Page - 71 - in Siting Futurity - The “Feel Good” Tactical Radicalism of Contemporary Culture in and around Vienna

71 conVerting Kebab and currency into community in the press, direct attention towards the fact that “[a]round the world, alternative local currencies are becoming more com- mon” (Gowling 2014), if not necessarily better known. Given the difficulty of discussing Planet Ottakring without referring to alternative currencies, the film’s pedagogical purpose in encour- aging interest in them can be considered an important part of its politics, akin to the proletarian film and theater clubs of the interwar period for which discussion of works’ themes was an integral part of their programs.11 That Planet Ottakring has indeed had an impact in this re- gard can be seen in the fact that the most important historical model Riebl refers to in the press kit, the “Wunder von Wörgl” [“Miracle of Wörgl”], was made into a feature film in 2018, star- ring one of Austria’s best-known actor-directors, Karl Marko- vics, who plays the protagonist mayor of Wörgl. Das Wunder von Wörgl (dir. Urs Egger) follows the historical plot as outlined by Riebl in the press-kit: [e]s gab in Österreich in der Zwischenkriegszeit das “Wun- der von Wörgl.” Die Wirtschaft lag am Boden, keiner hatte Geld zu investieren. Irgendein findiger Bürgermeister ist auf die Idee gekommen, Schwundgeld zu drucken. Der hat ge- sagt, wir geben Geld heraus, das sehr rasch seinen Wert ver- liert und investiert werden muss. Das hat die Leute inspiriert, sehr schnell zu investieren, ihre Stellen auszubauen, ihre Pensionen. Das hat so gut funktioniert, dass die Regierung gedroht hat mit dem Bundesheer zu kommen, weil man ja nicht eine andere Währung im Land existieren lassen kann. [During the interwar period in Austria there was the “Mir- acle of Wörgl.” The economy was in the pits, no one had any money to invest. A creative mayor came up with the idea of 11 My thanks to the highly engaging seminar at the 2017 ACLA in Utrecht on “Rethinking Political Cinema” that Christina Gerhardt co-organized, which in providing a genealogy of political film helped me to recognize this connection.