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VIENNALE-TRAILER 2024
A film by Radu Jude (Romania/Austria 2024, 2 min)
In a small event hall, a woman in traditional costume begins playing a melody on a tambal (hammered dulcimer). The quirky, clever and shrewd greeting that Radu Jude is sending us from his homeland to Vienna soon becomes clear. It is the Tritsch-Tratsch Polka by Johann Strauss, which the folk musician Nicoleta Tudorache, who is famous in Romania, performs with verve – and which has certainly never been heard in this rendition. But what is the intellectual joker Radu Jude, who never shies away from a satirical jab, up to? Is it appreciation? A joke? An allusion to the debates on cultural appropriation?
“This instrument is usually associated with the Roma minority”, the filmmaker explains, “and I’m delighted to show how Johann Strauss sounds when played on it. I’ve seen a stiff, immaculately dressed audience in a Vienna concert hall take in a classical orchestra rendition of this piece, and since cinema is still a popular form of art, I prefer to have Mrs. Tudorache playing it on a țambal. It’s certainly livelier and more fun.”
“Radu Jude is one of Europe’s most surprising contemporary directors”, said the Viennale director Eva Sangiorgi. “It means a lot to me that he accepted our invitation to create the trailer for the 62nd Viennale. In this election year it makes sense to deal with concepts of nationality and cultural property. And so, this playful yet clever short film invites political reflection, while at the same time challenging any intellectual pomposity. In the lead up to the Strauss year 2025, in which the 200th anniversary of the birth of the iconic Austrian composer will be celebrated extensively, I celebrate this de-sanctifying invitation to cultural appropriation – this time, in a reverse plundering movement, of a symbol of western music culture.”
The Viennale trailer 2024 can now be viewed at this link and will be shown in selected Austrian cinemas from Thursday, 19 September 2024.
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