Viennale, the international film festival in Vienna, kicks off. The Italian Eva Sangiorgi will direct it
From 20 October to 1 November 2022, the Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival, the most important international film festival in Austria, which turns 60 this year, is held in the Austrian capital. At the direction of the Italian Eva Sangiorgi.
Viennale – Vienna International Film Festivalthe most important international film review of Austria, turns out this year sixty years. In October the festival takes place annually in the cinemas of the historic center of Vienna and offers a careful selection of new movie from all over the world and from Austria, some of which in international preview. A total of film of the fourteenth century which offer the space a glimpse of an audience type of cinema that is detached from the mainstream and politically relevant line. The program always features great titles of various genres and lengths. A high quality event that attracts many visitors every year (before the pandemic) and many young people, and above all in addition to gala screenings, special events and parties, it also includes interviews, with the public and opportunities to meet with the international guests of the festival. Every year the Viennale also organizes one great retrospective on relevant aspects of the history of cinema in collaboration with theAustrian cinema museum, monographs, cinematographies and historiographies and for these often obtained international recognition. At the end of the festival the FIPRESCI Award by the International Association of Film Critics, the Vienna Film Prize of the City of Vienna, the Erste Bank More VALUE Filmaward and the DER STANDARD-Viennale-Audience-Award.
Born in 1960 from a group of Austrian film journalists formed around the journalist Sigmund Kennedy (who would become the first director of the Viennale) who believed in the importance of film as an art formin a “time of lead” in which Austria was trying to reinvent itself as a cultural power and cinema was instead considered a leisure activity for the lower classes or in any case a lower artistic phenomenon, the festival, overcoming times of crisis, has always increased more its position, coming today to be considered the most important event in Austria with a international orientation is one urban style which characterizes him at the same time as well as one of the oldest and best known festivals in the German-speaking world. This too seeks to face new difficulties, not least the pandemic, and to address the needs of the present.
This year the Viennale will take place from 20 October to 1 November 2022 under the direction of Eva Sangiorgi, prima donna to direct the Viennale, Italian premiere to play that role. Born in Faenza, graduated in Communication Sciences from the University of Bologna and passionate about cinema, she began her career in Mexico City where, in addition to achieving a second degree in Art History at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, she founded the international film festival FICUNAM, of which she was artistic and commercial director until the beginning of 2018. It was in that year that she was asked to direct, as creative director, the Viennale and still plays this important role today. In the Austrian capital, therefore, a new professional career begins for her, as well as a new personal experience; Vienna is one open citycosmopolyte And here he finds his places of the heart.
For this edition 2022 was chosen as guide image a majestic and roaring lion in which they combine various artistic techniques: the brushstroke highlights the sinuous shape and suggests agility and power, while the print underlines the lively and iridescent color and refers to the pictorial symbolism of oriental art. It is a representation of the early nineteenth century, which has crossed cultures and traditions and still has a mysterious effect today. The original work was in fact created by Katsushika Hokusai, which combined woodcut and painting. Hokusai has created a dynamic figure full of temperament, which recalls the movement that is also expressed in the famous Wave. A roaring lion that awakens from its torpor and announces a festival in which everyone participates with passion. Come on it shishi (ie the guardian lion) who should protect himself from misfortunes, this feline is the most suitable talisman for the festival; it represents not only the courage of cinema proposed in cinemas, but also the construction of a deep cultural and social bridge to which it aspires; it represents the story of a festival that has lasted for sixty years (with the exception of the only three years in which the Viennale was not held, namely 1961, 1983 and 1990).
To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the festival were commissioned short trailer to authors from different parts of the world, each with their own traditions. Each therefore has its own different perception of the film worldthus reflecting the diversity and richness of contemporary cinema. “The authors whose trailers we present to you represent different points of view of contemporary cinema for me,” he says Eva Sangiorgi. “They are authors that I respect and deeply admire. Their short films seem to approach and different sensitivities, they all talk about cinema, its history and the world around us ”. They are Claire Denis, Nina Menkes, Sergei Loznitsa, Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Narcisa Hirsch. All established, award-winning and widely experienced filmmakers who have through the documentary, political or more narrative form.
Alongside the main program, Viennale 2022 provides monographs dedicate a Med Hondothe founder of African cinema, ea Elaine May, the queen of comedy. The first features nine films from the European and American archives, which have recently been restored, including her directorial debut, SOLEIL Ô (1970), a significant example of creativity and uniqueness that distinguishes African cinema from the American and European film tradition. Hondo’s works explore various styles and genres, from melodrama and documentary to musical. Four films directed by her will be presented instead of her second reflection that make you laugh but also laugh. This year she received her Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
As always, programs are also planned cinematography (short films and feature films made between 1972 and 2017 on tenpi di crisis, in its various aspects) and historiography (dedicated to Argentine noir cinema).
There will obviously be many international guests and also, on 28 October, in collaboration with the Volkstheater in Viennathe Viennale will organize a performative evening with readings and musical performances to celebrate Werner Herzog’s 80th birthday and his invaluable contribution to an ever provocative cinema, considered one of the most important exponents of the so-called new German cinema, as well as one of the greatest living filmmakers.
For all the info and the complete program you can visit the official site of the Festival and the site austria.info
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