“Never Forget Famine”
For his part, Van der Bellen stressed: “We will never forget this terrible man-made famine, in which millions of people in Ukraine were deliberately starved by the Soviet regime.” Ninety years later, Ukrainians would have to fight once more, for their lives, their identity and to preserve their freedom, said the Federal President on Twitter (see below). “We stand with Ukraine!” he continued.
Tag:
Austria
It was not an easy birthday year for Ulrich Seidl. In February, “Rimini”, the highly acclaimed part 1 of a double film, celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale. Then in September, following a “Spiegel” research on the circumstances of the shooting of part 2, “Sparta”, a vehement, sometimes polemical debate broke out regarding the working methods of the cult director. Disregard for children’s rights and misinformation for parents were denounced. Today Seidl is celebrating his 70th birthday.
The sponsors announced an investigation, the results of which are still pending. But since Seidl went on the offensive in October and explained his view of the shooting in Romania, things seem to have calmed down a bit. Last but not least, the film itself, in which Georg Friedrich plays a man who fights once morest his pedophile tendencies and opens a camp for young people in poor Romania, impressed both critics and audiences. It’s the counterpart to “Rimini,” in which Michael Thomas plays a shabby crooner on the sleazy offside.
The polemics surrounding “Sparta” represented the pinnacle of discussions regarding Ulrich Seidl’s oeuvre, but at the same time it was part of the heavy criticism that the director’s films always evoked. Regardless of whether you like Seidl’s works or not, they never leave you indifferent. That was already the case with the first documentary works at the film academy, that applied to “Dog Days”, “Import Export”, “Im Keller” and now also the two most recent works. It is thanks to his insistent gaze that Seidl is considered one of the most irritating, controversial and important filmmakers of his generation. And his ability to find people who willingly expose themselves to this gaze, thereby revealing those human depths that usually remain well hidden within one’s own four walls. He sees his films as mirrors, not as distorting mirrors.
In 2001 he won the grand jury prize at the Venice Film Festival with his feature film debut Dog Days, where twelve years later Paradise: Faith, a film accused of blasphemy, also received a jury prize. Seidl transformed his documentary “Jesus, you know” into a play entitled “Our Father” at the Berlin Volksbühne. Dealing with religion is no accident. Born on November 24, 1952 in Vienna and raised in Horn, Lower Austria, Seidl should actually have become a priest, but instead snuck into the cinema on the weekends, which was forbidden for him: Uschi Glas and Westerns were the first formative film experiences. Seidl studied journalism, theater studies and art history in Vienna. He financed his studies with jobs as a night watchman, warehouse worker and as a drug guinea pig.
It was only at the age of 26 that he decided to attend film academy, which he left early following his debut “Einsvierzig” (regarding a short boy) and the controversial film “Der Ball” – films in which the characteristic visual language and the radical approach to the themes are already clearly present. Seidl’s cinematic work includes all facets between documentary and feature film and mixes them, just as he likes to shoot with both professional actors (Maria Hofstätter, Georg Friedrich, Michael Thomas, etc.) and amateurs. He is not dependent on written scenes being included in the film, but rather relies on improvisation and the surprises that arise from it, which is why working on his films can often take years, says Seidl, who as a screenwriter, director and producer has dedicated his life to dedicated to film.
ÖGK chief physician in the talk – vaccination as “best possible protection” against influenza
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
“A real flu puts you to bed”
There is a test option for Covid, but how do you recognize real influenza? “A real influenza puts you in bed,” says Krauter, who lists the symptoms: runny nose, severe headache, burning behind and in the eyes, burning in the throat, difficult swallowing, mouth pain, aching muscles, intermittent high fever, joint pain, tiredness and Exhaustion. The OGK chief physician recommends a quick test by the family doctor to differentiate between Covid and influenza.
“The Würgeengel” doesn’t really take off in the Volkstheater
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
Luis Buñuel’s “Exterminating Angel” is a classic of surreal film, a parable of isolation, cutting off from the world and a detached elite. And thus potentially the work at the time of the lockdown society and the drifting apart of the classes. Or you can stage the template for the stage as abstractly as the German director Sebastian Baumgarten did on his debut at the Volkstheater in Vienna. Visual impact contrasts with an abstract content that is unrelated.
Baumgarten fragments the metaphor of a fine society that comes together for a party and cannot leave the room at the end of the evening, even though the doors are not locked. Individual scenes between archetypal figures are strung together, separated by a flurry of flashbulbs and the sound of a spooling projector. Repeated music snippets support this atmosphere of a detached basic constellation.
The impressive stage for this performative event was designed by Tobias Rehberger, winner of the Biennale. The sculptor creates a hall of mirrors with hypnotic patterns, a labyrinth in perpetual motion that dislocates and disorients the audience. The eye needs a long time to locate the room. A machine room of exalted encounters between outspoken characters.
What the space and the narration completely subvert is the claustrophobic atmosphere of the Buñuel template. Just as the originally limited playing area is broken up into endless splinters, Baumgarten does not rely on the clear core of the “Exterminating Angel”, but repeatedly intersects it with scenes from the Buñuel short play “Hamlet”.
Who are the included, who are the excluded in this setting? How is a society positioned that barricades itself behind borders, that prefers to withdraw into familiar circles to think outside the box? These questions do not arise in this busy installation. Even Buñuel bon mots like “Do you have to have everything done yourself?” largely go unheeded here. This strangling angel is nice to look at, but doesn’t really take off.
(SERVICE – Luis Buñuel: “The Exterminating Angel – El Ángel Exterminador” in the Volkstheater, Arthur-Schnitzler-Platz 1, 1070 Vienna. Director: Sebastian Baumgarten, set: Tobias Rehberger, costume: Christina Schmitt. With Alvaro – Andreas Beck, Christiano/ Agrifonte – Elias Eilinghoff, Raoul – Claudio Gatzke, Edmundo/Don Lupo – Frank Genser, Lucia/Leticia – Evi Kehrstephan, Rita/Julio/Margarita – Lavinia Nowak, Francisco/Julio/Hauptmann – Nick Romeo Reimann, Julio/Hamlet – Julia Franz Richter, Doctor Carlos/Julio/Mitridates – Uwe Rohbeck, Juana – Friederike Tiefenbacher Further performances on October 20, November 2 and 12, December 18, January 13 and April 20. volkstheater.at