonists are presented as Turkish and not Turkish-Austrian is because Austrians are presumed to be Christian, something one sees by turning to Herrgott für Anfänger [Learning to Pray for Beginners] (2017, dir. Sascha Biglar), in which a secular Muslim taxi-driver with a Turkish background is given the opportunity to inherit a Heuriger (a restaurant-type establishment associ- ated with a vineyard) in Grinzing from one of his devoted cus- tomers if he converts to Christianity and has himself baptized, something his lack of faith in any religion ends up preventing. Rather, after many convoluted plot twists, he is “saved” by the discovery of jewels in the back of his taxi, which allows him to buy the Heuriger anyway. The film ends with a “comedic” flour- ish and the now former taxi-driver discovering Buddhism from some of the Heuriger’s customers. What becomes evident in this discussion is how replaceable Ottakring is as a location in the Kebab films. Just as the Catho- lic presence that drives Herrgott für Anfänger is not specific to Grinzing, the Kebab films could just as easily be set in Vienna’s fifth or tenth districts, where coffeeshops coexist uneasily with Döner shops on many street-corners and squares. Similarly the Viktor Adler Market in the tenth district could as easily serve as the backdrop for the fictitious Viktor Frankl Gymnasium in Die Freischwimmerin as the Brunnenmarkt. There actually is a Prinz Eugen Hotel in Vienna — not in Ottakring but rather where it makes historical sense, that is, a few blocks down the Gürtel from the Belvedere, Eugene’s palace. Indeed, the nickname for the Ottakringer Strasse, the Balkanmeile [Balkan Mile], points to the fact that the migrants who come to Ottakring tend to come from not Turkey but rather the Balkans, something that statistics show is a long-standing tendency.6 Moreover, as of 6 “Durch eine Extrapolation der für ganz Wien ausgewerteten Daten zur Umgangssprache ergibt sich, dass die ex-jugoslawischen Communities in Neulerchenfeld 2001 etwa 21,8% und die türkischen bzw. kurdischen Communities etwa 14,8% der Bevölkerung gestellt haben dürften” [“ex-