HELLwach – Wide Awake: A Tribute to Bodo Hell - Carola Meir

Directed by Carola Mair, HELLwach – Wide Awake (2025) is an intimate cinematic portrait of Austrian writer, language artist, humanist and alpine herdsman Bodo Hell.

The film follows Hell through the final years of his life, moving between Vienna and the Grafenbergalm in the Styrian Dachstein mountains, where he spent more than 45 summers tending goats and cattle. Through a collage of fleeting, evocative moments and encounters with fellow writers, artists and friends, including Manfred Mittermayer, Linde Waber and Gertraud Klemm, a singular personality emerges — shaped by linguistic playfulness, incisive social criticism, profound wit and a deep affinity for the solitude of the Alps.

Hell disappeared in the Dachstein region in August 2024 and has been missing ever since. Completed shortly before his disappearance, the film has taken on an especially poignant resonance, offering a moving encounter with one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary Austrian culture and a lasting tribute to a remarkable artistic legacy.