Fwd: INVITATION | FILM RETROSPECTIVE | ULRICH SEIDL | Jul 24 - Aug 6

THE AUSTRIAN CULTURAL FORUM NEW YORK AND THE ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES PRESENT FRIDAY JUL 24 - THURSDAY JUL 30 FILM RETROSPECTIVE THE FILMS OF ULRICH SEIDL Filmstill from Import Export, 2007 In anticipation of the week-long run of his most recent feature film, IMPORT EXPORT, Anthology presents a retrospective of the work of Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl, one of contemporary cinema's most accomplished artists, and one who has consistently explored the line between fiction and documentary. Unblinking in the face of the grim realities of the modern world, yet ultimately a profoundly humanistic filmmaker, Seidl is among the most perceptive and important cinematic chroniclers of 21st-century life. IMPORT EXPORT Austria, 2007, 135 minutes, 35mm. In German with English subtitles. IMPORT EXPORT tells two stories that at first glance appear unrelated. The first Concerns Olga, a young nurse and mother who decides to leave the Ukraine for Austria, where she eventually finds work as a cleaning lady in a geriatric hospital. The other story follows Paul, a young Austrian man who finds himself unemployed and in debt, until his stepfather takes him along to a job in the Ukraine installing video gambling machines. Both of these characters are in search of work, a new beginning, an existence, life: Olga, from Eastern Europe, where unremitting poverty is the order of the day; Paul, from the West, where unemployment means not hunger, but a crisis of identity and a sense of uselessness. Both are struggling to believe in themselves, to find meaning; both travel to a new country and thus into its depths. FRIDAY JUL 31 - THURSDAY AUG 6, 6:30 PM and 9:15 PM ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS, 3:45 PM RETROSPECTIVE PROGRAM DOG DAYS / HUNDSTAGE 2001, 121 minutes, 35mm. In German with English subtitles. Seidl's first fiction feature portrays everyday people leading extravagantly sordid lives. Through six intertwined narratives, DOG DAYS plunges headlong into a disturbing yet moving world of near-medieval passion and cruelty existing just beneath the sun-bleached surface of a modern community of cookie-cutter homes. The film's gallery of cloistered emotional grotesques, played mostly by non-actors, sustains a unique mixture of documentary-like intimacy and even-handed compassion. FRIDAY JUL 24, 6:45 PM SUNDAY JUL 26, 8:30 PM TUESDAY JUL 28, 6:45 PM MODELS 1999, 118 minutes, 35mm. In German with English subtitles. MODELS is a revealing and devastating portrait of a trio of aspiring real-life Viennese models. Vivian will stop at nothing to be a magazine cover girl; Lisa fills her time with routine plastic surgery and cocaine binges; while innocent Tanja focuses on the mystical through tarot cards, yoga, and raw animal energy. Using long, meticulously composed, and voyeuristic shots, Seidl delves deeply into the lives of the models, exploring how sex and career intertwine. FRIDAY JUL 24, 9:15 PM SUNDAY JUL 26, 3:45 PM THURSDAY JUL 30, 6:45 PM LOSSES ARE TO BE EXPECTED / MIT VERLUST IST ZU RECHNEN 1992, 118 minutes, 35mm. In German and Czech with English subtitles. This foray into the East/West divide (which anticipates the theme of IMPORT EXPORT) explores the physical and social borders that separate people as Austrian widower Sepp awkwardly courts Paula, who lives just across the Czech border. SATURDAY JUL 25, 4:15 PM TUESDAY JUL 28, 9:15 PM ANIMAL LOVE / TIERISCHE LIEBE 1995, 114 minutes, 35mm. In German with English subtitles. More disquieting than perverse, this darkly humorous film observes the lonely, hollow, and desperate inhabitants of Vienna whose relationships with their four-legged friends replace - or displace - the intimacy and companionship of other human beings. A compelling yet utterly disturbing tour of the underside of human nature. "Never have I looked so directly into hell." - Werner Herzog SATURDAY JUL 25, 6:45 PM MONDAY JUL 27, 9:15 PM WEDNESDAY JUL 29, 6:45 PM JESUS, YOU KNOW / JESUS, DU WEISST 2003, 87 minutes, 35mm. In German with English subtitles. JESUS, YOU KNOW captures six Catholics - of different ages, backgrounds, and genders - in a series of confessional dialogues with both Jesus and an omnipresent movie camera. Structured as a series of cinematic tableaux, the film interweaves pieces of choral music and brief glimpses into the lives of the various worshippers with the individual confessions, which, though documented by the camera, are disarmingly intimate and revealing. SATURDAY JUL 25, 9:15 PM MONDAY JUL 27, 7:15 PM THURSDAY JUL 30, 9:15 PM PICTURES OF AN EXHIBITION / BILDER EINER AUSSTELLUNG 1996, 45 minutes, video. Seidl takes his camera to an abstract-art exhibition and asks the public to comment on what they see. Some analyze the work from a strictly Freudian angle as they nibble their canapés; others can only see penises. In reality, the paintings are simply an excuse for Seidl to unmask the anguishes, fears, suspicions, and sexual taboos of those gathered together there. and THE BOSOM FRIEND / DER BUSENFREUND 1997, 60 minutes, video. Math teacher René's trigonometric interests meet his fascination with female anatomy in this intimate and fastidiously composed portrait of a man normally consigned to the fringes of society. 40-years-old and living at home with his mother, Rupnik has an opinion on everything. As the extent of his anxieties and obsessions become apparent over the course of his increasingly disturbing monologue, as well as in a handful of brutally honest scenes featuring his mother, Seidl presents him for who he is, without judgment. SUNDAY JUL 26, 6:15 PM WEDNESDAY JUL 29, 9:15 PM VENUE Anthology Film Archives 32 Second Ave (at 2nd St.) New York, NY 10003 212-505-5181 www.anthologyfilmarchives.org ADMISSION Tickets are available at Anthology's box office on the day of the show only. The box office opens 30 minutes before the first show of the day. There are no advance ticket sales. Reservations are available to Anthology members only.