Soft boys by day, kings by night. The film follows a group of young Bulgarian Roma who come to Vienna looking for freedom and a quick buck. They sell their bodies as if that's all they had. What comforts them, so far from home, is the feeling of being together. But the nights are long and unpredictable.

Interview with Writer/Director Patric Chiha

Watch Brothers of the Night on Prime Video

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

One evening I happened to end up in a very curious bar for rent boys in Vienna, and they were all standing there, and I spent the evening with them. They understood very quickly that I was neither a customer nor a rent boy myself. And they appealed to me immediately – in a cinematic sense. I hadn't seen bodies like theirs in movies for a long time, the playful way they move, dance, pose, lounge around and constantly talk to each other.

They reminded me of the beautiful and unpredictable heroes in works by Fassbinder, Coppola or Pasolini. For me, the urge to make a film isn't down to a (social) subject; it's based on people. I wanted to film these people. They were very curious about what I was doing, but it did take a while till they understood what mattered to me. When they saw I respected them, they gradually started to trust me.

I spent a year with them. We went out together a lot, to get to know each other and build up an atmosphere of trust, and so I could indicate what I wanted to do with them. And I stress "with them". I didn't want to make a film about them: and I wanted it to be with them.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

Brothers of the Night will give you an inside in a world you have never seen.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

The film is not about a subject, but about people. And these people, even if the live on the border of our society, can teach us a lot about ourselves.

In 1971 Fassbinder wrote this wonderful sentence about his great idol Douglas Sirk: 'Sirk once said you can't make films about something, you can only make films with something: with people, with light, with flowers, with mirrors, with blood, with precisely all the crazy things that make it worthwhile.'

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?

As I didn't know, where the boys will bring me (physically and artistically), the film evolved every day.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

Most people are very moved by the boys and by the film.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

When I make a film, I want to create and share emotions.

What are the key creatives developing or working on no

I am working on an adaptation of "The Beast in the jungle" from Henry James.

Interview: February 2017

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Brothers of the Night

Length: 88 minutes

Director: Patric Chiha

Producer: Ebba Sinzinger & Vincent Lusassen / WILDart FILM (Austria)

Writer: Patric Chiha

About the writer, director and producer:

Born in Vienna in 1975, Patric Chiha studied fashion design in Paris, then film editing in Brussels. He lives and works in Paris. His short films and documentaries have been selected in a variety of film festivals. In 2009 he directed his first feature film, DOMAINE, starring Béatrice Dalle, which premiered at the Mostra di Venezia. In 2014 he directed his second feature film, a comedy, BOYS LIKE US. In 2016 he directed his third feature film, a documentary, BROTHERS OF THE NIGHT, which premiered at the Berlinale/Panorama.

WILDart FILM concentrates on the development and production of art-house fiction and high quality creative documentaries for cinema & television that appeal to an international audience. The producers Ebba Sinzinger and Vincent Lucassen realize most of their films as coproductions.

Key cast:
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists): All

Funders: BKA, FISA, City of Vienna, MEDIA

Made in association with: ORF

Where can I see it in the next month? Mardi Gras Film Festival