Double happiness

Screened during the Milan Design Film Festival, Ella Raidel’s tells of a perfect 1:1 scale replica of the Austrian tourist resort Hallstatt, in China.

If a good example exists, why not replicate it? It was this consideration that was the impetus for a small new Chinese city: a perfect 1:1 scale replica of the Austrian tourist resort Hallstatt, built under the idea that imitation is an integral part of the creative process.

Double Happiness questions the concepts of copy and original, daring the viewer to figure out if the projected images are of the Austrian village, of its Chinese namesake or of a scale model.

With her documentary the Austrian video artist and filmmaker Ella Raidel tells, often in an ironic way, a controversial story, that makes us reflect on issues related to fast economic growth, to social development, but also on the concepts of place and stereotype.

But Double Happiness is also about ways of communicating, showing how an architectural project can be told, used as a set for promotional music videos and photo shoots, transforming utopia in everyday scenes.