“Delightfully strange…an eccentric character study that is as
colorful and personable as its subject”
— Pat Mullen, Cinemablographer.com
“Christine Beebe’s feature film debut is an unforgettable, unique exploration
of destiny, dreams and identity that transcends place and time”
— Lynne Crocker, Hot Docs Toronto
FROM THE PRODUCER OF SUNDANCE GRAND JURY-NOMINATED HAL COMES AN ODDBALL ADVENTURE OF ESCAPISM
AND SELF-DISCOVERY
FELIX AUSTRIA!
Street Date: June 18, 2019
DVD/Digital: $19.95
Producer/Director Christine Beebe, Recently Nominated for the PGA 2019
Outstanding Producer Award in Documentary Film, Made Her Feature-Length
Debut with This Quirky, Compelling Doc Available Via DVD and Digital
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Compelled by the inheritance of a mysterious box of letters, American aesthete Brian Pfeifle, a young man from Modesto, California, begins the journey of a lifetime to reach the source of the correspondence: the last heir of the Holy Roman Emperors, aging Archduke Otto von Habsburg. So begins FELIX AUSTRIA!, a documentary called “quirky and original,” and “a highly enjoyable collage of biography and fantasy, history and art[1]” which captured the Best Documentary, Best Director and Best Editing Awards at the Milan International Film Festival.
Assuming the name of Felix Etienne-Eduoard Pfeifle, spiritual heir to the Habsburg Empire, the quest takes him from the barrio of Los Angeles to Vienna itself, with an unlikely detour to upstate New York, allowing him, along with viewers, to explore matters that are exceptionally timely within the context of contemporary American culture – questions of identity, sexuality, appropriation and use – as well as issues that resonate within our own lives. What does it take to construct, and become, an independent self?
Moving boldly between Felix’s life in Los Angeles as a gay man, scholar and designer, his family life in Modesto — where his father suffers from advanced Huntington’s Disease, a fatal and hereditary illness Felix himself stands a fifty percent chance of contracting — and his burgeoning relationship with the Archduke Otto von Habsburg, FELIX AUSTRIA! examines themes of heredity, identity and transformation in ways that are both nuanced and profound. Ultimately, the film is a universal story about a person’s life-defining passions, fears, and triumphs when one dares to dream.
