ACFNY RECOMMENDS | FILM FESTIVAL DIAGONALE – FESTIVAL OF AUSTRIAN FILM
Year after year, Diagonale, the Festival of Austrian Film, sheds light on Austria’s vibrant film and video scene. The personal encounters with filmmakers and their work, as well as the productive encounters of various cinematic genres are central to the festival. In addition, the festival offers a comprehensive Support and Mediation Program, consisting of a Film Industry Meeting, talks and debates on cultural and political topics, as well as exhibitions and workshops. 2013 offers a Select Program with outstanding current films and documentaries. The Year’s Retrospective presents an illustrative cross-section of Austrian productions. These include numerous highlights of last year’s cinematic achievements such as Michael Haneke’s Amour, Ulrich Seidl’s PARADISE Trilogy and Barbara Albert’s Die Lebenden (The Dead and the Living). The Special Programs broaden the focus and serve to elucidate the range of Austrian cinematic productions as well as to shed light on its legacy.
The Diagonale 2013 Festival Trailer, by Josef Dabernig:
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Ulrich Seidl’s PARADISE: Hope will kick off the Diagonale festival. Seidl is not only one of the most prominent figures in Austrian filmmaking, but it is his discerning eye for the marginal elements of our society and unique cinematic language that make him one of the most important voices of international contemporary film. PARADISE: Hope is the last installment of the already celebrated PARADISE trilogy. On March 15, all three films of the trilogy will be screened at the Diagonale festival, followed by a Q&A with with director Ulrich Seidl.
Josef Dabernig and Michaela Grill, two exceptional proponents of contemporary experimental film, will be the subjects of a 2013 Diagonale Spotlight Feature. Both artists will be in attendance at the festival to present their work in its entirety. Josef Dabernig’s conceptually informed films typically unfold in a confined setting characterized by structures and conditions of a social and cultural nature. He has regularly produced short films, which have been showcased in both exhibitions and larger film festivals. Whereas Dabernig still works in analog, Michaela Grill is one of the most prominent exponents of digital art in Austria. Her videos deal with the question of cinematic perception, in which it is not the faithful reproduction of reality that interests her, but rather the potential for manipulation, reduction, and translation into an abstract form. The feature presentation will comprise her complete body, and as a highlight will feature an audio-visual live performance in collaboration with radio Ö1 at the Festival Center Kunsthaus Graz.
This year’s tribute will be dedicated to Dominik Graf. Since 1975, Graf has made over 50 films, yet cannot be easily categorized: auteur films, essays and documentary films belong just as much in his wide-ranging work as do thrillers and numerous television crime films. The Diagonale will be focusing on Graf’s thrillers, which he will personally present and discuss in Graz.
The installment of the series “FilmExil”, in association with Synema and the Austrian Film Museum, will offer a glimpse into the cinematic works of director, scriptwriter, and producer Paul Czinner. Born in Vienna in 1890, Czinner became famous for his pre-expressionistic films in the 1920s (The Woman He Scorned; Der träumende Mund), before Hitler’s ascent to power in Vienna forced him and his wife to flee to London. There, the costume opera Catherine the Great was created and Czinner successfully filmed ballet and opera pieces in documentary-style productions. Czinner died in 1972 in London.
Special Program Shooting Women III: Identification presents the series “Shooting Women – Pioneering Women in Austrian Film” from Filmarchiv Austria, currently in its third edition this year. This time the theme-oriented priority program will be addressing the notion of identity construction. This will include the presentation of VALIE EXPORT’s feature film Menschenfrauen (1979) and the second part of a five-part Austrian film saga from the 1980s called Lebenslinien, by Käthe Kratz.
The Institut Schamlos will present this year’s Special program Austrian Pulp, a show which offers both subversion and an element of cult status. It will include Eddy Saller’s Austrian exploitation film Schamlos (1968) as well as Helmut Pfandler’s Die Wölfin vom Teufelsmoor aka Tod im November (1978). There will also be an evening dedicated to the filmmaker Caro B., alias Carl Andersen, the highlight of which will be the Viennese garage-splatter film I Was a Teenage Zabbadoing (1988). At the close of the show there will be a discussion held with the friends and companions of Caro B. and a party and live concert hosted by Institut Schamlos, with music by Modell Doo.
Following the highly successful industry events of past years the Diagonale will be hosting a similar meeting in 2013, in collaboration with national and international partners. This year, the event will focus on aspects of project and subject matter development. As in years past, the 2013 Industry Meeting will serve as a venue for the exchange of information and networking between Austrian industry professionals and their European counterparts. The exponentially growing numbers of industry professionals taking part in the event every year attests to the immense demand.
For detailed information on all Diagonale programs, please visit: en.diagonale.at
VENUE
Festivalzentrum Kunsthaus Graz
Lendkai 1
8020 Graz
AUSTRIA