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| We present three films which,while
not fitting into the parameters of our competitive programme,we
feel strongly about.And for different reasons.Fragile
not alone for the fact that it contains memorable images
but also for the way Jens Jonsson gets into these characters.
Equally so for Mikkonen's feat of balancing the whimsical
with the sombre as well as how the serious point of Salem's
Cousins sits easily with its spontaneous energy. |
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FRAGILE
JENS JONSSON
Sweden | 2004 | 42mins | 35mm | Black & White
| Subtitled
Having just been dumped by her partner of more
than twenty years for a younger attractive woman,
train mechanic Sonja tries to win him back. When
he rejects her attempt to win him back she resigns
herself to the fact that life goes on. She tells
her colleague and hapless admirer Kenneth that
she is going to concentrate on her career. When
she clasps eyes on the new conductor, a taciturn
individual with a mysterious past, she detects
in him the substance that she craves. She throws
herself at him but finds it hard to penetrate
his inscrutable faŤade. Eventually he relents
but Sonja comes to realise that she must face
up to her flaws before she can live with herself.
A tender sympathetic portrait of flawed individuals
who sell themselves short by giving themselves
away too cheaply or who refuse to open up at all.
Allied with Askild Vik Edvardsen's stunning photography
Jonsson manages to sprinkle the most banal moments
with lyrical gold dust.
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99 YEARS OF MY LIFE
99 VUOTTA ELÁMÁSTÁNI
MARJA MIKKONEN
Finland | 2003 | 33mins | Beta | Colour | Subtitled
Meanings are created by moments, but to truly
understand them we need to travel a short distance
in time. Based on the lives, memories, fears and
expectations of four women of different ages,
99 Years Of My Life creates one fictional autobiography
that runs through one life from birth to death.
Taking an experimental approach that also incorporates
found footage and animation this is an inventive
and accessible piece of work in which a world
of possibility is opened up. It also reminds us
that life is never so poignant as when we are
looking forward and never more so than when we
are in such charming company.
Deuxiéme Prix de la Cinéfondation
- Cannes, 2004
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COUSINS COUSINES
LYES SALEM
France | 2003 | 32mins | 35mm | Colour | Subtitled
After an absence of four years Driss returns
home to Algeria for a vacation. While surrounded
by his extended family he meets Nedjma, a somewhat
shy and reserved distant cousin. An unspoken bond
develops between them. However she is already
betrothed to Driss' cousin, Amrane. Traditional
roles are played out within domestic confines
but when a fourteen-year-old girl is shot for
not wearing a headscarf the ripples are felt through
the different generations of women, finding an
outlet for expression in the aspirations of those
younger. Driss' urge for equality brings him into
conflict with Amrane's desire for achieving traditional
goals, leaving Nedjma caught in the middle. Lead
actor Salem's direction possesses a lightness
of touch, which avoids clumsy commentary and allows
a glance to speak volumes.
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Since 1995,the Viennale Film Festival has presented
itself on the screen by means of a classically composed
Festival Trailer.But it has always been an entirely
independent and autonomous moment of cinema which was
neither solely advertisement nor representation. Minimalist,intense,lively
piece films,standing for themselves and cinema as a
whole at the same time.The developed works are as different
from each other as one could imagine,each being a little
world of its own.They are all moments of cinema,free
from any restrictions or expectations,only given the
time constraint of one minute.To celebrate the tenth
year of this,the Viennale has produced a special 35mm
print of all ten films made so far.
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FILM SPRICT
VIELE SPRACHEN
GUSTAV DEUTSCH
Austria | 1min |1995
A film of found footage, out of 39 fragments of
an Indian feature found in Casablanca (including
the material's scratches, damages and perforations),
a new film emerges.
FILM IST MEHR
ALS FILM
GUSTAV DEUTSCH
Austria | 1min |1996
Twenty-four 2-second quotes from movie soundtracks,
interrupted by 24 frames of eye movement, framed
by the phrase "FILM is more than FILM".
DER V'97 - TRAILER
MARTIN ARNOLD
Austria | 1min | 1997
One of the most famous scenes in film history:
The shower scene from Psycho... with all the actors
erased.
PIETÁ
BRUCE BAILLIE
USA | 1min | 1998
A condensed work of his film Memories Of An Angel
, individual scenes of children in the Philippines;
birds in Washington state and his wife on a beach.
All at last light of day. "Te Lucius Ante
Terminum".
GET READY
PETER TSCHERKASSKY Austria | 1min | 1999 Using
found footage, an idyllic scene at the sea moves
to a speedy sequence of a car driving at night.
The radical movement of objects, bodies and senses
illustrates the power of cinema.
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BREEZE
MATTHIAS M†LLER Germany | 1min |2000
An avantgarde poem that recreates an imaginary,
forever changeable world of filmstars and filmsets,
of curtains and whitescreens, moved by a mysterious
breeze. A fascinating vision of cinema's endless
possibilities.
WIEN UND MOZART
JONAS MEKAS
USA | 1min |2001
Footage of Mekas' brief return to visit his mother
in Lithunia whom he had not seen in 27 years.
He waited a further 30 years to release it.
ELVIS
JONAS MEKAS
USA | 1min | 2001
Images of a frenetic Elvis Presley during the
final performance of his 1972 concert series set
to a Strauss Waltz.
SB
STAN BRAKHAGE
USA | 1min | 2002
An exceptionally colourful, handpainted film,
merging the essential ingredients of cinema: colour,
light and movement.
CARTE DE VISITE ERNIE GEHR
USA | 1min |2003
Drifting clouds. That's all there is to see. Thick
grey smog moving slowly and majestically over
the screen. A few birds screech, but are roared
out of it by a plane engine. Then a fade to black.
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