In Ulrich Seidl – A Director at Work Constantin Wulff allows us to ‘look behind the scenes’, to learn more about one of Austria’s most controversial and popular filmmakers, to fully understand his way of working, both on a film set and in theatre.
Reality and imagination. Past and present. War and peace. Pain and serenity. In Fever, all these elements play the leading role, they often get mixed up, they confuse us, but, all together, they point the finger directly at every war, which is responsible for ruining the lives of millions of people.
Biest was made with a very low budget. Yet despite this, Stefan Müller managed to make a generally worthy little feature film, albeit with some basic naivety.
With In the Basement, Ulrich Seidl explores the inner self of the characters he filmed by entering their tidy, impeccable-looking homes, until he reaches their basements. And it is here that each of them finally reveals his or her true nature.
Photography and cinema of reality in its purest sense are the pillars of The Photographer in front of the Camera. And once again, the unique directorial approach of Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, made up of moments of observation and discreet following, succeeded in making us feel part of a world we knew only vaguely.
What we witness in Superegos is a true crescendo. Of emotions and of extreme situations. And the feature film – which is mainly supported by the excellent performances of André Wilms and Georg Friedrich – does not lose credibility, but, on the contrary, thanks to a script that has no particular ambitions other than to laugh at what has made nations such as Austria and Germany ‘famous’, manages to always maintain a good rhythm. Even when the ending seems a little too hasty.
In the brilliant China Reverse, what Judith Benedikt’s camera simply does is to observe reality as it is, letting people choose which aspects of their lives to narrate, ensuring that the director’s touch is as invisible as possible, for an overall classic and already experienced mise-en-scene.
In Macondo, many issues are brought into play. If, on the one hand, we see the problem of the integration of Ramasan’s family within Austrian society, then the focus slowly shifts to the personal drama of the young protagonist, the need to belong to something stable and reassuring – as can be, in this case, the family – and the desire to discover the truth about a past about which we still know too little.
In Kick out your Boss, Elisabeth Scharang does not aim to make precise statements on the subject. She does not aim to expound certain theories concerning the conditions of workers all over the world. On the contrary, she leaves ample freedom for the audience to draw their own conclusions and make their own considerations.
Employing many archive footage, Lauda – The Untold Story, directed by Austrian Hannes Michael Schalle, meticulously investigates the facts, including testimonies and controversies that arose following the famous accident involving the legendary driver Niki Lauda in August 1976. And so, in this great carousel of the Formula 1 world, no one is missing.