SHORT NEWS

Austrian films at the 13th CPH:DOX International Documentary Film Festival

 

It's been a strong year for Austrian documentaries, as indicated by the eight Austrian contributions at the 13th CPH:DOX festival. Alongside festival favorites like THE GREAT MUSEUM and IN THE BASEMENT, the Copenhagen selection draws attention to a new voice among Austria’s documentary filmmakers: Johannes Gierlinger’s debut film THE FORTUNE YOU SEEK IS IN ANOTHER COOKIE is a leading contender for the DOX:AWARD.

 

DOX:AWARD

THE FORTUNE YOU SEEK IS IN ANOTHER COOKIE directed and produced by Johannes Gierlinger

The imaginary scene of a carousel and an intangible picture send the filmmaker on his journey. The collision of images, text and sound finds its counterpart in the seemingly contrary locations and scenes. The Devil’s Dance meets the indulgence of astronomical precision and death at the foot of an ocean. The voice of one versus the rapid fire of our times. The film is stargazing and a quest for meaning. A montage of a multiyear excursion that describes the subjective view of the world according to the filmmaker.
 

Top Dox

PRIVATE REVOLUTIONS - YOUNG, FEMALE, EGYPTIAN by Alexandra Schneider (Daniela Praher Filmproduktion)
Shot over a period of two years, the film chronicles the lives of four young Egyptian women from various social backgrounds who are fighting for their rights and for change after the revolution.
www.privaterevolutions-film.com


THE GREAT MUSEUM by Johannes Holzhausen (Navigator Film)
This documentary portrays one of the most important museums in the world, Vienna’s Museum of Art History. An extensive look behind the scenes at this fascinating institution employs a number of charismatic protagonists and the varied routine there to show us the museum’s special world.
www.thegreatmuseumthefilm.com
International sales: Wide House

 

Megatrends – Africa Rising

WE COME AS FRIENDS by Hubert Sauper (KGP Kranzelbinder Gabriele Productions, Adelante Films (F))

A modern odyssey, a dizzying, science fiction-like journey into the heart of Africa. At the moment when the Sudan, the continent’s  biggest country, is being divided into two nations, an old ‘civilizing’ pathology reemerges – that of colonialism, clash of empires, and yet new episodes of bloody (and holy) wars over land and resources.

www.wecomeasfriends.com
International sales: Le Pacte
 

Megatrends – Rethinking Resources

ENERGIZED by Hubert Canaval (Allegro Film)
Nuclear disasters, wars over oil and gas, climate change and everincreasing energy consumption: We have reached an important crossroads. To keep on going like this is not an option. But how can we meet our energy needs without destroying our own existence? Is there such a thing as clean energy and efficient technology? And if so, why aren’t we using it?

International sales: Memento Films International
 

Artists & Auteurs

IN THE BASEMENT by Ulrich Seidl (Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion)
The film is about people and basements and what people do in their basements in their free time. The film is about obsessions. The film is about brass-band music and opera arias, about expensive furniture and cheap male jokes, about sexuality and shooting, fitness and fascism, whips and dolls. A film essay that is both funny and sad, it uses the director’s characteristic film tableaux to delve into the underground of the Austrian soul.

www.im-keller.at
International sales: Coproduction Office


DOUBLE HAPPINESS by Ella Raidel
Double Happiness takes the Chinese copy of Hallstatt, a small idyllic town in Austria, as the starting point to explore China’s fast urbanization. Chinese cities are built where histories and memories can be easily forgotten and thus rewritten. The film intersects the real and the fake through visual imagery and commentary, interviews and songs.

www.doublehappiness.at
 

Special Screenings

CERN by Nikolaus Geyrhalter (NGF Geyrhalterfilm)
The research centre CERN as a self-contained, independent zone – a parallel universe so to speak. Here the big bang scenario is recreated, searching for the smallest particle.
Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s documentary gives an impression of the huge infrastructure which makes an institution like CERN possible. For this Nikolaus Geyrhalter is searching for moments of tension between man and technology. He observes how insight is made, how knowledge originates. 

International sales autlook filmsales