Austrian Competition
NATIONAL COMPETITION
This year the Austrian Short Film Award for the most impressive fictional, documentary, animated or experimental film from Austria will be awarded for the second time. While last year the prize, which is worth 2.000 Euros and was established in cooperation with the Verwertungsgesellschaft der Filmschaffenden (VDFS), felt like a necessary innovation, the national short film award already feels like a long-established component of the competition. An independent jury chooses the main prize winner from the 23 films that qualified for the entry this year, and also awards the new V.A.M. Emerging Talent Award, established this year and worth 1.000 Euro, for young and talented Austrian film makers.
Among the films selected for the competition are archived manuscripts as well as young viewpoints that are not only out to impress the jury, but also hope to win the audience’s approval. The ray audience award, a long and faithful companion of the festival, consists of a post production voucher from the company ZONE, which is worth 1.000 EURO, and is decided by the audience’s vote. The Austrian competition is once again divided into three programmes that move between very diverse thematic fields. It is particularly heartening that there are also several world premieres in this exquisite selection, including new works by Arash T. Riahi, Karø Goldt and Christoph Rainer.
Jury: Gabrielle Kranzelbinder (A), Max Hattler (D/UK), Bert Rebhandl (A/D)
Austrian Competition 1
Saturday, 28 May 2011, 6 p.m., Metro Kino
The first competition programme moves on rocky roads from a sober look at a village in the distance to a pompously staged drama in a country residence, meandering past children, dogs and church bells into a town, where we happen upon wild chases and static tourists. A Berlinale competition contribution, four world premieres, a fascinating internet experiment and idiosyncratic works from the Vienna Film Academy come together in these 78 minutes, ranging from the inspiring to the dramatic.
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Austrian Competition 2
Monday, 30 May 2011, 6 p.m., Metro Kino
A dying island, missing colours, a dancing Jesus, a disturbing family video, peculiar balls on a hotel landing: at first glance the second Austrian competition programme probably causes irritation, unveils crises, unleashes anarchic potential, leaves its mark. The second glance knows better and turns irritation into the delights of subversion or into the doubt of perversion. In the end both achievements and mistakes come together to form a passionate plea for the cinema.
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Austrian Competition 3
Tuesday, 31 May 2011, 6 p.m., Metro Kino
Seemingly inconspicuous events and the great consequences of small decisions, as well as great social and political questions and their defeat in everyday life are the focus of the third Austrian Competition programme. That the future shouldn’t belong to the never ending faith – in the free market, progress, technology and predefined patterns of thought – is hinted at in these six films, sometimes none too subtly. A concentrated tour de force.
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