V'11 FESTIVALINFO
Coming to an end with a screening of the closing film THE IDES OF MARCH by George Clooney, the Viennale 2011 continues on its path of success. With an attendance of 96,700 at the 2011 festival as compared to 2010, the Viennale saw a slight increase in the number of visitors, less so than in previous years but at the same time an important and wonderful confirmation of the Viennale’s steadily growing popularity. The festival’s overall attendance figures also rose slightly from 79.80% in 2010 to 79.90% at the Viennale 2011. The number of film screenings remained more or less the same as last year’s with a total of 347 screenings, and so did the number of sold-out screenings, which totaled 120 this year. Contributing significantly to the 2011 festival’s success were the numerous fully booked screenings and gala events at the spacious Gartenbaukino, the almost completely sold-out special program Home Run featuring new Austrian films, and the unexpected popularity of films such as ALPIS, TERRI, DRIVE, TOMBOY, TAKE SHELTER, SUBMARINE, HESHER, BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU’DA, AMERICANO and BÉ OMID É DIDAR to name but a few.
TRIBUTES & SPECIAL PROGRAMS
While the Tribute to Harry Belafonte was extremely successful, as expected, the first international homage to Soi Cheang did not quite meet our expectations.
RETROSPECTIVE - Chantal Akermann
Realized in collaboration with the Filmmuseum, this year’s retrospective was dedicated to Chantal Akerman and was a huge success with 4,500 visitors.More than 500 viewers enjoyed the premiere of Akerman’s most recent film at the Gartenbaukino.
“In summary, we can once again point to the Viennale audience’s exceptional curiosity and zest for discovery. They received the festival’s cinematic complexity and wide variety of extremely different works, styles, genres and stories with great interest and incredible openness,” says festival director Hans Hurch. “This is wonderfully promising for the great 50th anniversary of the Viennale in 2012.”
