Out of nowhere, Benedikt Mitmannsgruber has turned 30 overnight. Surrounded by forests, cows, and farms, he reflects on the last few years. In the attic of his parents' house, he discovers a yellowed album containing a family tree. For Benedikt Mitmannsgruber, this marks the beginning of a furious journey through his family's past and through his own absurd everyday life.
The journey begins in the early 20th century in a small village on the Czech border. There, Benedikt Mitmannsgruber's great-grandparents decide to have 15 children. In the 1960s, Benedikt Mitmannsgruber's parents are born. They spend their childhood next to the Iron Curtain in the deepest Austrian province. No one really knows whether this little strip of land actually belongs to the Czech Republic or to Austria. In the 1990s, the curtain falls, and Benedikt Mitmannsgruber's parents decide to conceive a son. He is born into a world where he never quite fits, but which he nonetheless loves with all its quirky inhabitants and peculiarities.
An homage to growing up in the middle of nowhere. A love letter to the forgotten backwaters. A journey into one's own past. A quirky look at our society and at a world gone awry. Benedikt Mitmannsgruber's third program “1996” is dedicated to his two parents and four grandparents, who shaped him into the Benedikt Mitmannsgruber he is today, despite a difficult upbringing at the end of the world with hardly any prospects!