A woman lives with her daughter and her mother – and without men – on a mountain farm. Men disguised as Perchten steal the last goat from the trio. The desperation is great, and little Leni sets out alone for the valley to get help.

In the end, however, it is not the pastor who helps St. Nicholas, but the Krampuses. The filmmakers want to show that their Christian symbolism originally came from Perchten customs. This is much later in the year or already in the New Year.

Krampuses drive away evil

Santa’s job is to bring Krampus with him to drive away evil. He’s not happy about it, pollution is a burden, says Konrad Rußegger, who wrote the screenplay, edited the film and, as a producer, at least did it: “We wanted to show pictures of our region, which is well worth seeing. Then there is the question of how Santa Claus got Krampus.”

From Pagan Customs to Christianity

“The Burden” shows very strong images, the story gets by with a few words. The 20-minute short film is accompanied by music by Emanuel Krimpelstätter from Abtenau. Cameraman Thomas Höll says there is no huge budget: “We don’t have a production team behind it either. The three of us stood behind the camera and made sure that we could do it in the shortest possible time. Of course we work with amateur actors, but I don’t think you really see that.”

Krampus and Perchten customs are relatively unknown internationally. The filmmakers see this as one of the main reasons for the success and the great interest, as Höll describes: “There are advantages and disadvantages when you travel internationally because you can tell the story differently.”

Detached from the winter custom

It is also striking that, according to vegetation and temperatures, the scenes are not set in the traditional Krampus season at the beginning of December. Snow is completely absent in the mountains.

The team appears to have shot some early morning hours on late summer or fall days. Now the Abtenauer are already planning the sequel in feature length, so at least 90 minutes – a lot of work.