THE OPENING FILM OF THE VIENNALE 2022 COMES FROM AUSTRIA

The Viennale is pleased to announce this year's opening film. The Austrian film VERA by Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel will kick off the festival on Thursday, October 20.

VERA follows the daughter of famous Italo-Western actor Giuliano Gemma, Vera Gemma (who plays herself here), through her everyday life between superficial stardom and deeper longings. When, after a car accident, she takes the injured son of a working-class family to her heart, a moral parable unfolds that is as fascinating as it is tragic, one that once again attempts to unite the rich with the poor, the lost with the found. That contradictions are not only admitted but embraced reveals the film's tender humanism.

"VERA is the ideal film for the opening of the 60th edition of the Viennale," enthuses Viennale Director Eva Sangiorgi. "Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel are two directors of international radiance and have long been friends of the festival. Their current work confirms the humanistic sensibility of their vision and the unique originality of their film language. VERA is profound, open and refreshing, far from any pretentiousness or mannerism. It is a sincere, real, true film and it is one of this year's must-sees."

VERA will play in four festival cinemas on opening night. The directors as well as the actors Vera Gemma and Daniel de Palma will be present.

VERA
R: Rainer Frimmel, Tizza Covi
Austria 2022, 115 min