MAY 2021
May 14-23: CORPUS CHRISTI
Jan Komasa
Fiction 2019, PL
114min, OmeU
The free stream is organized in cooperation with the Liaison Office of the European Parliament www.europarl.eu . The film is nominated for the LUX Audience Award of the European Parliament www.luxaward.eu .
The film, based on true events, tells the story of 20-year-old Daniel, who wants to become a priest but cannot attend the seminar because of a commited crime. After his release from prison, he pretends to be a priest in a small town and inspires the traumatized community with unorthodox methods. But can he escape the shadows of the past? A drama about guilt, morality and spirituality that combines seriousness with humor.
TALKING ABOUT TREES
Suhaib Gasmelbari
Documentary 2019, QA / SD / FR / CD
93min, OmeU
The four aging members of the Sudanese Film Club, take on the task of reviving an outdoor cinema. As they try to convince the cinema owner of their plan and seek out authorities for permission, the friends dream of Sudan to be a country where art and thought are free. During their breaks, they talk about their persecution as opposition members, about film studies in exile, about torture, Truffaut and Billy Wilder. During this process, closeness and attachment develop - to each other and, above all, to cinema. At the same time, an insight into the current situation in Sudan emerges - a country shaken by crises.
TALKING ABOUT TREES is presents in cooperation with frame[o]ut Open Air Cinema at MuseumsQuartier! frame[o]ut sees itself as joint and meeting place: the program is the result of many cooperations with various initiatives, artistis, curators and festivals. Thus, frame[o]ut as an open air cinema becomes an intersection of public space and innovative film that engages with current discourses. An inclusive space that emphasises spontaneity and diversity in Vienna's MuseumsQuartier.
QUEEN LEAR
Pelin Esmer
Documentary 2019, TR
84min, OmeU
16 years ago, a group of peasant women in southern Turkey founded a theater group. At that time, they turned their real life stories into theatre plays - performing it in their village. Today, this theatre group has changed the women's lives. Now, with an adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, they travel over dusty, dangerous roads on their way to the most remote mountain villages.
On the road, their lives blur with the world of King Lear, connecting with the good and the bad, the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the honest and the dishonest from the play.
REMAPPING THE ORIGINS
Johannes Gierlinger
Essayfilm 2018, AT / PL
42min, DE OF
The past leaves traces. At least for those who know about it or want to know.
The eastern Polish city of Białystok, a once pluralistic and revolutionary place, former center of the anarchist movement and the birthplace of the language Esperanto, is now considered a prime example of right-wing nationalism on the rise. Through traces of the past found within the city, this essay film reflects on mechanisms of historiography and culture of memory: What is forgotten, what is remembered?
REMAPPING THE ORIGINS is presentd in cooperation with Austrian Association for Sociology (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Soziologie, ÖGS). The ÖGS aims to establish and develop sociology as a scientific discipline and profession. In addition to promoting a national and international network for sociologists, the ÖGS aims to communicate sociological expertise to politicians and the general public. The cooperation is intended to create space for exchange between sociologists, filmmakers and a broader public. The screening of the film and the discussion that will follow the screening provide a combination of cinematic and sociological knowledge and representation by crossing disciplinary boundaries.
In addition to the film, there will take place a digital discussion dedicated to ideologies, effects of the Nazi-Era, culture of remembrance, ideas for the further development of a society based on solidarity, and related topics.
Tuesday, 11.05.21, 19:00-20:30
Panel: Johannes Gierlinger, Maria Pohn-Lauggas, Andreas Kranebitter
[the discussion will be held in German language]
CITTÀ GIARDINO
Marco Piccarreda & Gaia Formenti
Docu-Fiction 2018, IT
57 min, OmeU
In the middle of the burning heat in Sicily an abandoned, unadorned house. Six unaccompanied, underage refugees wait here for the mills of the Italian administration to continue their case. Monotony and isolation, the smartphone as the only window to the outside world, dominate everyday life. But the young people do not surrender inactively to the supposed hopelessness.
CITTÀ GIARDINO is presented in cooperation with INNCONTRO - International Film Festival of Diversity.
INNCONTRO aims to promote the exchange on issues of migration in the form of international feature, documentary and short films and their discursive embedding and mediation. The reality of migration should neither be romanticized nor its actors victimized. The focus is therefore always on the protagonists’ agency and practices of resistance.
MAY 2021
Culture x Change # Mini-Fespaco de Vienne 2021
May 27 - 30, 2021 - online
all films are available for free
Culture X Change relies on the power of images. Culture X Change will flicker across screens online due to the still precarious health situation. In close cooperation with the largest African film festival FESPACO in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and the Mini Fespaco de Vienne, current African film productions will be shown. The selected feature films and documentaries focus on countries in the Sahel region.
Culture X Change # Mini Fespaco: Opening Film IT MUST MAKE PEACE
followed by a film talk: "Desert Blues. Cultural Activism in the Sahel"
May 27, 2021, 6.30 - 9.30 pm
Paul Chandler I Brian David Melnyk
Documentary 2017, ML
83min, OmeU - Austrian premiere
IT MUST MAKE PEACE spans 3 years of filming in remote and often insecure locations all across Mali, West Africa, documenting performances and interviews with people who could be amongst the last to play their unique instruments or perform their traditional cultural arts.
The film captures their profound passion for their traditions and the important role these play in bringing diverse peoples together, while they strive for unity and peace amidst a backdrop of increasing economic and political insecurity, religious extremism and globalization.
Code: 936186
Culture X Change # Mini Fespaco: LE LOUP D'OR DE BALOLÉ
Fr., May 28, 2021, 6.30 - 7.35 pm
Chloé Aïcha Boro
Documentary 2019, BF / FR
65min, OmeU
In the heart of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, there is a granite quarry. Almost 2,500 people, adults and children, toil there under the toughest conditions. In the 'hole', as they call their workplace, they live on the edge of a society that refuses to notice people.
But in 2014 the people took to the streets and expelled long-time President Blaise Compaoré. Hopes for democratic changes and better living conditions are growing. The people in the quarry are also taking courage and no longer want to accept their exploitative employers. They organize themselves and set up their own sales department that promises more income. Solidarity instead of greed is the hopeful motto.
Culture X Change # Mini Fespaco: GOLD COAST LOUNGE
Fr., May 28, 2021, 8.30 - 10.36 pm
Pascal Aka
Fiction 2020, GH
126 min, OmeU - Austrian premiere
Set in Ghana, Gold Coast Lounge is a stylistically stimulating drama that follows a family of criminals who must clean up their act before the government shuts down their lounge. In so doing, murders, betrayal, secrets, rivalries rush to the fore. Shot in the noir style of 1940s American film, Gold Coast Lounge is an ambitious, statement-making feature debut by director Pascal Aka. The film merges elements of African high life, funk, jazz with the black and white picture, achieving something altogether unique.
Culture X Change # Mini Fespaco: DESRANCES
Sa., May 29, 2021, 6.30 - 8.06 pm
Apolline Traoré
Fiction 2019, BF
96 min, OmeU
After the brutal massacre of his family in Haiti, Francis Desrances settles in Ivory Coast. Years later, Francis, his wife Aissey, and their 12-year-old daughter Haila await the birth of a son who, to Francis' excitement and Haila's annoyance, is immediately considered a worthy heir to the Desrances name. As the birth is imminent, civil war breaks out in Abidjan and Aissey is missing in close combat. Haila bravely steps forward in a way that challenges her father's idea of what constitutes a rightful heir. Apolline Traoré's domestic drama, cementing her status as a bold voice in contemporary filmmaking, escalates into an intense thriller that passionately challenges passionate gender roles while highlighting the human cost of civil war.
Subsequent Talk with Apolline Traoré
Culture X Change # Mini Fespaco: LE CIMETIÈRE DES ELEPHANTS
Sa., May 29, 2021, 8.30 - 10 pm
Eléonore Yaméogo
Documentary 2018, FR / BF
92 min, OmeU - Austrian premiere
The documentary by Burkinabe director Eléonore Yaméogo was shown for the first time at Fespaco 2019. It is about former missionaries, the 'white fathers' in Africa and their roles in the colonization of Africa.
In the closed world of a retirement home in France, they chat about the everyday life of former missionaries. They proselytized in West Africa before independence.
Their home is a place of silence that is ironically called 'the elephant cemetery' by the residents. About 30 residents live there, including Father François de Gaulle, a nephew of General Charles de Gaulle, one of the leading politicians in France after World War II.
In the documentary, these white fathers tell about their lives in Africa, talk about their mission and their place in the history of colonization.
It is the last elephants to reveal their memories here.
Culture X Change # Mini Fespaco: The Mercy of the Jungle
Su., May 30, 2021, 6.30 - 8.00 pm
Joel Karekezi
Fiction 2019, RW / BE / FR / DE
91min, OV french
Etalon de Yennenga - First Price of FESPACO 2019 for best movie
During the Second Congo War, two Rwandan soldiers are abandoned in the jungle. The experienced officer and the young infantryman fight for survival and against malaria - and form an unexpected friendship that allows them to confide their most traumatic experiences. The second work of the young Rwandan director Karekezi, whose father died in the 1994 genocide.Film about a war with an antimilitarist aim, The Mercy of the Jungle shows the open wounds left by the fights and questions the place of humanity in armed conflicts.
Followed by a talk with Joel Karekezi
Culture X Change # Mini Fespaco: THE PERIMETER OF KAMSÉ
So., May 30, 2021, 8.30 - 10.00 pm
Olivier Zuchuat
Documentary 2020, CH / FR
93 Min, OmeU
The village of Kamsé in Burkina Faso is being decimated by the effects of desertification.
In order to survive, the villagers begin with the greening of the parched landscape. With shovels and pickaxes they fight back to cede their land to the desert. They build dikes, plant hedges and trees.
Director Olivier Zuchuat proves to be a patient observer and creates a poetic and contemplative story with still images that make the parched landscape tangible.