Marc-Aurel is a street in Vienna where, at the time this documentary was being filmed in 1999-2000, Ruth Beckermann used to live. It is also a street that used to be famous for its jewish textile mechants. In an attempt to capture the spirit and diversity of the neighbourhood, the filmmaker visits the five or six cafés it boasts, painting a series of vivid and complex portraits of the people who, through their daily presence, breath life into them. Each and every one has their own story to tell, one more fascinating than the next — from the Iranian owner of Salzgries café with his unique theory about how Viennese intellectuals see foreigners, to the charming textile merchant whose parents were killed in the Holocaust. The area seems ideal to host a variety of people, from different generations, cultures, and with different interests and habits. The only spectre threatening this harmony is the result of the 2000 elections, which saw an extreme right wing party joining the governing coalition. (Andrei Rus)