“kulturMontag”: Rushdie interview, Helnwein show for the 75er, Kiev Biennale, etc. in Vienna

2023-10-20 13:12:43

Then for her 80th birthday: “Catherine Deneuve – A Life on the Screen” and “The Jewel” – on October 23rd from 10:30 p.m. on ORF 2

Vienna (OTS) – The “kulturMontag” presented by Peter Schneeberger on October 23, 2023 at 10:30 p.m. on ORF 2 will feature one of the rare interviews with writer Salman Rushdie, who will be awarded the German Book Trade Peace Prize there, on the occasion of the Frankfurt Book Fair. A guest in the studio is star painter Gottfried Helnwein, to whom a large-scale exhibition in the Albertina is dedicated to mark his 75th birthday. Another topic of the program: the 5th Kiev Biennale, which this year offers a European level and, in addition to locations in the Ukraine, also exhibits in Vienna.
After the magazine, the portrait “Catherine Deneuve – A Life on the Screen” (11:15 p.m.) is on the program for the actress’s 80th birthday, followed by François Ozon’s comedy “The Jewel” (12:05 a.m.) with Catherine Deneuve and Gérard, among others Depardieu. The latter can be seen on ORF 2 on Sunday, October 22nd at 11:05 p.m.

Are words winners? – Peace Prize winner Salman Rushdie in conversation

In times of war and crisis, the international literary industry comes together for the 75th anniversary of the Frankfurt Book Fair. The fact that the geopolitical signs were pointing towards a storm was already apparent at the start of the world’s largest book show; the overarching topic of the Middle East war caused tumult at the opening ceremony after the speech by the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. The highest level of security will be in place in Frankfurt when the British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie is awarded the German Book Trade’s Peace Prize on Sunday. The 76-year-old literary superstar, who was seriously injured in an assassination attempt a year ago, received the award “for his indomitability, his affirmation of life and, above all, for improving the world with his joy in storytelling,” said the jury. “It’s the books that are important, not the knives…” says the author, who has been blind in one eye since the attack. In 1989, Iran’s spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for the writer to be killed because of alleged insults to the Prophet Mohammed in Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses.” Rushdie himself lived under personal protection for ten years until he voluntarily gave it up in 1998. He recorded the experiences of the fatwa in an autobiographical book. He created world literature and is also presenting world literature at the Frankfurt Book Fair this year. “Victory City” is the title of his new novel, which seems almost programmatic and was completed shortly before the attack. “Words are the only winners” – this is how his text ends. The poet and thinker gives one of his rare interviews to “kulturMontag”.

Artistic anarchist Gottfried Helnwein – Albertina show for his 75th birthday

For more than 50 years, Gottfried Helnwein, Austria’s world-class artist, has been putting his fingers into society’s wounds, repeatedly making a flaming appeal against violence and terror with his controversial images. His artistic work bears witness to his uncompromising engagement with socially taboo topics. With his apocalyptic visions, the Viennese-born man who now lives in Los Angeles and Ireland repeatedly provokes discussions. The painter sees himself as an “artistic anarchist on principle” who wants to show the world as it is with the subversive power of his pictures. Gottfried Helnwein always had a divided relationship with his birthplace. Growing up in the post-war period, he found Vienna to be too narrow, society to be hypocritical, and his questions about the Second World War remained unanswered. He realized early on that he wanted to use his art to respond to injustice and crime. In the 1980s, Helnwein sparked controversy with his “Kristallnacht” installation in the middle of Cologne. With huge photographs of unknown children, he wanted to provoke reflection on guilt and innocence. To this day, the painter and set designer is a warning and keen observer of a world full of horrors; his weapon is art to make humanitarian catastrophes visible. To mark his 75th birthday, the Albertina is showing a show of his pictures from the past two decades. Gottfried Helnwein talks to Peter Schneeberger live in the studio about war, crises and the role of art.

Art in War – The Kiev Biennale in Ukraine and, among other places, in Vienna

Since February 24, 2022, the Russian war of aggression has been directed not only at the invasion of Ukrainian territories and against the population, but also against their culture. The targets are cultural sites such as museums, churches, historical buildings; at the beginning of the year, UNESCO spoke of thousands of damaged cultural sites and works of art. Giving up is not an option, not even for the country’s artists, who now want to once again defy the Russian invasion with the 5th Kiev Biennale. At the beginning of October, the project was launched not only in the capital, but also in Ivano-Frankivsk and Uzhhorod in western Ukraine. What makes this year’s art event so special is the European participation. In addition to Ukraine, the Kiev Biennale also runs in Warsaw, Lublin, Antwerp and Vienna, where art by Ukrainian and international creatives is presented at the Augarten Contemporary as the central location. ORF correspondent Christian Wehrschütz in Kiev and cultural journalist Harald Wilde in Vienna met several artists. How do artists living and working in Ukraine cope with the war? What can art and an art biennale counter war?

“Catherine Deneuve – A Life on the Screen” (11:15 p.m.)

From the rigid image of the cold blonde, who in her early days was exploited by the imagination of the directors, to the free, funny and subversive icon of today: a long path of emancipation and self-affirmation that Catherine Deneuve has taken with boldness and determination. The French film diva has worked with the most important actors and directors in the world. The portrait of Claire Laborey, created in 2023, traces the career path of the eternally beautiful woman who has helped shape European film for more than 60 years.

Whether it’s a masochistic hobby prostitute in Luis Buñuel’s “Belle de Jour – Beauty of the Day”, a lesbian vampire in Tony Scott’s “Desire” or a schizophrenic murderess in Roman Polanski’s film “Disgust”: the more extreme the role, the more magnificent Catherine Deneuve. “There are two women in you,” says Gérard Depardieu to Deneuve in “The Last Metro.” Hardly any sentence could characterize her better. In her private life, she maintains the image of a distant and mysterious beauty and does not let anything about her life become public. On the screen, the clever, rebellious Parisian countered her image of the cool blonde with an insatiable thirst for adventure and willingness to take risks and repeatedly surprised people with daring decisions for directors and roles. The cinema was and is the perfect place for her to invent the woman she really is.

Since her debut in “Young Roses in the Wind” in 1957, the then 14-year-old has appeared in almost 150 films and worked with the most important filmmakers of the 20th century. In addition to Buñuel, Polanski and Scott, her most important directors also include Jacques Demy, François Truffaut and André Téchiné. She never allowed herself to be restricted to a specific genre in her work. She understands perfectly how to implement every stage direction, no matter how subtle, and how to show exactly the desired facet in each film. In front of the camera, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Alain Delon, Marcello Mastroianni and Gérard Depardieu are among her most important partners.

Using exclusive radio and television interviews, in dialogue with directors of yesterday and today, but also with filmmaker friends, Catherine Deneuve herself leads the documentary vocally.

“The Jewel” (12:05 a.m.)

In François Ozon’s (“My Fabulous Crime”) pointed comedy from 2010, Catherine Deneuve, in her role as the “jewel of the House of Pujol”, escapes the bourgeois golden cage of the patriarchal 1970s and takes her life into her own hands in an enchantingly natural way. Gérard Depardieu plays an equally brilliant role as a former childhood sweetheart and trade unionist.
About the content: 1977. Suzanne has been a model wife, mother and just the jewel of the bourgeois Pujol house for 30 years. Patriarch Robert runs his umbrella factory with just as hard a hand as he runs family affairs. He doesn’t value his wife’s opinion. When he suffers a heart attack as a result of a staff strike, Suzanne takes over management of the business. She quickly proves that she is the better boss. She comes into contact again with her childhood sweetheart, the trade unionist and mayor Maurice Babin, and begins her new life.
Mit Catherine Deneuve (Suzanne Pujol), Gérard Depardieu (Maurice Babin), Fabrice Luchini (Robert Pujol), Karin Viard (Nadège), Judith Godrèche (Joelle Pujol), Jérémie Renier (Lauren Pujol) ua