Ruletista

In Vienna’s Alterlaa — a vast housing complex built on utopian ideals — everyday life unfolds within rigid, carefully designed structures. Behind identical facades, countless lives exist side by side, largely disconnected. At the center of the film is an elderly woman who moves slowly through corridors and open spaces, carrying her dead cat wrapped in paper. As she drifts through her surroundings, her attempts to confront loss take increasingly absurd and darkly comic forms, revealing a fragile state between resignation and persistence. RULETISTA observes this environment with a precise, static gaze, capturing both the monumental architecture and the isolation within it. The film juxtaposes collective living with emotional solitude, turning everyday gestures into moments of existential reflection. With a restrained visual language, minimalist sound design and a grotesque sense of humor, Lukas Valenta Rinner creates a portrait of a place where control gives way to chance — and where life and death seem governed by the logic of a game. RULETISTA premiered at the Viennale 2024, where it was presented as part of the festival’s short film program.