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FESTIVALS Austria

Macondo triumphs at Vienna

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- With 300 films and a young audience that was larger than ever, the great Viennese event has come to a close with some impressive results

Macondo triumphs at Vienna
Macondo by Sudabeh Mortezai

The 2014 edition of the Viennale (23 October – 6 November) has come to a close with the victory of the Austrian film Macondo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sudabeh Mortezai
film profile
]
by Sudabeh Mortezai, which was one of the runner-ups for the Golden Bear at the most recent Berlin Film Festival (read the review here). Telling the story of a young Chechen living in the refugee neighbourhood of Macondo (in the Viennese district of Simmering) who, in the absence of his father, had to grow up way too quickly, the film has been awarded the Vienna Film Award (worth €12,000) as well as the MehrWERT Prize, a trophy offered by the Erste Bank, the Viennale's main sponsor, which gives a young talent the opportunity to go and study in New York for two months.

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The Vienna Film Award for Best Documentary (also worth €12,000) has been given to the French-Austrian production We Come As Friends [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Hubert Sauper, which allows audiences to discover the heart of Sudan.

The FIPRESCI Prize has been awarded to the Indian film Court by Chaitanya Tamhane, and the Prize of the Readers of the Standard has been won by Bird People [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pascale Ferran
film profile
]
by French director Pascale Ferran. The MehrWERT Prize for Best Short Film has gone to the Austrian-American co-production Eden's Edge by Gerhard Treml and Leo Calice.

As occurs every year, the Viennale screened around 300 films, and among these were a lot of top-quality titles already presented at the largest festivals in Europe, such as the Cannes selections Goodbye to Language (3D) [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Jean-Luc Godard, Amour fou [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner, Clouds of Sils Maria [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Charles Gillibert
interview: Olivier Assayas
film profile
]
by Olivier Assayas, Two Days, One Night [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile
]
by the Dardenne brothersLeviathan [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
by Andrei Zviagintsev, Party Girl [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marie Amachoukeli, Claire B…
film profile
]
by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis, as well as the extended version of film event Nymphomaniac [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Vesth
film profile
]
1 and 2, Pasolini [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Abel Ferrara
film profile
]
by Abel Ferrara, Calvary [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: John Michael McDonagh
film profile
]
by John Michael McDonagh, Phoenix [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Christian Petzold
film profile
]
by the excellent Christian Petzold, and the three LUX Prize finalists: Ida [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
interview: Pawel Pawlikowski
film profile
]
, Girlhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Céline Sciamma
interview: Céline Sciamma
film profile
]
and Class Enemy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Rok Biček
interview: Rok Bicek
interview: Rok Bicek
film profile
]
. The festival closed with the astounding Force majeure [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruben Östlund
film profile
]
by Ruben Östlund.

Festival director Hans Hurch is proud of the success of this edition of the Viennale, which, for the first time, lasted for 15 days and saw an increase in the number of festival visitors (98,200) and the percentage of actual admissions (81.7% of the available tickets sold), which increased the number of sold-out screenings to 131.

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(Translated from French)

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