What motivates people to organize their own communal living? What are the ideals behind it, how do they finance themselves and how does life in a community work? Based on six self-managed residential buildings in Austria from 40 years ago, the documentary film "Der Stoff aus dem Träume sind" sets out in search of answers. Filmmakers Lotte Schreiber and Michael Rieper tell these six stories by staying very close to the protagonists.

"The pioneers of the co-operative housing project in Graz-Raaba (1975) talk about its origins in the experimental ideals of the 1960s, about internal and external conflicts and about growing old together, while the residents of the Gärtnerhof eco-settlement in Gänserndorf talk about life on the periphery between idyll and isolation. The most recent buildings, the housing project at Vienna's Nordbahnhof and the willy*fred project in Linz, show completely different models and social milieus: here sociocracy with bourgeois responsibility, there the explicitly political ambition of permanently withdrawing houses from the market as part of the rental housing syndicate developed in Germany.
The architecture always remains in the background, but its role is reflected in the everyday lives of the residents, as is the political resonance space. The balance between lived solidarity and social control and the question of how transparent life should be for neighbours is a leitmotif that runs through the entire film, as is the tension between urban and village life. The editing and dramaturgy make these tensions visible and palpable, making The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of a cinematic experience that goes far beyond the purely documentary episodic." (Maik Novotny)

Rosamunde Pilcher: Der Stoff, aus dem Träume sind

For Connie, things have been going to plan for many years, both professionally and in her private life. That is, until the son of the CEO takes over the business, forcing new demands on the workforce. In future, English is to be the business language. English? Fluently? Not wanting to lose her job, Connie immediately signs up for an intensive English language course in Ireland. But the perfectionist is totally unprepared for her teacher Gillian, the warm-hearted, yet slightly chaotic and young-looking woman, who sees her main job as funeral director as a vocation. Connie also has her problems with her co-student, Max, a Tom Jones imitator, who is currently in Ireland to visit his 16-year-old daughter, Amy. Much to Connie's displeasure, the bon vivant is not interested in rules and regulations. Connie soon realizes that she is missing something more in her perfect life than speaking perfect English.  But can she leave her life behind and risk taking the plunge into the great unknown?

Sprachlos in Irland

It follows Franky, a woman who suffers from multiple-personality disorder. She's having a hard time managing the four other characters living inside her. They seem to dwell in an old-fashioned hotel in the middle of nowhere.

Franky Five Star

While Leon and Sarah are planning their wedding, a surprise is just around the corner: Jan, Sarah's brother who disappeared 30 years ago, returns to Engelshoop. Sarah is overjoyed, but soon Leon doubts Jan's intentions, which leads to a violent argument between her and Leon. Leon's search for evidence of his mistrust even puts him in mortal danger in the end. Will Sarah recognize in time who she can trust?