DORFGEIST Filmmaking as a negotiation of belonging amid the resettlement of Brienz/Brinzauls
(2026)

The resettlement of Brienz, a village in the canton of
Graubünden endangered by a rockfall, reveals how
such crises reinstate dominant narratives of traditional
Alpine communities that obscure the actual
structural conditions of Alpine transformation. This
thesis contextualises and reflects on the process of
my filmmaking practice as a design tool and the
development of the semi-fictional character Dorfgeist,
the village ghost, to challenge the narratives the
rockfall calls forth. In conversation with residents the
presence of the village ghost gets negotiated, bringing
to the fore how new arrivals like it have historically
transformed the social fabric of the village. Thereby
the role of the village ghost becomes a projection
surface for permanent and temporary residents to
reflect on belonging and what constitutes the community.
The village ghost then remains in the tension
between the image of an intact community projected
outwards and the lived reality on site, questioning
how in these situations the reinstatement of a traditional
Alpine community image functions to trigger
national solidarity mechanisms. Through sustained
presence the Dorfgeist opens a platform of negotiation
that brings the reality of Alpine communities
beyond dominant narratives into view.