FILMKLUB 2016 at Volkskundemuseum Wien
PROGRAMME
21.01.2016
LAST STOP
Julie Shles | Israel 2014 | 77 Min. | OmeU
A vast and violent labyrinth lies right in the heart of Tel Aviv, the Central Bus Station. Living in and around it are thousands of new refugees, children of migrant workers with no identity of their own, and impoverished Jewish families who feel like strangers in their homes. This labyrinth is at the center of their lives. Chaos rules in this impossible meeting place. The racism that erupted from its cellars has gotten out of control and life continues precariously, as if perched on a keg of gunpowder. A war of all against all.
18.02.2016
HINTERWELTEN
Lion Bischof, Jonas Heldt, Felicitas Sonvilla | Germany 2014 | 46 Min. | OmdU
A skinhead in love, his girlfriend who wants to tramp to Berlin and two copper-thieves on their journeys to score some meth. A secluded connoisseur of the art of living, who holds epic annual parties in the forest to add a touch of glamour to the grey, everyday life, and his girlfriend who is looking to find true love – they all seem to be lost in this mysterious German landscape near the Czech border. The episodic narrative invites the viewer to accompany these young people on their open-ended quest for meaning.
17.03.2016
KINGS OF THE WIND AND ELECTRIC QUEENS
Cédric Dupire, Gaspard Kuentz | India, France 2014 | 56 Min. | OmeU
The Sonepur Fair in India is about to begin! Known to be the largest cattle market in Asia, elephants, birds, horses or camels are traded there since hundreds of years. With its whirlwinds of dust rising from the ground, the fair is also the opportunity for a gigantic carnival. This is where gather all the fairground people of the most infamous state of India, making it the core of the bihari popular culture. And the characters of Kings of the Wind & Electric Queens are its best representatives. Colourful multitudes cut through the dusty, sticky air as the ecstatic sound of drums fills the space. An event like no other, it’s a carnival of magical realism inhabited by exotic dancers, exorcists, stuntmen and elephant tamers. Each has his rituals, prayers, his methods to accumulate and master the energy of the fair, both mechanical and organic, magic and electric. The film is full of sensual extravagance, that its meaning couldn’t be more complex and multilayered.
21.04.2016
ICAROS
Georgina Barreiro | Peru, Argentina 2014 | 71 Min. | OmeU
The interaction of a cosmological order to the sensitive balance between human and nature remains unexplored in everyday life. This is not the case in the spiritual world of the Shipibo Indians who are living in the Peruvian Amazon. The viewer will discover a powerful journey through the pictures in this movie. In isolation of the forest the young Mokan Rono studies the traditional knowledge of the medicinal and ritual plant Ayahuasca with the help of a shaman and his mother, who is a mistress of traditional healing art. Icaros is an invitation to a fascinating excursion through time and space.
15.09.2016
FEST OF DUTY
Firouzeh Khosrovani | Iran 2014 | 60 Min. | OmeU
The hall is packed with chattering Iranian schoolgirls wearing lilac robes and white hijabs. An imam explains to them that at nine years old they have reached the “age of duty.” This, he says, is the moment at which puberty begins, bringing with it all the accompanying religious precepts. Carefree days are over, and from now on the angel on the right shoulder and the devil on the left will be there watching, weighing up good and evil. At the instigation of the imam, the girls dutifully chant when they should or should not wear the hijab. Greeted by loud cheering, a whipped cream version of the Kaaba is sliced up. The scenes of this school ceremony were recorded in 2005. Eight years later, filmmaker Firouzeh Khosrovani visits two of the children she filmed: the cousins and former best friends Melika and Maryam. What’s been happening to them in the meantime? In the intimate confines of their own surroundings, the two young women talk about their past and present, and how they see their future. Maryam wears her hijab with full conviction and shares her existential doubts with God. Melika dreams of a career as an actress, paints her nails, and posts selfies on Instagram.
20.10.2016
BINTOU
Simone Catharina Gaul | Burkina Faso, Germany 2015 | 64 Min. | OmeU
Bintou is a young dressmaker, living in Burkina Faso and dreaming of a career in Europe. Her European clients are happy with her quick and low-priced work. Bintou leads her life quite happily, between work, white expats’ parties and Sundays spent with her friends. She is making a video diary about her newest creations and loves chatting online in the Internet café. All of a sudden Bintou’s life is turned upside-down when she has to take responsibility for her own daughter again. Seven-year-old Christiane has been living in a children`s home so far, as a result of Bintou‘s difficult living conditions when Christiane was born. Bintou is the portrait of a strong, young woman looking for her place between traditional and modern culture, between motherhood and career.
24.11.2016
MINOR BORDER
Lisbeth Kovacic | Austria 2015 | 25 Min. | OmeU
Border controls between Austria and Hungary have become history on paper. Wretched custom facilities are removed or go rack and ruin. While the camera focusses on these processes, interviews are played with neighbours and transmigrants to a (staged) exchange of ideas of the supposed freedom of movement in times of Schengen. A subtle exploration of places in the cinematic frontier of facts and emotion.
ENFIN J’AVAIS QUITTÉ LE BLED
aufenthaltsraum | Österreich 2013 | 40 Min.
VORFILM: VOYAGE A L’INCONNU
aufenthaltsraum | Österreich 2013 | Kinospot | 30 Sek.
“Und wenn sie mir keine Papiere geben? Das ist mir egal! Ich bleibe! Ich bin ein professioneller Harrag!”
‘Harraga’ brechen mit dem Regime der nationalstaatlich sanktionierten Identität: Mit dem arabischen Wort bezeichnen sich Menschen, die ihre Ausweise oder Pässe verbrennen und oft genug auch ihre eigene Jugend. Nicht nur um übers Mittelmeer oder andere Routen nach Europa zu reisen, sondern auch um irgendwo anders als im ‘Bled’ – dem Ort ihrer Jugend und Herkunft – ihr Glück zu finden. Sie brechen mit fundamentalen Regeln, wenn sie sich dem Blick entziehen und sich unwahrnehmbar machen. So werden sie innerhalb der löchrigen und aufgeschreckten Festung Europa zum Objekt von Statistiken und medialen Darstellungen, wie zuletzt etwa vor der pelagischen Insel Lampedusa. Der Kurzfilm ‘Und schließlich bin ich abgehauen!’ durchbricht diese Repräsentationen. Der von der Gruppe aufenthaltsraum, bestehend aus Harragas und Europäer_innen, erarbeitete Film lässt uns ihre Stimmen vernehmen: Sie erzählen von den täglichen Polizeischikanen, denen Harraga ausgesetzt sind, vom Leben auf der Flucht vor den eigenen Fingerabdrücken und vom ungebrochenen Wunsch nach einem Leben in Freiheit.
Konsequent bleiben im Film die Sprechenden unsichtbar. Die Montage trennt Gesichter und Stimmen und wird zu einem kollektiven Porträt einer Bewegung im Raum, die sich dem Grenzregime Europas entziehen will. Während wir die Erzählung eines Mannes aus Dakar hören, blicken wir aus einer Schnellbahn, die Wien mit dem Vorort Traiskirchen verbindet, wo sich ein staatliches Lager für Asylsuchende befindet. Während wir die Stimme eines Mannes aus Oujda hören, flieht der Asphalt einer österreichischen Straße an uns vorbei: Konkrete Bewegungen im Raum und Stimmen. Nur einer, Yassine Zaaitar, tritt vor die Kamera und wagt es, sein Gesicht und seine passionierte Rede der Öffentlichkeit auszusetzen und interviewt die anderen.
15.12.2016
GEZOINDELACH
Efrat Berger | Israel 2015 | 28 Min. | OmeU
Yehuda, 19, was raised in a devout Hasidic family. After a period of self-doubting and inner struggles, he decides to do away with the last remaining symbol still connecting him to his religious past: he cuts off his side locks. The film follows Yehuda and his friends’ first steps into their new world, and their effort to break free from their past.
LA BESTIA
Gisela Carbajal Rodríguez and Konstantin Steinbichler | Mexico, Germany 2015 | 29 Min. | OmeU
Thousands of migrants put their lives at risk to board ‘La Bestia’ in search of the American dream. La Bestia is a train that gets its name from its brutally as it crosses Mexico from Central America to the USA. For many it is their only real chance of crossing the boarder, but it comes at a great price. Many never make it to the end destination. This film accompanies Francisco, Lupe, Maribel, Josue and Oman, through a part of their journey. With leaving their families, friends and home behind, they give us an insight into their hopes and fears.
FELLOW TRAVELERS
Linas Mikuta | Lithuania 2015 | 17 Min. | OmeU
Three freezing hitchhikers, standing on the road in December, reveal part of their souls to a car driver who took them for a ride on a dark winter day. Sharing their life stories they unknowingly compliment one another, even though they have never met and possibly will never meet each other. All that unites them is this one car and its driver who took them for a ride and the same road which all of them are travelling.
