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Vienna - Two local Austrian politicians were forced to resign on Friday because they appeared amid Nazi memorabilia in a documentary shown at this year's Venice Film Festival.
The film In the Basement, from award-winning Austrian director Ulrich Seidl, investigates the dark and absurd goings-on in Austrian cellars.
In one scene, a collector of National Socialist memorabilia sings a merry drinking song with other men in the midst of his subterranean hoard, which includes a Hitler portrait and a swastika flag.
Political pressure mounted on two of the guests after Austrian broadcaster Puls 4 identified them this week as councilmen in the town of Marz, near the Hungarian border.
"It was a mistake to take part in such a film shooting", the two members of the centre-right People's Party said on Friday, stressing that they do not follow Nazi ideology.
They were not yet councilmen when the scene was shot by Seidl, who won Grand Jury Prizes in Venice in 2001 and 2012.
