STOP: A Science Fiction of Nothing: Marieli Fröhlich at Anthology Film Archives

 film still STOP@marielifroehlich

By LARA PAN April 24, 2025 

Marieli Fröhlich compares her film STOP, to a choir of contemporary tableaux vivants, creating harmonies from a wordless score. She likens her role as a director, to that of a conductor of time and space, creating interconnection through the lyrical act of filmmaking.

 Fröhlich's method begins by asking random people on the street to close their eyes and remain motionless for a fixed duration recorded by her camera. The resulting film is a poetic ode to humanity, transcending boundaries of race, origin, gender, and age. People are Fröhlich's medium of choice.

Over 37 minutes, STOP offers a deeply moving reflection on the essence of what it is to be human. It highlights a shared connection while celebrating individuality. The film's quiet power lies in its simple, yet profound message. Her vision and sensitivity are evident in every frame of her work.

 It was a delight to accompany Marieli Fröhlich recently in Vienna while shooting, where we conducted this intimate interview. STOP, a gem of a film will be screened at Anthology Film Archives on April 26th at 6 pm; an event not to be missed by enthusiasts of cinema and art. The director will be present to discuss her work.

film still STOP@marielifroehlich

Lara Pan: Marieli, you grew up in a deeply artistic family, truly l’art pour l’art. I greatly admire both your parents, Peter Kubelka and Gertie Fröhlich. My encounters with Peter were always enriching and inspiring. You also were involved with Anthology Film Archives in the early days. Could you share that experience and any memorable moments?

Marieli Fröhlich: I remember my first encounter with Jonas was in 1977. My father invited me to join Jonas, Hollis, and their daughter on a quest to find Canaiola, the wine that Michelangelo drank. It was an adventure beginning in Kremsmünster, continued in Orvieto with a drunken finale in Lago di Bolsena. Our shared connection was immediate, and I was especially excited when Jonas included me in Paradise Not Yet Lost, his film partially shot during those travels.

In 1980 I took classes in the Lee Strasberg Film Institute and was delighted when Jonas & his family invited me to stay in their loft on Broadway and Broome St.

Peter and Jonas were my big inspirations for filmmaking- starting at the Austrian Filmmuseum, founded by my father, where I saw countless films. This continued in NY with Jonas and later at Anthology, where I worked at the box office giving me the time to explore their entire program.

Since Jonas loved my cooking, he once surprised me at dinner, when he proceeded to consume 10 Zwetschkenknödel (sweet plum dumplings), and then asked for dessert. I also helped him organize his storage, which was a treasure trove but chaotic. Those times allowed for unhurried conversations about life and art, which were inseparable from him. Years later in Vienna, I named my son Jonas and began making my own films. 

Jonas Mekas was the most positive person I've ever met, he cherished each moment and encouraged me in my artistic pursuits, whether it was painting, acting, or filming. He was a refugee of the Second World War, parallel to my mother's experience which I explore in my film, WHAT IS HAPPENING? 

film still STOP@marielifroehlich

Lara Pan: You’ll be screening STOP at Anthology Film Archives, a place of special significance to you. Could you elaborate on your connection to it, and what this screening represents?

Marieli Fröhlich: Screening my films at Anthology feels like a homecoming, and I am very happy to be part of this community with my work.

Lara Pan: You've been filming these STOP “moments” for years. When did you start, and what sparked the idea?

Marieli Fröhlich: Around 2010 my second home was Paris. On the subway I saw a Roma boy, about ten years old, observing me. As I looked back, struck by his seemingly aged face, he suddenly closed his eyes, appearing completely removed from his surroundings. That moment, when he seemed to step out of reality, was unforgettable.

Like something straight out of a story of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the same boy robbed me an hour later; he was part of a children's gang working the Metro. Those existential observations seemed to push past our assigned roles.

I then began recording people occasionally, later using the footage as an allegory for a documentary about the Swedish composer Anders Eliasson in Stockholm. In the documentary he speaks of a woman in his opera, Karolina’s Sömn (Karolina’s sleep) who awoke from a 30-year coma that had been inflicted by trauma from sexual abuse by a family member. 

We know nothing of each other's private experiences, yet we share this external reality we call the world. There is a strange phenomenon at the point where the two meet, almost telepathic and that's something the audience feels when viewing STOP.

film still STOP@marielifroehlich

Lara Pan: Tell me about your favorite moments creating STOP and how audiences in different places have reacted. It’s such an unusual and powerful project. 

Marieli Fröhlich: The most exciting aspect of shooting STOP is the intimate moment I share with the participants.  Instantly as strangers, we abandon any pretense or role-playing - I am always impressed by the trust & surrender involved.

This moment, which never lasts more than a few minutes, is generally energizing and joyful for both of us. I feel motivated to keep adding to it, as it brings me genuine happiness amidst the overwhelming sensory overload of news and sales pitches that the world increasingly bombards us with. This project serves as my response.

I feel love for my participants, their beliefs, appearance, actions, or identities don't matter in this context. In essence, what attracts me most is the simplicity and purity of the work. This is non-narrative, in real-time, the NOW is everything when I make it. I strive for the audience to fully surrender to the experience while they are in the theater.

I see STOP as both an abstract work suspended in reality, and an offering to abandon fear through simple connection.

Andrei Tarkovsky said in the eighties that the pace of modern life had become inhuman. The soul no longer has room to breathe. He believed that this condition is one of the central crises of modern humanity and felt that cinema, more than any other art form, has the potential to address it. But not through argument or explanation, cinema must articulate this problem in a poetic fashion, he was calling for a cinema that does not add to the chaos, but instead helps the viewer reconnect with something deeper, something lost. He believed that film could help restore a sense of real-time and inner life.

I can relate that to STOP.

film still STOP@marielifroehlich

Lara Pan: Will you be filming more STOP moments while you're in New York?

Marieli Fröhlich: Probably, as I am somewhat addicted. It's always spontaneous if I see someone on the street or in a shop that would fit. Only a few shots have to be planned because they require specific settings, like an office or museum.

Lara Pan: Finally, if it’s not a secret, could you share your next projects?

Marieli Fröhlich: I am working in a different genre, again. I have a feature film in development, a musical which I began writing with Steven Pollock during COVID-19. It's a neo-noir re-imagining of the life of an outlier pop star, derailed by the AIDS crisis. WM