It is not only on the actual election day that the contest to achieve power is marked by unpredictability. When Harald Friedl finished the first days of filming, his protagonist Andreas Babler was neither at the helm of Austria’s Social Democratic Party nor Vice-Chancellor of the Republic. Initially, the film was intended to focus on him as a political grassroots worker and mayor, but in June 2023 he became party leader, to everyone’s surprise, and was immediately faced with a general election. THE RACE accompanies a lone candidate and his team in the relentless pace of an election campaign, where the outcome is primarily dependent on the merciless media battle between content and effect. 

They are all invisible. The old people no longer able to cope with everyday life without assistance – and also the women who live under the same roof to provide them with the necessary care, which entails leaving their own homes for an extended period. In 24 HOURS, Harald Friedl observes a Romanian nurse during the course of one care cycle, focusing attention on an activity that is performed every day without receiving public perception or social recognition.