Viennale Survival Guide…

…as said by Alexandra Zawia. An interview about festival gems, (extremely) problematic filmmakers, and feminist statements. And that is not all.

100% personal opinion /// 70% new masculinity /// 50% hints & tips

Ok, we can all admit, that watching all the movies represented in the Viennale festival, is impossible. So, in an attempt to minimize your suffering from choosing, we inflicted this suffering on Alexandra Zawia. As a part of a Viennale Communication team in charge of program research, and a brilliant film critic, she has an overview of the program. And we asked her about her personal gems of the festival. Personal here is a key word. In many ways, you will see.

Starting with the bigger productions represented this year at the festival, we played the mortal combat game: which movies would our expert’s personal filter?

Crimes of the Future or Drii Winter?

Alexandra Zawia: David Cronenberg is certainly one of the biggest names in selection this year, and anyone who is Cronenberg fan might actually not be surprised by what he’s doing again in the Crimes of the Future. If you are interested in his oeuvre, it is certainly a film to watch. It deals with the future dystopia that might actually happen one day.

Drii Winter by Michael Koch is a Swiss film, which is certainly much less talked about yet. It’s a very intimate and interesting film about a couple in a Swiss village. It basically tells us a lot about how love can (that sounds a bit cheesy, but that’s true, after all) really overcome a lot. Furthermore, it’s a very calm film, very well acted, and it features a lot of great music, also from a village choir. I would recommend watching this if you’re looking for in kind of new discoveries, something Viennale is really offering. Drii Winter has been shown at many festivals, but it’s not as big in comparison to Crimes of the Future.

Bohema: It’s also in the Oscars' selection from Switzerland this year, right?

A: Exactly! We will see how it’s doing because it’s competing against an Austrian film (Corsage by Marie Kreutzer, - ed. Bohema), which is also quite famous already, so we will see how it's doing (laughs)

Bones and All vs The Whale

B: The other impossible choice of big production features would be Bones and all by Luca Guadagnino, and The Whale by Darren Aronofsky. The Whale already got praise both from critics and the audiences, while Bones and all got hidden in the shadows in comparison. So which one you prefer?

A: It’s a good game to play to let somebody choose between the two films (laughs). I just want to highlight that very often, when films are being picked up by critics and festivals, it gets a certain new dynamic. It’s a self-turning wheel in the end, which might not necessarily be grounded in a real substance. That’s why I'm saying: The whale or Bones and all… I would go for Bones and all. I don’t want to be saying that I'm choosing one over the other. It’s very subjective. The Whale is about an actor, questioning the value of an artist. It’s funny and very well acted. Of course, I would recommend it as well. But Bones and all is a bit more tilted towards horror, and it is more my cup of tea. But both are very interesting in their own kind.

S is for Scandal, S is for Sparta

B: In the press release you say that Viennale is a place for discussion and debate, which movies do you think will spark the most debate?

A: Well, people will for sure talk about Sparta by Ulrich Seidl, it’s been discussed a lot in the media, even before it has been screened. I can only recommend watching it before you discuss it. But the debate is big, and justly so. Because the way in which the film has been made, brings a lot of responsibilities, also on director’s side. We do have a panel about the topic of narrative and manipulation, which is asking a question: where are the borders of manipulation in the film? Because everything in the film can be called a manipulation, it’s a tool to tell the story. But of course there are questions of ethics in constructing narratives. Sparta is not the reason why we decided for this panel, but I would recommend visiting it.

Narrative and manipulation panel /// Viennale website (c)

B: But why, even after accusations published in der Spiegel, and after Toronto Film Festival has cancelled the world premiere of the movie, did Viennale decide to show this movie anyway. If you can give me the answer.

A: I can only talk for myself, in this interview I'm representing my own suggestions and my own thoughts, this is not the Viennale’s official positions. But I think it’s one of the tasks of Viennale to show the movies so that they are discussed. To have a discussion about how the films are being made, and what the films are, is much more valid for the society than not discussing or not seeing them. It’s a question, of course, of providing a responsible frame, which Viennale certainly does.

Feminism in V’22, or how can we deal with structural problems

B: What was important to me personally, is the fact that Viennale tries to be really diverse: there are female-led productions, male-led productions, different regions and heights are involved. V’22 really tried to not let anyone out of the picture. So maybe if you could suggest us movies, divided by the most fundamental filter: I’m talking about female-led productions and male led productions. Like, three of the ones and three of the others.

A: It’s a very difficult question (laughs). There are many movies that have female lead roles, but that are actually talking about masculinity through the stories of the women about female hardships. If you’re interested in feminism, because it’s your reality as a woman (also if you’re a man, because a woman’s life reality should be a man’s life reality as well), and looking for that in the cinema, it’s quite a natural way to look for a female director. But one of the very important things in developing structurally changing feminism, is that female directors should be able to make films about men and male topic, and the other way around. In my opinion. As someone said, “only if we are not talking about a president being black, have we overcome racism” - it’s that kind of thinking. But, of course, it’s absolutely true, that for society to overcome sexism, these structural changes are necessary.

As an example, we have a film by Andrea Pallaoro, it's called ***Monica***.

It’s a story about a transgender woman. She is visiting her mother, whom he hasn’t seen in a very long time.

This movie never makes a transgender topic an issue.

B: It’s natural for the universe of the movie.

A: Yes, yes, that’s just who she is. Yes, it does play an important part in the movie, but it’s never an agenda. So we really feel for the human person, who Monica is. We don’t know much about her, we don’t know where she is coming from, we might guess where she is going, but that’s all. It’s just a fact. I really want to recommend this movie, and this kind of movies, that are taking cultures and figures seriously. That’s what I could suggest to look for in the movies: that the artistic creation of the character would result in the real human being on the screen. Like in Monica. Also, the film is formally very good.

There are also a lot of movies dealing with artists, for example a female-directed movie about Elfriede Jelinek. Claudia Müller’s movie is presenting a lot of archive materials, through which you really get to know Jelinek. She is an amazing person, and she really gets the feeling of the Austrian society (laughs), the problems of Austrian society.

Also, I can recommend a Cette Maison, by Miryam Charles. It’s about a death of a teenager. We don’t know how a teenager dies. And the story is unfolding in retrospective, partially. This film is dealing with the grief caused by this death, but asking questions about the reasons as well.

Reassessment and reevaluation aka notice gender codes

There are a lot of Austrian movies in the Viennale program as well, which is not unusual actually (smiles). There is one special movie by Ruth Beckermann - Mutzenbacher. It’s very funny, but very clever and…revealing. The director Ruth Beckermann invites men to sit on her couch in front of the camera, and read several excerpts from the book Josefine Mutzenbacher. It is a book about a prostitute who started to work at a very young age. And men reading those passages leads to them to question what they are reading. And to them reflecting on what they are actually thinking about it. But, most of all, for them to recognise what it feels like for this girl, to do what she did. That’s a very interesting take on the topic, and it also says a lot about men nowadays in society.

B: That's a very interesting suggestion, because so far I understood, it is kind of a motto of Viennale this year: re-assessment, re-evaluation, even the strong retrospective program shows it. But also V’22 is just about being faced with new challenges, new world views.

A: Yeah! You’re absolutely right. We tried to find a few main threads, because whenever you put a film program together, as vast as the Viennale, there should be certain threads. Which is some kind of miracle, because obviously the director’s don’t talk about what to make their films about this year. But there seem to be certain topics, themes, every year, that are more important to the filmmakers. This year we found that a lot of movies are dealing with the question of masculinity, what does it mean to be a man. How can a man be a feminist, and what does it mean to bring feminism into male realities, and what structural changes are necessary.

“You’ll be sitting there and thinking “No way”. - Brainwashed /// Viennale (c)

But also important here are the images in the movies, that reproduce certain gender roles. In a lot of films, camera is playing a big role in oppression. If you watch a lot of movies, you might notice that a woman is almost always shot from slightly above

B: Yeah, like she is minor

A: Exactly, as if we are all looking down at the woman. But men are visually higher, always. They get more space in the frame. And that’s problematic, that’s why I would suggest to anyone from 100-years-old to 1-year-old to watch the film Brainwashed by Nina Menkes. She is a prolific filmmaker, but she’s also a teacher of production. And she made this movie because she realised that there’s a visual grammar of the film (camera, lightning, frames etc.), which is usually gendered. It’s being reproduced and manifested, those gender roles. The way we look down at women, the way women get used all the time. The visual language of those films is also saying “it’s OK to do so”. Anyone interested in feminism and, well, movies, should see it. It’s entertaining and kind of shocking, you’ll be sitting there and thinking “No way”.

Masculinity panel /// Viennale website (c)

I can also recommend a Pacifiction by Albert Serra, it’s a very funny film. In simple words, it’s about a man working for the government and trying to prevent a nuclear attack. But he is completely failing, because he has no idea what he is talking about. Yet he is in the power position, a ridiculous power figure. It’s a very good movie on the topic of how do men always get into position like that without having a clue on that. It is obviously a very simple description of a film, you should see it for yourself. Albert Serra is actually a so-called Enfant Terrible, he will be on the panel of masculinity. He is infamous to provoking a lot. Ruth Beckerman would also be there, so this is something I can recommend.

Ok, it is worth buying the catalogue

A: Our retrospective also deals a lot with feminism, but I would suggest turning to the catalogue of Viennale. I cannot do a better job on commenting the careful selection of retrospective better than Filmmuseum has done it. It is a very rare opportunity to be able to watch those movies, and yes, the selection was personally done by Yoshida Kijūr. We have experts and archivist present at the festival. They can also be a great source of expertise for the discussions.

But one movie from African cinema section (though what is African, or European - there are so many different countries) in particular. It’s called The Father's Day by Kivu Ruhorahoza. It’s about a lost generation of fathers that were killed or imprisoned during the war in Ruanda.

Also, we have a movie We, Students about day-to-day life of students in Kongo. It is very interesting and gives the insights into nowadays society of those countries that we don’t normally see in the cinema, comparing to European movies.

We thank Alexandra for playing our cruel game, and wish you all, who has read this article thoroughly, good luck. There are many tough choices to make, but we hope that our article helped in finding some direction. If that wasn’t enough, we suggest you to use an amazing option that is now being tested on the Viennale website: a Film Navigator. Easily accessible from the top right corner of the Viennale website, Film navigator helps filter the movies, according to your preferences. And if that doesn’t help, try using filters like “politics”, “women”, “colonialism & post-colonialism”, “immigration” etc. in film program search. And if that also doesn’t help, just choose any movie. Stay critical, stay open, enjoy the magic of the cinema.