Editor

VIENNA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: OCTOBER 25 – NOVEMBER 8, 2018

Viennale-Director Eva Sangiorgi gave a first preview and presented some of the highlights of this year’s festival. HERE you find the first outline of feature films and documentaries and we are happy to announce the first selected Special Programs.

As announced previously, the main program eliminates the separation between fiction and documentary films in an attempt to go beyond the injustice – or the imprecision of categories – that in our contemporary times fails to honor the complexity of a language – the filmic language – shared between diferent registers. Many filmmakers will be relieved and the audience will find some gratifying surprises that will give rise to questions and observations on film expressed through images and sound. In this program you will find great titles premiered around the world, from Cannes to Buenos Aires, in a great variety of forms and lengths, as well as tones and genres. Because if we talk about filmic genres these can be explicit but it is also possible to evoke them, suggest them, mix them, and influence them.

Thus, we have some of the greatest contemporary filmmakers such as the award-winning director from the Philippines, Lav Diaz, with his film ANG PANAHON NG HALIMAW; Jean-Luc Godard and LE LIVRE D’IMAGE; BEO-NING, by the South Korean Lee Changdong; and 3 FACES, by the Iranian master Jafar Panahi; or the passionate love story set to the background of the Cold War and the various musical arrangements of those days, Pawel Pawlikowski’s ZIMNA WOJNA.

ANGELO Markus Schleinzer, A/LUX 2018 TARDE PARA MORIR JOVEN Dominga Sotomayor, Chile/Brasilien/ Argentinien/NL 2018 FOTBAL INFINIT Corneliu Porumboiu, RO 2018

We continue with some filmmakers, whose steps the Viennale has followed since their beginnings: Debra Granik, who causes political provocation from a family perspective in LEAVE NO TRACE; Corneliu Porumboiu, who uses soccer as a way of reading the characters of individuals in FOTBAL INFINIT; Radu Jude’s ÎMI ESTE INDIFERENT DACA IN ISTORIE VOM INTRA CA BARBARI, in which he deals with the responsibility and historical memory of exposing the trade of filmmakers; or Dominga Sotomayor’s TARDE PARA MORIR JOVEN, the intimate and vaguely autobiographical third feature film by this year’s best director in Locarno.

You will also find clues for recognizing new auteurs who erupt onto the global film scene with suggestive and original works which, in many cases, can already be considered fundamental and unforgettable pieces. We will present an epic first feature by the determined artist and writer from China, Hu Bo, who passed away last year, DA XIANG XI DI ER ZUO, as well as his recently found and previously unknown short film.

The provocative film TOUCH ME NOT, by the Romanian Adina Pintilie, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Festival, questions sexuality, sensuality, and humanity in a formally and visually brave film. In an animation piece, VIRUS TROPICAL, the Colombian filmmaker Santiago Caicedo brilliantly adapts Power Paola’s acclaimed graphic novel about the passage into adulthood with all its commitments and discoveries. We also pay special attention to the work of artists who make an incursion into cinema by using inspiration from connecting fields, such as Richard Billingham’s arresting and rigorous first film, RAY & LIZ, from an autobiographical story; or Dora García’s personal translation of Oscar Masotta’s performative work and of fundamental authors such as Julio Cortázar and Macedonio Fernández in SEGUNDA VEZ.

There will also be a lot more to discover, in other formats. We are honored with the presence of Austrian cinema, and we announce the premiere of Sudabeh Mortezai’s JOY, a delicate and pungent film on the phenomenon of migration; and ANGELO, by Markus Schleinzer, who questions – from a historical perspective and through a rigorous and exquisite staging – power relations, racism, and social classes.

New at the Viennale 2018

The Viennale is pleased to announce that it will significantly expand its collaboration with the Austrian Filmmuseum this year. As one of the Viennale’s venues, the Filmmuseum will not only house the Retrospective but also serve as an additional festival cinema.

“We are happy that the Filmmuseum and the Viennale are able to further expand their long-standing collaboration,” says Viennale director Eva Sangiorgi.

“The Filmmuseum will not only serve as a venue for the Retrospective, The B–Film, but will also show specials and contemporary productions during the festival,” says Michael Loebenstein, director of the Austrian Filmmuseum. “It’s an opportunity for the audience to experience the past, the present and a possible future of the medium of film in the ‘Invisible Cinema’.”

The Viennale Festival Center will move into Hall 2 of the Museumsquartier and extend its range of events. During the day, an increased number of talks and lectures will give audiences the opportunity to exchange ideas with the filmmakers. At night, as in previous years visitors can look forward to concerts, parties and DJ lines. Last but not least: To take into account all things new, the graphics and layout of our publications and the Viennale website will also undergo some gentle changes.