STYX

The transformation of a strong woman torn from her contented world during a sailing trip.

Rike – 40, a doctor from Europe – embodies a typical Western model of happiness and success. She is educated, confident, determined and committed. We see Rike’s everyday life, as an emergency doctor, before she fulfils a long-held dream and sails out to sea alone in her sailing boat. Her goal: Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean. But her dream holiday is quickly broken off on the high seas, when, after a storm, she finds herself near a stricken fishing boat. Around a hundred people are about to drown. Rike follows maritime law and radios for help. As her request is going nowhere, she is forced to make a fatal decision.

Director

WOLFGANG FISCHER was born in 1970 in Vienna/Austria. From 1990-1995, he studied Psychology and Painting at the University of Vienna and Film and Video at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf, followed by studies in Film and Television at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) in Cologne. His films include: 9H11 (short, 1999), REMAKE OF THE REMAKE (doc, 1999), GREY (short, 2001), WHAT YOU DON’T SEE (2009), and STYX (2018).

Wolfgang Fischer (photo © Marc Comes) photos © Benedict Neuenfels