The bursting of the US housing bubble in 2007 was the beginning of one of the worst financial crises in history. Nobody could have seriously foreseen this development - or could they? In "The Big Short", we follow the three parallel stories of the somewhat unconventional hedge fund manager Michael Burry, the investment entrepreneur Mark Baum and his team and the young fund managers Charlie Geller and Jamie Shipley. And although the three stories are actually independent of each other, all the protagonists have one goal: a huge bet against the banks and the US housing market - and how to earn millions from other people's losses.

THE BIG SHORT

The screening followed by a discussion will take place on

Thursday, 6^th June 2024, at 6.00 p.m. in the Department Lounge Strategy & Innovation (Welthandelsplatz 2, Building D5, 6th floor).

In this edition of PPP, the film "Das Wunder von Wörgl" (aka "Shillings from Heaven"; starring Karl Markovics and Verena Altenberger, among others) takes us on a journey to the town of Wörgl in Tyrol in the 1930s. The whole world, including Austria, is suffering from the consequences of the global financial crisis. Of Wörgl's 4,000 inhabitants at the time, a good 40% were unemployed and more than 700 people had to claim benefits from the communal welfare system. To alleviate the hardship, the social democratic mayor ventured a financial experiment that was to be extremely successful and go down in history as the "Miracle of Wörgl".

DAS WUNDER VON WÖRGL

The screening followed by a discussion will take place on

Thursday, 18^th April 2024, at 6.00 p.m. in the Department Lounge Strategy & Innovation (Welthandelsplatz 2, Building D5, 6^th floor).

What?
ELYSIUM

Directed by: Neill Blomkamp
Starring: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley

Where?
Campus WU, Department-Lounge Strategy & Innovation (D5.6.029)
Building D5, 6^th floor
Welthandelsplatz 2, 1020 Vienna

Based on the movie "Elysium" by director Neill Blomkamp, this time the often controversially discussed topic of the two-class society is taken up. The concept is frequently used in political discourse to fuel fears of division and unequal treatment. In the film, it is taken to extremes by setting the story in a utopian science fiction world in the year 2154. A privileged class of the super-rich has long since left Earth and lives on the space station "Elysium", while a disenfranchised underclass toils on what remains of planet Earth. Accompany the production worker Max Da Costa in his courageous fight against the Elysium industrialist John Carlyle and against Elysium's unscrupulous defence minister Delacourt.

What?
THE LORAX

Directed by: Chris Renaud & Kyle Balda
Starring the voices of: Danny DeVito as The Lorax, Zac Efron as Ted and Taylor Swift as Audrey

Where?
Campus WU, Department-Lounge Strategy & Innovation (D5.6.029)
Building D5, 6^th floor
Welthandelsplatz 2, 1020 Vienna
 

“Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, then will you find that money cannot be eaten.” A quote that everyone knows. It is often mistakenly presented as the prophecy of the indigenous Cree people. However, the quote is not indigenous at all, but comes from a book published in 1972. Whether it was also the inspiration for the two directors Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda for "The Lorax" or whether the author of the original book, Grinch creator Theodor Seuss Geisel, was guided by it, we don't know. But it would fit. We are in a now barren valley where so-called Truffula trees used to grow. A clever businessman, called the Once-ler, settles there and begins to produce a wool-like substance called Thneed from the Truffula trees. In the process, he gets into trouble with the Lorax, the small, orange-haired guardian of the Truffula trees. Although the Once-ler promises him not to cut down any more trees, he continues the production of Thneed - until all the Truffula trees have been felled. Today, there is not a single tree left in the town of Thneedville, everything is plastic. Businessmen like Aloysius O'Hare become rich by selling bottled air. On a suggestion from his grandmother Norma, he leaves town and sets off in search of the Once-ler to discover the secret of the Truffula trees and perhaps win the heart of his neighbour Audrey.

What?
DIE FETTEN JAHRE SIND VORBEI (aka "The Edukators")

Directed by: Hans Weingartner
Starring: Daniel Brühl, Julia Jentsch, Stipe Erceg

Where?
Campus WU, Department-Lounge Strategy & Innovation (D5.6.029)
Building D5, 6^th floor
Welthandelsplatz 2, 1020 Vienna

Political commitment, morality, friendship and love - that is the thematically intense mixture that director Hans Weingartner covers in his film "Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei" (aka The Edukators). Three young people, the two flatmates Jan and Peter as well as Peter's girlfriend Jule, are friends and politically engaged. So much so that they develop a kind of "guerrilla tactic" with which they want to unsettle the "rich bigwigs" of Berlin. The simple idea: They spy on luxury villas, familiarise themselves with the alarm system and then break in. However, the focus is not on the possible loot, rather they set signs: Furniture is moved and messages like "The fat years are over" are left on the walls. But when they break into the villa of Justus Hardenberg, to whom Peter's girlfriend Jule owes a lot of money after an accident, everything suddenly gets out of hand. The activists unwittingly become kidnappers, and the relationship of the three and the moral anchoring of their actions are put to the test.

What?
ERIN BROCKOVICH

Directed by: Steven Sonderbergh
Starring: Julia Roberts

Where?
Campus WU, Department-Lounge Strategy & Innovation (D5.6.029)
Building D5, 6^th floor
Welthandelsplatz 2, 1020 Vienna
 

"Erin Brockovich" is a classic movie from the year 2000, based on a true background. It tells us the story of a single mother of three children from humble origins. After a car accident and a lost lawsuit, Brockovich is faced with a mountain of debt, but is able to convince her lawyer Ed Masry to hire her as an assistant. While doing research, she comes across inconsistencies in files about a house purchase by the "Pacific Gas & Electric" corporation, one of the largest US energy providers, in the Californian town of Hinkley. Further investigations confirm the suspicion of a gigantic environmental scandal. With great personal commitment, the law firm finally initiates a class action lawsuit against the corporation, which would end with a conviction for the largest amount of compensation for damages in US history to date.

We start the new year 2023 and are pleased to invite you right at the beginning to another edition of our series "PPP - Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture".

This time we go to South Korea and show one of the most successful and best-criticised movies of recent years, a masterpiece by director Bong Joon-ho: Parasite. Four Oscars and the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival speak for themselves, along with numerous other awards and countless excellent reviews. Come to building D5 at the WU campus, watch the film and join the discussion afterwards: After the screening, there will again be a discussion round to analyse the film together from the perspective of political economy.

Find all the information on the second edition of Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture here:

What?

PARASITE
Director: Bong Joon-ho

Where?
Department Lounge Strategy & Innovation (D5.6.029)
Building D5, 6^th floor
Welthandelsplatz 2, 1020 Vienna

When?
Thursday, 19^th January, 2023
6.00 p.m.

For organisational reasons we ask for registration under the following link: Registration PPP

Are you wondering what movies, politics and pizza can have to do with each other? We cordially invite you to find out together with us.

Pizza, Politics, and (Motion) Picture - the Institute for International Political Economy is starting a new event series in the winter semester of 2022/23. We want to break through the strictly academic setting of a lecture and discuss with you - interested students and friends of our institute. After the screening of a movie, there will be a discussion round to jointly discuss relevant contents of the movie from the perspective of political economy.

Find all information about the first edition of Pizza, Politics & (Motion) Picture here:

What?

FIGHT CLUB
Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Brad Pitt, Meat Loaf, Helena Bonham Carter, Jared Leto

Where?

"Stufenraum" (D4.1.208)
Building D4, entrance B, 1^st floor
Welthandelsplatz 1, 1020 Vienna

When?

Thursday, 10^th November, 2022
6.00 p.m.