25/02/2023 - BERLINALE 2023: The Austrian director talks to us about the pitfalls of the competitive iron will and the beauty of the sport

They are the best of the best and they want to go big. At the boarding school Stams in the Tyrolean mountains, the next generation of ski racers and ski jumpers is being trained and prepared for the harsh competition on the slope. Austrian director Bernhard Braunstein followed these young hopefuls and their trainers for a year. His film Stams [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernhard Braunstein
film profile], which screened in the Panorama section at the 73rd Berlinale, is a collection of the absolute highs, the devastating lows and the sacrifices that these youngsters have to make for the sport.

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Cineuropa: You are from Salzburg, which is one of Austria’s skiing strongholds. What is your relationship with skiing?
Bernhard Braunstein: Skiing has always been very important to me. I started skiing when I was four years old, and it really developed into a great passion. I also raced for the local ski club, but that was not graced with too much success.

These young ski racers have to constantly undergo an objectification and categorisation of their body. Is it still possible to see yourself as a human being, or only as a tool for optimisation?
It certainly is about a form of physical optimisation. The aspect of body and mind, which is also discussed in philosophy class in terms of Kierkegaard – am I my body, or do I have a body? – is very fascinating. Is the mind there to make the body achieve these performances? The students hear that all the time. You need that determination, that iron will.

The students also ask themselves "do I still love this sport? Is it still fun?" After all, as soon as you do something professionally, you lose that childlike joy for it.
That is one of the main issues. The kids sign up at the school with this incredible joy for skiing or ski jumping. But when you have to function in this system, the pressure increases. Depending on your personality, it is more or less stressful. Some people have told me that it feels like being in a tunnel, where you just reel off the programme. They used to enjoy it, but now they feel like machines.

There are moments when they actually break down in front of the camera because they haven't skied their best time.
This frustration that once again it wasn't enough is part of everyday life for these people. We only know the winners from television when they stand on the podium and lift their trophies into the air, but that is a distorted picture. What it means to get there or to fail is not a common sight for the public eye. I was interested in showing that, too, the crying after a race.

All the more impressive that there are these friendships between the students. They are competitors after all.
That also surprised me. I thought there would be a lot of competition because there are only limited places in the squads. But instead, there is a lot of solidarity and close friendships formed for life.

An early scene takes place at a mass in church. We're located in Tyrol, so not only God is important, but skiing is practically a religion of its own.
That's right. I also wanted to show the religious dimension that skiing has in Austria. After World War II, skiing was a central aspect of rebuilding self-confidence. It was supposed to create a national identity. These famous skiers have the status of heroes in Austria. In the past, students were given time off from school to watch important races.