VARIOUS: A film based on the story of the Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch and more than eight years she spent in captivity premiers in Vienna

Record ID: 221004

  • Title: VARIOUS: A film based on the story of the Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch and more than eight years she spent in captivity premiers in Vienna
  • Date: 26th February 2013
  • Summary: VIENNA, AUSTRIA (FEBRUARY 25, 2013) (REUTERS) **CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** PROMOTIONAL POSTER FOR FILM "3096 DAYS" KIDNAP VICTIM NATASCHA KAMPUSCH STANDING ON RED CARPET CLOSE OF FILM POSTER VARIOUS OF BRITISH ACTRESS ANTONIA CAMPBELL-HUGHES ON RED CARPET POSING FOR MEDIA ACTRESS ANTONIA CAMPBELL-HUGHES TALKING TO JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH ACTRESS ANTONIA CAMPBELL-HUGHES, SAYING: "It's very unusual, it's very captivating, it's quite relentless. You know, you're on the edge of your seat all of the time. I try to think... I was really inspired when I first met Sherry Hormann and, you know, her voice, with this story, what she wanted to achieve, and I think she's done a wonderful job. I saw the film and I can't even think of anything else that reminds me of it. I think it does a very good job of showing people what we were trying to show them, like the story of, the strength of someone's soul, of the ability for people to survive under various circumstances, but also the gray areas within a relationship that people don't necessarily understand." DANISH ACTOR THURE LINDHARDT TALKING TO JOURNALISTS ON RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) DANISH ACTOR THURE LINDHARDT, SAYING: "Well it's difficult because I - as much as a lot of other people are - am prejudiced and I'm very easy to judge. Me as a private person, it takes me one second and then I've judged him, and I think that's right because I have moral, but as an actor I can't be judgmental, I just... I can't do that. I'm not allowed to." PEOPLE ON GALLERY LOOKING DOWN ON RED CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) DANISH ACTOR THURE LINDHARDT, SAYING: "Well I had a lot of thoughts about why should this story be told, why should this story be put into a movie, and then I read her book and then it became clear to me that it's a story about survival, and it's a story about surviving eight years of hell, and I thought that was very important. And then I thought when that story can be told, than I can also play the bad guy, so to speak." BRITISH ACTRESS ANTONIA CAMPBELL-HUGHES AND DANISH ACTOR THURE LINDHARDT POSING FOR MEDIA FILM DIRECTOR SHERRY HERMANN POSING FOR MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (German) KIDNAP VICTIM JOHANNES ERLEMANN, SAYING: "What connects us is the time after. We were lucky to never let ourselves be declared as victims, and we have annoyed the public by doing that. It was the same with my case 30 years ago, I have been "hunted through the village like cattle", it was the same with Natascha (Kampusch), and this is something that creates a natural connection between us, which we both understand, also considering the nightmare circumstances of a kidnapping."
  • Embargoed: 13th March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Austria
  • Country: Austria
  • Reuters ID: LVAD7U2EAPO2KFVB74N1O9FVIK01
  • Story Text: A film based on the story of the Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch premiered on Monday (February 25) in Vienna.
    Kampusch was snatched on her way to school at the age of 10 by Wolfgang Priklopil and held in a windowless cell under his garage near Vienna until she escaped in 2006, causing a sensation in Austria and abroad.
    Priklopil committed suicide soon after her escape.
    The film, "3,096 Days" - based on Kampusch's autobiography of the same name - soberly portrays her eight-and-a-half years of captivity in a windowless cellar beneath his house less than 6 square metres (65 square feet) in area.
    It also shows her being repeatedly raped by the captor who beat and starved her during the time that he kept her in a cellar.
    Kampusch had always refused to respond to claims that she had had sex with Priklopil, but in a German television interview on her 25th birthday last week said she had decided to reveal the truth because it had leaked out from police files.
    British actress Antonia Campbell-Hughes who was cast in the leading role as the teenaged Kampusch, said the film was a portrayal of the human ability to survive under extreme circumstances.

    "It's very unusual, it's very captivating, it's quite relentless. You know, you're on the edge of your seat all of the time," she said, adding:
    "I think it (the film) does a very good job of showing people what we were trying to show them, like the story of, the strength of someone's soul, of the ability for people to survive under various circumstances, but also the gray areas within a relationship that people don't necessarily understand," Campbell-Hughes said.
    The movie, made at the Constantin Film studios in Bavaria, Germany, also stars Amy Pidgeon as the 10-year-old Kampusch and Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Priklopil.
    Speaking about playing the role of a kidnapper and rapist, Lindhardt said:
    "Well, it's difficult because I - as much as a lot of other people are - am prejudiced and I'm very easy to judge. Me as a private person, it takes me one second and then I've judged him, and I think that's right because I have moral, but as an actor I can't be judgmental, I just... I can't do that. I'm not allowed to."

    "Well I had a lot of thoughts about why should this story be told, why should this story be put into a movie, and then I read her book and then it became clear to me that it's a story about survival, and it's a story about surviving eight years of hell, and I thought that was very important. And then I thought when that story can be told, than I can also play the bad guy, so to speak," Lindhardt added.
    The director is German-American Sherry Hormann, who made her English-language debut with the 2009 move "Desert Flower", an adaptation of the autobiography of Somali-born model and anti-female circumcision activist Waris Dirie.
    The Kampusch crime case was followed two years later by that of Josef Fritzl, an Austrian who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.
    The crimes prompted soul-searching about the Austrian psyche, and questions as to how the authorities and neighbours could have let such crimes go undetected for so long.
    Another kidnapping survivor who attended the premiere was Johannes Erlemann.
    Erlemann was abducted in Cologne, Germany, in 1981 as an eleven-year-old, and was held captive for two weeks before his family paid ransom.
    Although he returned home safely and his kidnappers were arrested, normal life was all but impossible for him due to the media frenzy surrounding the case at the time.

    "What connects us is the time after. We were lucky to never let ourselves be declared as victims, and we have annoyed the public by doing that. It was the same with my case 30 years ago, I have been "hunted through the village like cattle", it was the same with Natascha (Kampusch), and this is something that creates a natural connection between us, which we both understand, in addition to the nightmare circumstances of kidnapping," Erlemann said while attending the film premiere.
    The emaciated Kampusch - who weighed just 38 kilograms (84 pounds) at a point in 2004 - kept a diary written on toilet paper concealed in a box during her captivity.
    The movie shows occasional moments that approach tenderness, such as when Priklopil presents her with a cake for her 18th birthday or buys her a dress as a gift - but then immediately goes on to chide her for not knowing how to waltz with him.
    First reactions from audiences were emotional.

    "I thought that the story had been sufficiently dealt with by the media, but the movie is so much more. Seeing particular days was most shocking, and what is being shown in the movie is just touching," Johanna from Vienna said.

    "It's just really sad. I was on the verge or crying, I had to keep myself together. My wife had been crying all the time. No matter what the media are reporting, no matter which version of the story: what happened to that girl is just utterly unacceptable, it is something you would not want to happen to anybody. Being robbed of one's freedom is really the worst that can happen," Fadi from Vienna said.
    Kampusch herself attended the premiere, looking composed as she posed for pictures but declining to give interviews.
    The film goes on general release on Thursday (February 28).
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