Miss Universe 1929

Miss Universe 1929 - Lisl Goldarbeiter. A Queen in Wien

A/NL 2006, 70 min, DigiBeta
Mischief Films – Vienna, Lumen Film – Amsterdam

In 1929 the first and, to present only, Austrian was chosen Miss Universe: Lisl Goldarbeiter. Her rise as a beauty queen, her life in Vienna between the world wars, and what happened to the family under National Socialism were all documented by her cousin Marci with his 9.5mm camera. They both survived WWII and were later reunited as a married couple in 1949. Marci filmed his Lisl until she died at the age of 88.

Marci Tänzer’s film diary not only represents a document of the time, it serves as a unifying thread in a fabric of unspoken emotions, forebodings, little secrets, gestures and glances. Love can be found in it, as can a love of life, and at times sadness and doubt. This film is given its magic by the two main protagonists’ gift of dealing with what life throws at them in a calm way, even at an advanced age.

Trailer

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Synopsis

Lisl Goldarbeiter and Marci Tänzer, both born in 1909, were cousins and knew each other from earliest childhood. The Goldarbeiters, who lived in Vienna, were the Austrian branch of a large Jewish family spread across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Tänzers lived in Szeged and represented the Hungarian contingent.

In 1926 Marci moved to Vienna to study at the university, as the first anti-Semitic law in Europe, Hungary’s 1922 restrictions on university enrollment, blocked admission of Jews. Marci lived with the Goldarbeiters and attended the Technical University from 1926 to 1936.

Marci worshipped his cousin Lisl. Shortly after moving to Vienna, he started filming her family and the city. Though he was extremely poor, he saved sufficient funds to finance his hobby by walking across town rather than taking the streetcar. A benefactor helped him purchase a 9.5mm camera, and Marci was behind Lisl’s 1929 debut in the world of beauty, after which she became world famous.

In 1930 Lisl married necktie manufacturer Fritz Spielmann, who later fled from the National Socialists without her. Marci remained single for the time being and survived the war as a forced laborer in the Soviet Union. His family was murdered. Lisl and her mother, both of whom had converted to Protestantism, survived the war, having narrowly escaped internment in a concentration camp, while Lisl’s father and many other relatives did not.

In 1949 Lisl and Marci married, witnessed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the consolidation of Communism in that country. Lisl died in 1997, and Marci followed in 2003 – a short time after telling filmmaker Péter Forgács about his life and that of his Miss Universe, Lisl Goldarbeiter.

“Over the past 20 years I’ve discovered that old amateur films represent unintentional diaries of life and history. These diaries in film form tell us about things we can no longer experience, and they show us the other side of history than what we know from the official version. … What interests me about amateur film is the element of magic, the images’ secrets. I wouldn’t call them innocent, but naïve. Their beauty and the history behind them fascinates me.” (Péter Forgács)

MISS UNIVERSE 1929 - Lisl Goldarbeiter. A Queen in Vienna comprises archival footage in its entirety, most of it shot by amateur filmmakers.

Presskit

Miss_Universe_Presskit_de.pdf

Miss_Universe_Presskit_en.pdf

Image 2000 x 1525