Metropole - October 2017

festival

A Tribute to Cinema

The Viennale promises two weeks of movie magic,

marred by the passing of director Hans Hurch

by Binu Starnegg

Late October is a special time for Vienna’s
movie fiends. It’s when the Viennale, the
city’s international film festival, kicks off, a
celebration of the celluloid arts in an art
obsessed town. And while the festival has
had its share of glitzy galas and acclaimed
filmmakers on hand, it has often been the
lesser-known films that have had the most
impact: With its extensive selection of doc-
umentaries, retrospectives and non-
Western cinema, taking a chance on some-
thing you’ve never heard of has often been
the most rewarding.
This was largely the doing of genial long-
time director Hans Hurch, who died unex-
pectedly from heart failure on July 23 in
Rome, where he was meeting director Abel
Ferrara. Ferrara then created the Viennale’s
trailer as a tribute to a man who spent 20
years curating a film festival for film lovers,
emphasizing quality over glamour. Hurch’s
dedication to the festival paid off, winning
over countless actors and filmmakers and

putting Vienna on the map with a long list of

distinguished guests including Ferrara, Mi-

chael Caine, Kenneth Anger, Lauren Bacall,

Yoko Ono, Mike Leigh, Sofia Coppola and

David Cronenberg.

CELEBRATING THE PRESENT

Fortunately for cinephiles, Hurch had

already selected most of this year’s films,

maintaining his signature mix of crowd

pleasers, documentaries and masterworks

of international cinema.

These included Austrian director Barbara

Albert’s latest picture Licht (Light), set in

18th century Vienna about a blind piano

prodigy who could be cured at the expense of

her talent; Sandome no Satsujin (The Third

Murder), an exploration of the act of killing,

cleverly disguised as a courtroom thriller;

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, a

pitch black, star-studded comedy by Martin

McDonagh (In Bruges) about an angry

mother who shames her small town into

solving her daughter’s murder and Teheran

Tabu, a feverish, rotoscoped (an animation

technique where live-action footage is

traced over) descent into the sleazy under-

belly of the Iranian capital.

The documentary lineup is no less

impressive, featuring 78/52, an in-depth

analysis of Hitchcock’s infamous shower

scene from Psycho; A L’Ouest du Jourdain

(West of the Jordan River), a look at the occu-

pied territories by controversial Israeli di-

rector Amos Gitai; and American documen-

tary legend Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris:

The New York Public Library, a mammoth 3

hour and 17 minute portrait of a treasured

institution serving a very diverse clientele.

In addition, 14 of Hurch’s fellow travelers

were asked to dedicate a film to his memory;

among them are celebrated cinematogra-

pher Ed Lachman, who chose Wong

Kar-Wai’s In The Mood for Love and actress

Tilda Swinton, who selected Robert Bres-

son’s minimalist Au Hasard Balthazar.

HONORING THE PAST

Various retrospectives and special programs

round out the selection, offering a closer look

at past masters, forgotten artists and less-

er-known creators. The German filmmaker

Valeska Grisebach will be honored with her

own special including her latest, Weste r n;

there will also be a series on “New Neapoli-

tan Cinema,” showcasing the particularly

fertile filmmaking era of 1980-90s Naples.

The Filmarchiv will reintroduce the

PHOTOS: CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT:VIENNALE, VIENNALE / ALEXI PELEKANOS, A 24, WEGA FILMPRODUKTIONS GMBH.

ON SCREEN

Oct 19-Nov 2, various locations. viennale.at

Teheran Tabu provides a

rotoscoped view of

sex and drugs in the

Iranian capital.