Salzburg at dusk. The bells of the city’s churches are drowned out by classical music playing at home. In contrast to the white winter landscape displayed in a Bob Ross calendar, there is barely any snow covering the Untersberg mountain. The fields are a shimmering lush green, like the garden where Tony's summer house is located. The outdoor thermometer reads 14° Celsius, while the refrigerator temperature stays at a constant 5° degrees — the ideal storage temperature for fresh cheese, yoghurt, and milk — as well as for Tony, who is hibernating in his bed of leaves in the vegetable crisper. Tony's portrait adorns the refrigerator door: He is Anthony's turtle, 23 years young and weighing about 1300 grams.
G. Anthony Svatek films his mother Kathleen on 16mm film as she takes care of Tony. She has been carefully tending to the Greek tortoise ever since winter in the Alps became far too mild to naturally accommodate the months of hibernation which are essential for the Greek tortoise, or Testudo Hermanni. Fragments of homey, lovingly constellated living spaces seamlessly interweave with an amusing eye for detail, gently capturing the attentive hands and small gestures that belie greater matters. Testudo Hermanni unfolds a lighthearted yet meaningful narrative, much like Kathleen's grooming routine. Captions accentuate the simple, straightforward narrative, while Mozart's opera buffa lends both amusing levity and soulful depth. And so it is that this portrait of a mother, a turtle and mild winters is more than what it might initially seem. It reveals a story of how relationships rise to the occasion of unpredictable climate change, the escalation of extreme weather events and strong temperature fluctuations, developing a resilience in which not only making provisions but above all providing mindful care plays a crucial role.CREW:
Director: G. Anthony Svatek
Sales:
sixpackfilm
Neubaugasse 45/13
A-1070 Vienna, Austria
Tel: +43 1 526 09 90 0
[email protected]
Director
G. Anthony Svatek
Having grown up at the foot of the Austrian Alps, G. Anthony Svatek is deeply awed by the living world, and the way people’s understanding of nature is informed by our increasingly technological and urban lives. He is based in New York City.
His work has been shown at the New York Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and DOCNYC among others, and has been published by Harper’s Magazine. He has received grants and support from the New York State Council on the Arts and the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, and is the recipient of the New Visions Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Anthony works professionally for the Kulturfolger Productions company, which includes projects for BBC World News, Deutsche Welle, and the New York State Parks Department. He has staffed seasonally at the Flaherty Film Seminar, the Climate Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History.Selected Filmography
Some Thoughts on the Common Toad (2023), .TV (2017), Orange Trill (2016), As You Pass By (2014), Early '12, New York, Aware (2012) 
