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For the first time, Austria’s two largest film festivals are collaborating contentwise. From October 25 to November 1, the Festival of Austrian Film will present in the Viennale festival cinemas Kollektion Diagonale’20 – “Die Unvollendete” (Diagonale’20 Collection – “The Unfinished”), which includes six feature films and a program comprising eight short films.
The focused program will show films from Austria that were meant to have their Austrian premieres in Graz in March – among them, Sandra Wollner’s internationally celebrated feature film The Trouble With Being Born, which was honored with the Grand Diagonale Prize of the Province of Styria, Raphaela Schmid’s tragicomic short feature film Fische (Diagonale Prize for Short Feature), and Constanze Ruhm’s cinematic essay awarded with the Diagonale Prize for Innovative Cinema by the City of Graz, Gli Appunti di Anna Azzori – Uno specchio che viaggia nel tempo, which after its world premiere in the Forum of the Berlinale 2020, now – like many other works in the collection – is finally available for viewing in Austrian theaters.
“Back in the cinema, the current selection is testimony to the diversity of Austrian film in both content and form: accelerated precise observation here, investigative call for civil disobedience there. Grotesque road movie, reflective dreams on the screen, genre-bursting theater-, feature-, and documentary film hybrid … at its core, the selection is no less than a self-confident demonstration of a younger generation of filmmakers. And with Raphaela Schmid, Constanze Ruhm, and Sandra Wollner, in addition, three of the directors honored by the Diagonale are represented in the program. We thank the Viennale for this first step toward closer collaboration!”
— Peter Schernhuber and Sebastian Höglinger, Diagonale Festival Directors
“In this year, when all areas of culture – and thus also film and cinema – have run into difficulties, the question of a festival’s functions has become especially important. What’s the role of a film festival within the framework of cultural promotion, in terms of consolidating a particular cultural area and in light of the training and further education of a form of artistic expression? In this context, Kollektion Diagonale’20 – “Die Unvollendete” is a small gesture that is meant to gather the forces and pay tribute to the community by virtue of which, and in which cinema lives.”— Eva Sangiorgi, Viennale Festival Director
FILM LIST DIAGONALE’20 COLLECTION – “THE UNFINISHED” AT THE VIENNALE
– Gli Appunti di Anna Azzori – Uno specchio che viaggia nel tempo(D: Constanze Ruhm, AT/FR/DE 2020, innovatives Kino) Diagonale Prize for Innovative Cinema of the City of Graz
– Running on Empty (D: Lisa Weber, AT 2020, documentary)
– Ordinary Creatures (D: Thomas Marschall, AT 2020, feature film)
– Die Revolution frisst ihre Kinder! (D: Jan-Christoph Gockel, AT/BF 2019, feature film)
– The Trouble With Being Born (D: Sandra Wollner, AT/DE 2020, feature film) Grand Diagonale Prize of the Province of Styria; Diagonale Prize for Editing
Diagonale Prize for Sound Design
Diagonale Acting Prize; Thomas Pluch Screenwriting Prize (Special Prize of the Jury)
– Wood (D: Ebba Sinzinger, Michaela Kirst, Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, AT/DE/RO 2020, documentary)
Short film program “A Proposal to Project”
– A Proposal to Project in Scope (D: Viktoria Schmid, AT/LT 2020, Innovatives Kino)
– Elite (D: Friedl vom Gröller, AT 2019, Innovatives Kino)
– Fische (D: Raphaela Schmid, AT 2020, short feature film) Diagonale Prize for Short Feature
– LOLOLOLOL (D: Kurdwin Ayub, AT 2020, short documentary film)
– Pomp (D: Katrina Daschner, AT 2020, Innovatives Kino)
– pretty-pretty (Trailer /slash Film Festival 2019) (D: Kurdwin Ayub, AT 2019, Innovatives Kino)
– Sen. (D: Friedl vom Gröller, AT 2019, Innovatives Kino)
– This make me want to predict the past (D: Cana Bilir-Meier, DE/AT 2019, Innovatives Kino)
The entire program of the Viennale, including the screening times and cinemas offering Diagonale’20 Collection – “The Unfinished” in the context of the Viennale’s Austrian Days, will be announced on October 13. Ticket sales begin on October 17 at 10 a.m.
The Diagonale’21 will take place from March 16 to 21 in Graz. Films from the cancelled Diagonale’20 will be presented in autumn and winter as part of the series Diagonale’20 – “The Unfinished” on Tour at different locations throughout Austria. More detailed information will be announced regularly on the festival’s website and social media channels.
