Die Frauen von Friedegg | Her Own Way (2026)

For more than 180 years, Villa Friedegg has been owned by women who defied the conventions of their time. Filmmaker Lisa Punz follows their traces, uncovering stories of courage, resilience, and self-determination that still resonate today.

A FILM BY LISA PUNZ & MICHAEL HECHT

Coming soon.

With its multi-generational narrative from a female perspective, the documentary “Her Own Way” represents a contribution to women’s historiography. It describes not only the achievements of the female owners of a country manor, but also the challenges and discrimination they have faced due to the patriarchal structures around them. The history of a single place tells a story that is relevant for society as a whole. Despite the changing political context over the manor’s 180-year-long history, a common thread runs through the generations of its female owners – the striving for self-determination. The film reveals the lives of these women, lives that would have otherwise been forgotten. “Her Own Way” is a story by women about women. It is a story that must be told.

SUMMARY

On a hill at the edge of an Upper Austrian village sits Villa Friedegg [freed-ek]. Built in 1842, the villa has changed hands several times over the past 180 years. Remarkably, all of its owners have been women.

Filmmaker Lisa Punz sets out to trace the lives of these women. Aristocrats and members of the middle-class, the newly rich and the newly poor, an artist and a businesswoman, a princess and a courtesan—all left their mark on Friedegg. Their stories tell of loss and tragic love, war and exile, social constraints, and women who defied the conventions of their time.

In an era when women were denied the right to determine their own lives, Friedegg became a place of refuge, freedom, and possibility—a place where each could find her own way.

Through diaries, historical traces, and fictionalized scenes based on true events, the women of Friedegg come to life again and are at last given the chance to tell their stories. Their individual struggles and choices reveal surprising parallels across generations—and show how closely past and present remained intertwined at Friedegg.