56th THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
November 6-15, 2015
ARNAUD DESPLECHIN TRIBUTE
FOCUS ON NEW AUSTRIAN CINEMA
The 56th Thessaloniki International Film Festival celebrates the work of French director Arnaud Desplechin, a visionary filmmaker who has established a truly personal cinematic style. Arnaud Desplechin will attend this year’s edition to present his work, as well as a masterclass on his artistic career. His latest film My Golden Days (SACD Prize Directors' Fortnight, Cannes Film Festival) is also 56th TIFF’s closing film.
Moreover, Focus on New Austrian Cinema, a selection of contemporary Austrian films that highlight extreme human situations, is also presented in this year’s edition.
ARNAUD DESPLECHIN TRIBUTE
Complex emotions, sharp contradictions, humour that alternates with bitter commentary, as well as literary symbolisms and references, underline the profoundly human, often obsession-filled stories narrated in Arnaud Desplechin’s films, seven of which will be screened during the 56th TIFF.
Director, writer and cinematographer Arnaud Desplechin was born in 1960 in Roubaix, France. He studied film directing at the New Sorbonne University (Paris III) and afterwards in the IDHEC, Paris. In the late 80s he worked as a cinematographer in several films and in 1991 he directed his medium-length debut film La Vie de Morts, a forerunner to his later body of work which demonstrates his personal cinematic identity that comprises recurring themes, philosophical questions and idiosyncratic characters. Throughout his career, Desplechin remains faithful to his creative vision and directorial style, while frequently employing actors such as Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Devos and Catherine Deneuve.
Desplechin’s first feature La Sentinelle (1992), an intriguing thriller that dwells on the aftermath of the Cold War, served to establish the director among the new generation of French filmmakers who regenerated French cinema. Four years later, Desplechin directed the satiric comedy-drama My Sex Life... or How I Got into an Argument (César Award Most Promising Actor - Mathieu Amalric), which follows the story of young professor Paul Dédalus and his interminable love quests; an emotional and existential journey defined by the character’s great passion for women, illustrated as a vibrant celebration of the senses.
Two ex-lovers, both confronted with deep crises in their life (once again, Emmanuelle Devos and Mathieu Amalric in the main roles) are the protagonists in Desplechin’s Kings and Queen (2004), a compelling drama narrated in parallel storylines that delves with sarcasm and humour into the main characters’ most intimate emotions. Desplechin’s A Christmas Tale (2008) dissects the holiday reunion of a troubled French family, exploring with dark humour their fragile, yet resilient relationships. As Roger Ebert had put it: “A Christmas Tale skates on thin ice across a crowded lake, arrives safely on the far shore, and shares a cup of hot cocoa and marshmallows with Death”.
Based on the book «Reality and Dream: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian» by the Hungarian-born ethnologist and psychoanalyst Georges Devereux, an inspiring figure for Arnaud Desplechin, the film Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian (2013) is a powerful character study that traces the true story of native American World War II veteran Jimmy Picard (Benicio Del Toro) and his relationship with G. Devereux (played by Mathieu Amalric), who assisted him in dealing with his post-war trauma.
Desplechin’s latest work My Golden Days is a nostalgic elegy to youth, featuring a cast of brilliant young newcomers. The director revisits his 1996’s My Sex Life…or How I Got Into an Argument character, French academic Paul Dédalus (Mathieu Amalric). On his way back to France from Tajikistan, Paul thinks back on people and events that have marked his life; from his childhood, insane mother and widower father to his adolescent years, the journey to the USSR and later on, his studies, friends and of course the love of his life, Esther. This three-chapter memoir is a touching coming-of-age drama; a fresh, romantic chronicle about loss, pain and gain, all inevitable stages of maturity.
FOCUS ON NEW AUSTRIAN CINEMA
Following Austria’s long tradition of producing distinguished filmmakers and actors, the new generation of Austrian directors expresses the anguishes of our times by tackling an important set of themes, such as human relationships, family issues, consumerism and social outcasts. Using a distanced, critical point of view, these films are provocative and gripping. They make a subtle, yet uncompromised commentary on contemporary society, while their aesthetic approach is as powerful as their subject matters. A representative selection of the latest Austrian film production will be screened in 56th TIFF’s Focus on New Austrian Cinema.
Inspired by true events, Stephan Richter’s One of Us is set at the outskirts of Vienna, where a huge supermarket becomes the meeting point for a group of underprivileged youngsters who spend their time experimenting with love, drugs and petty crime, until a break-in goes fatally wrong. The film provides an in-depth look at universal topics such as the consumerism of contemporary society, police violence and also the rebellious adolescent experience.
The intimate portrait of another teenager in distress is highlighted in Sabine Hiebler’s and Gerhard Ertl’s Chucks, the wild and tender coming-of-age story of Mae. Her family is broken after her brother’s death and she roams the streets of Vienna wearing his red Converse shoes, until she meets and falls in love with Paul, a terminally ill young man. Mae experiences the painful transition to the adult world through loss and self-awareness.
John Gruber, the protagonist of Marie Kreutze’s heartfelt, frank film Gruber Is Leaving also embarks on a journey to find himself. He is a successful, egocentric, albeit lonely 35 year-old-man, who is indifferent and cynical towards everybody, but a cancer diagnosis and an unexpected love story present him with some life-changing decisions.
Barbara Eder’s revealing film Thank You for Bombing focuses on the behind-the-camera lives of three war correspondents in conflict areas and captures their daily routine and traumatic experiences. The film praises these professionals’ sense of justice, highlights their important role in the international political scene and also criticizes the political corruption.
Elisabeth Scharang’s psychological thriller Jack is a glimpse into darkness, through the biopic of the enigmatic notorious Austrian serial killer Jack Unterweger, who gained wide reputation as a poet after his imprisonment and was later on charged with the murders of eleven women. The film’s detached style intensifies the appeal and repulsion caused by this ambiguous figure.
THE FILMS
Arnaud Desplechin Tribute
LA VIE DES MORTS, 1991, 54’, France
A CHRISTMAS TALE / UN CONTE DE NOEL, 2008, 150’, France
JIMMY P, 2013, 117’, USA, France
KINGS AND QUEEN / ROIS ET REINE, 2004, 150’, France
MY GOLDEN DAYS /TROIS SOUVENIRS DE MA JEUNESSE, 2015, 123’, France
MY SEX LIFE OR HOW I GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT / COMMENT JE ME SUIS DISPUTE... MA VIE SEXUELLE, 1996, 178’, France
THE SENTINEL / LA SENTINELLE, 1992, 139’, France
Focus on New Austrian Cinema
CHUCKS, 2015, 90’, Austria, Gerhard Ertl & Sabine Hiebler
GRUBER IS LEAVING / GRUBER GEHT, 2015, 90’, Austria, Marie Kreutzer
JACK, 2015, 100’, Austria, Elisabeth Scharang
ONE OF US / EINER VON UNS, 2015, 86’, Austria, Stephan Richter
THANK YOU FOR BOMBING, 2015, 100’, Austria, Barbara Eder |