Running on Empty

19-year-old Claudia lives with her 4-year-old son, her brother and her mother in a public housing complex in Vienna. With no employment or prospects for the future, their days pass uneventfully. Director Lisa Weber accompanied the young woman and her family for more than three years. Eschewing the tired clichés of reality TV, the resulting portrait traces what happens when, by all appearances, nothing is happening. Along the way, Weber reveals individuals capable of evoking empathy, laughter and shock in the viewer – people for whom life is full of ifs, ands and buts – permitting the audience to share in their experience for the duration of the film.

Running on Empty (Jetzt oder morgen) celebrates its world premiere at the Panorama strand of the Berlinale 2020.