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FESTIVALS Austria

Vibrant opening for colourful Viennale

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In the Austrian capital this evening, the Viennale (October 22-November 4) will kick off with a screening of Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel’s Italian/Austrian co-production La Pivellina [+see also:
film review
trailer
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]
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The film, which tells the story of an abandoned child taken in by circus performers, was presented in this year’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and won the Europa Cinemas Label Award. It is the first Austrian production to open the Viennale in the event’s history.

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As always, among the 89 features on the line-up are the latest works by seasoned directors, including Jacques Rivette’s Around a Small Mountain [+see also:
film review
trailer
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, Lars von Trier’s controversial Antichrist [+see also:
film review
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interview: Lars von Trier
film profile
]
, Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Jean-Marie Straub’s Corneille - Brecht (co-directed by Cornelia Geiser) , Manoel de Oliveira’s Eccentricities of a Blonde-haired Girl [+see also:
film review
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]
and Francis Ford Coppola’s European co-production Tetro [+see also:
film review
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]
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The programme also features works by representatives of the new European cinema, who have won acclaim at international festivals. Titles include Austrian director Jessica Hausner’s Lourdes [+see also:
film review
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interview: Jessica Hausner
film profile
]
, Police, Adjective [+see also:
film review
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interview: Corneliu Porumboiu
film profile
]
by Romania’s Corneliu Porumbiou, French director Jacques Audiard’s A Prophet [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard and Tahar R…
film profile
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(winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes), fellow French director Claire DenisWhite Material [+see also:
film review
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]
, Welcome [+see also:
film review
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making of
interview: Philippe Lioret
film profile
]
by another Gallic helmer Philippe Lioret, and UK director Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrea Arnold
film profile
]
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Viennese audiences will also get the chance to discover films by completely new talents, including Portuguese director João Pedro RodriguesTo Die Like a Man [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Eastern Plays [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kamen Kalev
film profile
]
by Bulgaria’s Kamen Kalev (LUX Prize 2009 competition) and UK helmer Duncan JonesMoon [+see also:
film review
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]
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Also on the line-up are 60 documentaries, including Abel Ferrara’s Italian co-production Napoli Napoli Napoli; Pedro Costa’s French/Lusitanian co-production Ne Change Rien [+see also:
film review
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film profile
]
(“Change Nothing”), about the actress Jeanne Balibar; and Romuald Karmakar’s German title Villalobos [+see also:
film review
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]
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Besides showing around 50 shorts and a huge retrospective of transgressive US films, the Viennale will also host a tribute to UK actress Tilda Swinton, a programme dedicated to Berlin’s German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) and a section focusing on early Austrian cinema.

As usual, the festival will present the Vienna Film Prize to an Austrian title released during the last 12 months. In a new move, as of this year, the prize will be split to honour both narrative films and documentaries (with €14,000 for each of the winners).

Other distinctions include the Der Standard Readers’ Jury Award, for a title that has not yet found an Austrian distributor, and the FIPRESCI Prize for debut and second features.

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(Translated from French)

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