Five films have been nominated for the fifth edition of the LUX Audience Award, which will be screened free of charge at the Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus from October 31 to November 3. Your vote will also count in deciding the winning film!
Thursday, October 31, 6 pm
DAHOMEY
Mati Diop | France, Senegal, Benin 2024 | 67 min | OV w/GER subtitles
Mati Diop’s Golden Bear-winning DAHOMEY opens with an image of dozens of tiny replica Eiffel Towers, twinkling in the Parisian night, laid out on the ground for sale. The icon of the metropole has been reduced to souvenir that, stripped of all grandeur; Diop’s assault on coloniality is already underway. DAHOMEY follows a very different set of objects: 26 artefacts looted from the titular kingdom in the 1890s, now being repatriated from France to present-day Benin. In a rhythm that is at once taut and patient, the director’s second feature chronicles this process, from the preparation of the shipment to the uncrating of the treasures, from their public display to the ensuing debates about the complexities of restitution. Diop adds a speculative, animistic element to this process in the form of an intermittent voiceover that speaks from the perspective of the artefacts, voicing experiences of plunder, exile and captivity. With poetic intensity, this other-than-human presence conveys the weight of history—a history of racialised violence that continues to unfold in the present. DAHOMEY seeks to repair these wounds, while acknowledging the difficulty, even the impossibility, of doing so. (Erika Balsom)
Friday, November 1, 6 pm
JULIE KEEPS QUIET (JULIE ZWIJGT)
Leonardo van Dijl | Belgium, Sweden 2024 | 100 min | OV w/ENG subtitles
As the star player at an elite tennis academy, Julie’s life revolves around the game she loves. When her coach falls under investigation and is suddenly suspended, all of the club’s players are encouraged to speak up. But Julie decides to keep quiet … (via europeanfilmacademy.org)
Saturday, November 2, 6 pm
INTERCEPTED
Oksana Karpovych | Canada, France, Ukraine 2024 | 95 min | OV w/ENG subtitles
What drives the people who come to your country to wage war? Intercepted is an attempt to find an answer by showing two parallel worlds. The camera registers images of destruction in unhurried shots, in which we see Ukrainian villages, towns, houses and motorways after their liberation from the Russian occupation. We look closely – not into the abyss of destruction and death, but rather at landscapes being filled again with life. This gives hope and serves to balance out the media’s normalization of horror. They are frames set against the flood of images. Throughout the film, the soundtrack forms a shocking counterpoint. We listen to the recordings of telephone conversations intercepted in 2022 by the Ukrainian Secret Service between Russian soldiers in trenches in Ukraine and their families. It’s hard to decide which element is more devastating: the soldiers’ confessions of the rape, looting and brutal torture of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war or the (mainly) female voices from “back home” that bear witness to chauvinism and hatred, disinformation and schizophrenic propaganda. Sound and image stare each other in the face, stunned, brought together in a cinematic space. (via berlinale.de)
Sunday, November 3, 6 pm
FLOW
Gints Zilbalodis | Latvia, France, Belgium 2024 | 85 min | no dialgoue
The world seems to be coming to an end, teeming with the vestiges of a human presence. Cat is a solitary animal, but as its home is devastated by a great flood, he finds refuge on a boat populated by various species, and will have to team up with them despite their differences. In the lonesome boat sailing through mystical overflowed landscapes, they navigate the challenges and dangers of adapting to this new world. (via festival-cannes.com)
Sunday, November 3, 8 pm
ANIMAL
Sofia Exarchou | Greece, Austria, Romany, Cyprus, Bulgaria 2023 | 116 min | OV w/GER subtitles
ANIMAL, Sofia Exarchou’s second feature, takes a sensitive look at the unseen side of the tourist entertainment industry and the daily lives of those who strive to keep up our spirits, the so-called animators. Their unrestrained efort and grueling working hours almost transform their bodies into those of wild animals, as they struggle day and night to get the job done, always with a smile on their lips. The film is set in Greece, but it could take place anywhere. With tenderness and compassion, Exarchou draws us into a world that is dull and withered behind the scenes. The animators’ working routine is depicted with disarming authenticity and a documentary-like touch, even as every move is perfectly choreographed and meticulously planned. We are caught up in a whirlwind of never-ending entertainment—dances, sketches, music and songs—before ANIMAL ultimately blooms into a poignant coming-of-age story. There is a cheerfulness to the film’s mood, as well as a liberating sense of dignity in everyone’ s dedication to carrying out this tough job as best they can. Awarded Best Performance in Locarno, Dimitra Vlagopoulou inhabits protagonist Kalia with body and soul, illuminating every frame with her peerless turn. (Maria Giovanna Vagenas)
FREE ADMISSION TO ALL SCREENINGS
Tickets are available on the day of the screening from 30 minutes before the start of the screening directly at the box office at Stadtkino im Künstlerhaus.
Reservations on stadtkinowien.at.
Vote here: luxaward.eu