Erwin Wagenhofer concludes his “trilogy of exhaution” with ALPHABET, an essay on the Western educational system. PUTIN’S GAMES by Alexander Gentelev, produced by Vienna-based Satelfilm, unveils the story behind the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi. Both celebrate their international premiere at the IDFA competition.

 

Austrian (co-)production at the 26th IDFA AMSTERDAM

Competition

• ALPHABET by Erwin Wagenhofer
• PUTIN’S GAMES by Alexander Gentelev

Reflecting Images
Panorama

• EVERYDAY REBELLION by The Riahi Brothers

 

Best of Fests

• MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE by Marc Bauder

 

 

Masters

• DER LETZTE DER UNGERECHTEN by Claude Lanzmann

 

Based on the same story

• IM TOTEN WINKEL. HITLERS SEKRETÄRIN by André Heller und Othmar Schmiderer

 

ALPHABET by Erwin Wagenhofer (Prisma Film (A), Rommelfilm (D))
Austrian support by Austrian Film Institute, Vienna Film Funds

We’re living in times of sweeping changes, crises and disorientation. The financial system, energy, climate change: All the problems in these areas have one thing in common, they were created by humans. Many were created by humans educated at the world’s best universities and institutions. Is this mess a side effect of their education, or the underlying attitudes and approach? Is the main problem the structure of our brains, and therefore the structure of our outdated thinking?

International sales: The Match Factory

PUTIN’S GAMES by Alexander Gentelev (Satel Film (A), Saxonia Entertainment (D), Sasha Klein Productions (IL)
Austrian support by Fernsehfonds Austria, Filmfonds Wien

The Russian city of Sochi on “Russia’s Riviera” is a traditional summer resort for Russia’s rich and beautiful. It was also chosen to host the 2014 Winter Olympics by the International Olympics Committee (the IOC). It was a bizarre choice. When the IOC made its decision, there was not one single venue fit for Olympic purposes of any kind in Sochi. Putin’s Games exposes the questionable nature of the entire Sochi nomination, while following the construction of a faux “winter” in a sub-tropical environment. As the Winter Olympics approach, the depths of controversy only become greater.

International sales: Cinephil


EVERYDAY REBELLION by The Riahi Brothers (Golden Girls Filmproduktion (A), Mira Film (CH))
Austrian support by bm:ukk, ORF, Vienna Film Fund

What does the Occupy movement have in common with the Spanish Indignados or theArab Spring? Is there a connection between the Iranian democracy movement and the Syrian struggle and what is the link between the Ukrainian topless activists of Femen and Egypt? The reasons for the various uprisings in these countries may be diverse, but their creative nonviolent tactics they are strongly connected. Everyday Rebellion is a documentary & cross-media project celebrating the power and richness of creative nonviolent protest and civil disobedience worldwide.


MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE by Marc Bauder (bauderfilm (D), NGF Geyrhalterfilm (A))
Austrian support by Fernsehfonds Austria

What mechanisms are responsible for each new generation of business executives acting according to similar patterns? Are caps on salaries or the amounts of government subsidies the solutions to the economic crisis? And has the financial sector perfected a phenomenon that has deep roots in our society?
International sales: Autlook Filmsales


DER LETZTE DER UNGERECHTEN by Claude Lanzmann (Dor Film (A), Synechdoche (F),
Le Pacte (F), Les Films Aleph (F))
Austrian support by: Austrian Film Institute, ORF, Vienna Film Fund

A place: Theresienstadt. As propaganda Adolf Eichmann called it the “model ghetto”, which was in reality the last stop before the gas chamber. A man: Benjamin Murmelstein. As last president of the Theresienstadt Jewish Council he was forced to negotiate with Eichmann day after day during the war. More than twenty-five years after Shoah, Claude Lanzmann’s new film reveals a fundamental aspect of the Holocaust and sheds light on the origins of the “Final Solution”.

International sales: Le Pacte

IM TOTEN WINKEL. HITLERS SEKRETÄRIN by André Heller und Othmar Schmiderer (Dor Film)
For the first time ever, 81-year-old Traudl Jung appears on camera to tell of her life. She was Adolf Hitler's private secretary from the fall of 1942 until the end of the Nazi regime. She worked for him in the Wolf's Lair, on the Obersalzberg, in the Führer's bunker in Berlin, and in the end, she recorded his last will and testament. Fifty-six years after the war's end an important eyewitness speaks up, and her experiences have made her a fierce opponent of National Socialism. At the same time she seems unable to forgive the young girl she once was, for her fondness for Hitler, for her naivité and ignorance.