From 7 - 18 October the BFI will show 238 films, from 71 countries, in 16 cinemas. 12 days. One festival.
This year three Austrian films will be screened at the LFF.
HomeSick, directed by Jakob M. Erwa
Jessica, an ambitious classical music student, moves into a spacious new flat with her boyfriend Lorenz. As the talented cellist prepares to represent Germany in a prestigious music competition, a sense of pressure weighs heavily on her mind. And although her new apartment appears to be the perfect practice space, Jessica finds herself distracted by the seemingly nice old lady who lives upstairs. As Jessica becomes more stressed, her paranoia escalates, becoming convinced that her elderly neighbour has very dark intentions. Recalling the claustrophobic chills of early Polanski, Homesick is an intelligent and assured thrill ride with a cool exterior that gradually gives way to the horrors lurking beneath. Shot with measured precision, director Jakob M Erwa skilfully transforms the roomy interiors of Jessica’s new home into a oppressive prison of her own invention, maintaining a sly sense of ambiguity and subtle streak of jet black humour throughout. (http://www.homesick-film.de/)
Premiere at Berlinale 2015/Panorama Section.
Tuesday, 13 October, 13:15, BFI Southbank; Friday, 16 October, 21:15, Picturehouse Central. Buy tickets here.
The Exquisite Corpus, directed by Peter Tscherkassky
"The Exquisite Corpus commences with a search along a seashore. We glimpse a few actors from the prow of a small boat. Eventually, the object of the search is discovered: a sleeping beauty lies on the beach, before our very eyes. Suddenly and quite unexpectedly, we are drawn into her dream. It’s a highly ambiguous dream – sensuous, humorous, gruesome, and ecstatic – a broadly defined seduction lusting for a tangible, perceptible, exquisite physicality – including the body of the film." (http://www.tscherkassky.at/content/films/theFilms/TheExquisiteCorpusEN.html)
Premiere in Cannes - Quinzaine des Réalisateurs.
The Stuff of Film: Experimenta Short Film Programme, Friday 16 October, 15:45, BFI Southbank. Buy tickets here.
Parabellum, directed by Lukas Valenta Rinner
"Hernan (Pablo Seijo), a colorless figure in a monochromatic world of browns, beiges and bone, impassively leaves his office in the Argentine city of Cordoba as the radio reports on looting and vandalism. He visits his father in a nursing home, takes his cat to a pet boarding lodge, cancels his phone service, and boards a bus with similarly pasty people for a survival camp in the woods. There, the silent participants choose courses such as “Camouflage,” or “Politics,” or “Homemade Explosives,” interspersed with downtime spent relaxing by the pool. ... Rinner’s stated goal is to comment on the destructive influence of rampant global capitalism while toying with the cultural thirst for end-of-the-world scenarios." (http://variety.com/2015/film/festivals/rotterdam-film-review-parabellum-1201421673/)
Diagonale-Price of the Youth Jury of Styria 2015; Special Jury Prize Jeonju IFF.
Thursday 8 October, 18:30, Vue Islington; Sunday, 11 October, 16:00, Hackney Picturehouse. Buy tickets here.
