Films by sections

The selected feature films and documentaries tell of women in today’s working world on their way to empowerment in the form of their first real job, or their first job at all (PREMIÈRE CAMPAGNE, I DOULIA TIS), of breaking free from economic constraints (CHEZ JOLIE COIFFURE), and of the corset of normalized job placement (REISE NACH JERUSALEM).

The Working Worlds Essay can be found HERE.

The contributions in this section deal with armed conflicts and their often drastic effects (CHRIS THE SWISS, SRBENKA, WE DID WHAT HAD TO BE DONE), right-wing populism of authoritarian rulers (SVIDETELI PUTINA, HUNGARY 2018), shed light on the situation of young people on the edges of Europe (TRANSNISTRA, HOME GAMES), day-to-day observations and studies of milieu (DRAUSSEN, L’ÎLE AU TRÉSOR), and artistically combine family histories and selected periods in contemporary European history (HEIMAT IST EIN RAUM AUS ZEIT, LA DERNIÈRE DENTRE ELLES). Also in this section, two of the directors have been previous guests in Linz, namely Vitaly Mansky and Thomas Heise.

Four of the directors of the selected film have been previous guests of CROSSING EUROPE: Agnieszka Smoczyńska (2016: The Lure), Nadejda Koseva (2005: Lost and Found, and 2016: as the producer of JAJDA), Simon Jaquemet (2015: CHRIEG), and Roman Bondarchuk (2016: UKRAINIAN SHERIFFS).

Once again the highly popular LOCAL ARTISTS section offers an overview on the current Upper Austrian film landscape. Next to fresh music videos, cool experimental films and current short film productions, the local competition impresses with selected full-length documentaries that deal with displacement and integration, alternative ways of living and the beginnings of the anti-nuclear power movement in Austria. There is a Special dedicated to Edith Stauber, and a selection of experimental productions will once again be shown at the Deep Space 8K at the Ars Electronica Center, the opener of this section is a cinematic homage to the internationally renowned photographer Elfie Semotan.

As a motto, the curator chose: “Dance your Fears! Dancing with fear in my eyes.”, calling out to people that we should never let ourselves be brought to our knees by our fears. “This diffuse thunderstorm of fear in our hearts and minds must never be instrumentalized by the few to preserve power.” The five selected films present five worlds of fear – a fight for survival in the arctic ice (ARCTIC), a dystopia shaped by terror and xenophobia (DANMARKS SØNNER), the Parisian hardcore subculture in the 1970s (UN COUTEAU DANS LE CŒUR), and the return to the seemingly peaceful life on the countryside with nature (THE HOLE IN THE GROUND, KOKO-DI KOKO-DA).

After studying in the USA (a.o at the TISCH School of Arts, NYU), Iris Elezi returned to Albania, where she dedicated herself to the Albanian cinematic heritage and its conservation next to her work as a director, producer, screen writer, and lecturer. Twenty-seven years after the fall of the isolated Stalinist dictatorship in Albania, it is still the case that little is known about the cinema from this southern European country. As a co-founder of the initiative The Albanian Cinema Project, Iris Elezi is a key figure in conserving the national cinematic heritage not only in a material but also in an ideological sense. In this context, they organize e.g. film screenings, in order to sensitize the public to the filmmaking from the time of the dictatorship, that is understandably rejected by large parts of the population. Iris Elezi describes her efforts for a critical revaluation of the Albanian cinematic heritage, that without a doubt also plays a part in the education on cultural identity, as such: “We must free ourselves from this collective amnesia.” The film selection for her Carte Blanche is split between a historic part and current productions. Next to three feature films from the recommended director Xhanfise Keko from the 1970s, the historic program also includes a comedy blockbuster from the post-Hoxha era by one of the central figures of Albanian cinema, Dhimiter Anagnosti.

The “current” program section offers an ideal introduction into the Albanian cinematic universe with the documentary by Mark Cousins that is full of facts, yet has hardly been received by an international audience. The section is complemented by two further feature films, next to BOTA by Iris Elezi, the very recent and highly successful production that was shown at multiple international festivals, NËNTOR I FTOHTË by Ismet Sijarina will be shown

More information about our 2019 Spotlight HERE.

Jaime Rosales was born in 1970 in Barcelona and studied at the prestigious San Antonio de los Baños International Film and Television School (EICTV) in Cuba. After that, he went to Australia, where he continued his studies at the Australian Film Television and Radio School Broadcasting Entertainment (AFTRSBE). He then returned to Europe and began to work for television as a screen writer and founded his own production company Fresdeval Films in 2001.

Already his first feature film (LAS HORAS DEL DÍA) was highly successful internationally and had its world premiere – as with four other of his films – at the international film festival in Cannes. He has become one of the most important voices in Spanish contemporary cinema, and seems to re-invent himself in every one of his films. No film is like the last, and yet every one of his six feature films bares his artistic handwriting. What is particularly impressive is his joy of experimentation as well as the consistency with which Rosales realizes his cinematographic vision every time. Sometimes he experiments with technical “gimmicks” (e.g. the use of split-screens in LA SOLEDAD, or what was still considered to be new media at the time, e.g. Skype 21 in HERMOSA JUVENTUD), other times, the stringent camera work leaves a lasting impression. Think of the terror-drama TIRO EN LA CABEZA, where the camera is never close to the action, but rather watches everything from afar, much like in a nature documentary (Rosales himself made this comparison in an interview). It also becomes apparent in his current production PETRA that the excessive use of pans with the steady cam was chosen explicitly as a stylistic device. Rosales works both with professional actors as well as with amateurs. Sometimes he does entirely without dialogue, sometimes language is an integral part in his work.

His films are shaped by a keen sense of observation and an instinct for social disturbances, be it the murderer “next door” (LAS HORAS DEL DÍA), the missing perspectives of the younger generation in Spain (HERMOSA JUVENTUD), the social structures in a family as a multilayered micro cosmos (SUEÑO Y SILENCIO), the bombings in Madrid (LA SOLEDAD), or the ETA terror (TIRO EN LA CABEZA). His works are also defined by an infallible sense of atmosphere that cleverly draws the audience into the stories, and makes people deal with topics that they would rather not think about. Being overt a stylist, Jaime Rosales is always interested in exploring boundaries when telling stories on the silver screen. 

More information HERE.

// The Tribute 2019 is carried out in collaboration with the Institut Ramon Llull. //