19/09/2005

This week-end, Antonin Svoboda presented his first feature, Spiele Leben [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (You Bet Your Life), at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, proving that his contribution to the 7th art takes many forms.
Svoboda is indeed more famous for his work as a producer for Coop 99, a company also directed by the artists Barbara Albert, Jessica Hausner, and Martin Gschlacht (DoP for this film) which has become one of the most active producers of quality films in Austria, with films screened at the most prestigious festivals such as Venice (Darwin's Nightmare by Hubert Sauper, Venice Days – Europa Cinemas label 2004) and Cannes, where many Coop99 movies were screened: Lovely Rita [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2001) and Hotel [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2004) by Jessica Hausner, as well as The Edukators (Official Selection 2004) by Hans Weingartner and Sleeper (Un certain regard 2005) by Benjamin Heisenberg (see News 20/5).

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In You Bet Your Life, also presented a week ago in the 'Discovery' section of Toronto, the young Vienna-born director draws us into a dangerous spiral. The main character, Kurt (Georg Friedrich), a compulsive gambler who takes chances with money and his life, is presented as an anti-hero, the negative version of a genius (represented here by Mozart). The Canadian public was very impressed by this film, and especially by the actors Georg Friedrich (71 Fragments by Michael Haneke, C(r)ook by Pepe Danquart, Welcome Home by Andreas Gruber...) and Birgit Minichmayr (seen in Hotel and Downfall by Oliver Hirschbiegel), two up-and-coming European talents.

You Bet Your Life, produced by Coop99 in co-production with Swiss partner (Schweizer Fernsehen DRS), is sold by Bavaria Film International.

(Translated from French)