Hacking at Leaves

It explores various themes including the United States' colonial past, Navajo tribal history, and the hacker movement, through the lens of the story of a hackerspace in Durango, Colorado, during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[1] Hacking at Leaves features Austrian artist and filmmaker Johannes Grenzfurthner as both host and director, blending documentary and fiction to delve into themes of optimism, freedom, settler colonialism, pandemics, and societal collapse within the American context.

Grenzfurthner, clad in a yellow radiation suit, sits in a 1970s-style control room (which he refers to as his "flat"), contemplating whether he should create a documentary about a makerspace at the Powerhouse Science Center in Durango, Colorado.

Uncle Sam (performed by Max Grodénchik) appears, demanding that Grenzfurthner create an 'invigorating tale' about the 'spirit of freedom, the endless beauty of the American Southwest, and a forceful statement against collapse.'

Due to the travel ban preventing Europeans from entering the United States, the director oversaw the shooting and interviewing processes remotely from his office in Vienna.

Anyone who wants to avert the apocalypse must let themselves be introduced to the technique of leaf hacking by Grenzfurthner, which aims to finally uproot a system that has been rotten for a long time.

Max Grodénchik as Uncle Sam in a behind-the-scenes photograph taken during the shooting of 'Hacking at Leaves', 2021
Ryan Finnigan on the set of 'Hacking at Leaves' in Durango, Colorado, in May 2020.
Behind-the-scenes image from the 'Hacking at Leaves' film shoot, featuring Johannes Grenzfurthner at the chimney of the Zwentendorf nuclear power station in 2020.