Keep Smiling

DMD KIU LIDT is an anti-music film which follows the Austrian pop-rock band Ja, Panik and their social circle of fellow musicians in Berlin and Vienna. It is a chronicle of a group that centers on the conditions of music-making in a state of prolonged sadness dominated by the shadow of a permanent crisis (of capitalism). The actors - all musicians - play themselves, acting out a consciously absurd drama about art, depression and love. DMD KIU LIDT is an anti-music film which follows the Austrian pop-rock band Ja, Panik and their social circle of fellow musicians in Berlin and Vienna. It is a chronicle of a group that centers on the conditions of music-making in a state of prolonged sadness dominated by the shadow of a permanent crisis (of capitalism). There is no more playing of instruments, even the low hum of amps quickly dies out. In the knowledge that the very construct of their insular community is cracking at its foundation, the protagonists roam through abandoned architecture and forests, over horse-race tracks, nighttime streets and boulevards with no end in sight. Restrained conversations revolve around their own mental states and the adversities surrounding them on all sides. The characters are able to avoid contact with the world around them, yet maintain a quiet tenderness between themselves. The actors - all musicians - play themselves, acting out a consciously absurd drama about art, depression and love.