At the time of this press briefing, the major part of our extensive study and program selection for the Viennale 2008
has been concluded, and thus we can give you a general overview of the orientation and direction of this year’s
festival.
What stands out in the choice of films for the Viennale 2008 is the wide spectrum of the program, covering a
great diversity of cinematography and cinematic countries of origin. As compared to last year, Latin-American cinema,
to name but one example, has clearly gained in importance and will be represented at this year’s festival by a
large number of interesting and innovative works from e.g. Mexico, Argentina and Brazil.
In the documentary program, filmmaking from Israel takes up a special place with half-a-dozen politically and
aesthetically relevant works, dealing with the country’s contradictory history and present in an exceptionally open
and critical way. We also make room for a series of independent American documentaries that are both commentary
and critique on the current political situation in the United States – between the old war and the upcoming
elections.
In addition, we will present several remarkable biographical reflections and portraits about personalities such as
Derek Jarman, Klaus Kinski, Patti Smith and Roman Polanski, which are juxtaposed to explicitly political and contemporary
analyses and descriptions of the current state of affairs, including documentaries such as Bastards of the
Party, De Match, Iron Ladies of Liberia, Chaiqian and Sollbruchstelle.
In the feature film program, the names of familiar and well-established directors such as Arnaud Desplechin, Jean-
Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Jia Zhangke and Johnnie To can be found alongside a large number of unknown directors
and promising discoveries, including Azazel Jacobs, Pierre Léon, Enrique Rivero, Noh Young-seok, Barry
Jenkins and Jake Mahaffy.
In addition, the Viennale devotes itself to the presentation of international genre cinema, including works by directors
such as Tomas Alfredson, Isidro Ortiz, James Toback and Pou-soi Cheang.
This exciting diversity of a great lively world cinema and committed political filmmaking convincingly pours scorn
on the weekly commercial offer that chance floods our cinemas with, and at the same time gives evidence of how
much a film festival can and must be a correction, expansion and criticism of the current state of cinema.
5
Selection of the feature film program
El cant dels ocells Albert Serra, E 2008
Cómo estar muerto Manuel Ferrari, Argentina 2008
Un conte de Noël Arnaud Desplechin, F 2008
Daytime Drinking Noh Young-seok, South Korea 2008
Entre les murs Laurent Cantet, F 2008
Kimi no Tomodachi Hiroki Ryuichi, Japan 2008
Låt den rätte komma in Tomas Alfredson, S 2008
März Händl Klaus, A 2008
Momma’s Man Azazel Jacobs, USA 2008
My Winnipeg Guy Maddin, Canada 2007
United Red Army Wakamatsu Koji, Japan 2007
Waltz With Bashir Ari Folman, Israel/F/D 2008
Selection of the documentary film program
7915 km Nikolaus Geyrhalter, A 2008
Beautiful Losers Aaron Rose, Joshua Leonard, USA 2008
La Forteresse Fernand Melgar, CH 2008
Ich gehe jetzt rein Aysun Bademsoy, D 2008
In die Welt Constantin Wulff, A 2008
Jesus Christus Erlöser Peter Geyer, D 2008
Man On Wire James Marsh, GB 2007
De match Kees Hin, NL 2008
Mi vida dentro Lucía Gajá, Mexiko/USA 2007
Of Time and the City Terence Davies, GB 2008
The Order of Myths Margaret Brown, USA 2008
Sollbruchstelle Eva Stotz, D 2008
Selection of the short film program
Ah, Liberty Ben Rivers, GB 2008
Beirut Outtakes Peggy Ahwesh, USA 2007
Le Genou d’Artemide Jean-Marie Straub, F/I 2007
Ground Control Siegfried A. Fruhauf, A 2008
L’Heure du Berger Pierre Creton, F 2008
Horizontal Boundaries Pat O’Neill USA 2008
Minot, North Dakota Angelika Brudniak, Cynthia Madansky, A/USA 2007
El sastre Oscar Pérez, E 2007
Via Carera Christoph Weihrich, A 2007