The 25th Diagonale opened on Tuesday evening in the Helmut List Hall in Graz with the presentation of the Grand Acting Prize to Branko Samarovski. In their opening speech, directors Sebastian Höglinger and Peter Schernhuber also addressed Russia’s war against Ukraine and the relationship between culture and politics: “In the future, it will no longer be enough to illuminate buildings in colour.”
Instead of painting buildings in yellow and blue, “politics could turn back to politics and art to art. Even if the relationship is always a complex one,” said the directors. “Solidarity with Ukraine, its citizens. Solidarity with the Russian opposition. Solidarity with the longing for a beautiful life and private happiness. From Odessa to Moscow, from Kyiv to Graz.”
The longing for a good life can sometimes also be found in the refuge film: “Anyone looking for the way to the cinema on the Diagonale usually does so to get their mind off things. Other thoughts in terms of distraction and other thoughts in terms of knowledge. In both cases it’s about leaving your own view of things behind, at least temporarily.” In the words of Fran Lebowitz: “When you go to the cinema or the theater, it shouldn’t always be about only encountering mirror images: A book is not supposed to be a mirror. It’s supposed to be a door. So when we walk through this door with the cinema, we become aware that our own perspective is relative and flexible,” the speech said.
The cinema is full of longing and social explorations, full of the search for little paradises. An example of this is the opening film “Sonne” by Kurdwin Ayubs. This shows that “our present now always requires a global and a regional view of things at the same time”. “Sonne” emphasizes “that one should not overestimate cultural identities because they can change at any time and the longing behind them for a beautiful and happy life is universal. ‘Sonne’ tells of globality, which rejects provincialization from the right as well as culturalization from the left,” the speech said.
(SERVICE – Diagonale 2022. From 5th to 10th April 2022.)