06/12/2012 - Daniel Hoesl’s two liberated heroines are off to compete at the festival created by Robert Redford, before heading on to Rotterdam for the European premiere of their adventures

After his first feature about Stockholm syndrome (The Truth, 2008), which he shot in New York barely aged 30, Austrian director Daniel Hoesl (photo) is now to return to the United States to screen his second feature Soldier Jane, this time directed in German. This women’s tale, written by Hoesl himself, has indeed been invited to participate in the Sundance Film Festival’s international competition for narrative features (World Cinema Dramatic Competition - festival from January 17 to 27, 2013), after which he is to make his European premiere in the competition at the 42nd Rotterdam Film Festival (from January 23 to February 3).

In Soldier Jane, starring Johanna Orsini-Rosenberg and Christina Reichsthaler, two women leave their former lives behind – Fanni with money, Anna with her pigs’ farm – to seek freedom and really blossom. In his very stylised minimalist style, Hoesl relies on his two actresses (the film’s very intense casting phase took place before screenwriting) to let human truths emerge from the places and slices of life portrayed.

This title made on a very small budget is the first feature to be produced by A European Film Conspiracy. It was shot in Vienna and Lower Austria between October and November 2011, with the support of the concerned regional funds and the Austrian culture ministry.

(Translated from French)