On the occasion of the Viennale 2022, director Claudia Müller presented her documentary Elfriede Jelinek – Language unleashed, focusing on the figure of the famous writer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Cinema Austriaco had the opportunity to have a chat with her and learn more about her work and career. Interview by Marina Pavido.
Despite the straightforwardness of the mise-en-scene, when watching James Ellroy: Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction one almost has the impression of being on a rollercoaster. Los Angeles is thousands of miles away, but, after watching this fascinating documentary by Reinhard Jud, we all almost feel as if we have known it forever. At the Viennale 2022, section Österreich real.
Semra Ertan is what we do not expect, an intentionally fragmentary work, whose fragments, just like many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, compose a living, breathing portrait of a person who is now forgotten by most, but who did so much to make the world we live a better place. At the Viennale 2022, section Österreich real.
The message comes through loud and clear. And a deep pessimism immediately takes centre stage. Hardly Working is fully in line with the canons and style of the works of the collective Total Refusal, and through a completely original and subjective mise-en-scene, it traces a sincere and sadly realistic fresco of the world in which we live. At the Viennale 2022.
Carmen is a bizarre yet tender and sincere love story that few would actually understand. Cinema and meta-cinema meet in this short and precious documentary by Anja Salomonowitz, and together they create a beautiful as well as melancholic contemporary tale. At the Viennale 2022, section Österreich real.
A cynical and disillusioned perspective focuses mainly on the numerous paradoxes that come to life when different realities are shown to us one after the other. We laugh a lot, we laugh almost from beginning to end, while watching War in Vienna. Yet, on closer inspection, what we are shown is quite disturbing. At the Viennale 2022, section Österreich real.
Neue Fenster is a kind of “return to the origins”, when we still had to become familiar with this new, bizarre invention that was the cinematograph. Just as the light from the projector illuminates the screen, the light coming in through the new windows at vom Gröller’s house is about to offer us not one, but many new spectacles. At the Viennale 2022.
Bildwerden shows us how everything is transformed over time. Bildwerden is art, beauty, harmony. A true declaration of love to the art world, but also a celebration of the process of creation itself. A sincere and passionate homage to Isolde Maria Joham and her lively and colourful works. At the Viennale 2022.
Doppelgänger is a heartfelt farewell letter to a person who is no longer with us. An extremely intimate and personal documentary that relies entirely on a simple and direct, but also well thought-out directorial approach. At the Viennale 2022, section Österreich real.
Elfriede Jelinek – Language unleashed. Already from the subtitle of the documentary we can guess how Claudia Müller, in order to draw a faithful portrait of the author, started from the use of language that the latter made in all her works. A language free from all conventions, courageous and often surprising. Just like the directorial approach adopted by Müller in her film. At the Viennale 2022.