Austrian Avant-Garde

77 Minute Running Time

Every year, Austrian film artists produce some of the most provocative, cutting-edge, visually stunning avant-garde films in the world. We are pleased to present a package of eight new works from Austria’s leading filmmakers.


U.S. Premiere

Sponsored by:

Films and Events in Program...

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  A to A

  Austria , 2011 , 5 min.
  Director: Johann Lurf The terror of the mundane, revealed via traffic islands. More than 100 rotunda islands in Lower Austria are shown in increasingly grotesque segments of only a few seconds.... more
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  Cornelius Kolig. Short Notes to Eternity or Don't Fuck with Paradise

  Austria , 2011 , 15 min.
  Director: Sasha Pirker A portrait of the artist Cornelius Kolig, his art, and his life, in poetic images, intoxicating sounds, and, parallel to the haunting visuals, the artist’s own voice.... more
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  FORÊT D'Experimentation

  Austria , 2012 , 22 min.
  Director: Michaela Grill The experimental forest: a place, a title, a statement of intent. Borders between nature and landscape, abstract and figurative, the processing of visual and tonal alphabets, produce a mesmerizing cinematic experience.... more
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  Heavy Eyes

  Austria , 2011 , 10 min.
  Director: Siegfried A. Fruhauf A kind of white noise and digital rain weighs heavy. Wild proliferations of images appear scribbled or scratched; spots spread across them. The old way of seeing no longer applies.... more
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  Jackson / Marker 4am

  Austria , 2012 , 3 min.
  Director: Ruth Beckermann On a street, an African-American dances to rap music. We see a veranda where a party seems to be going on. We move through a landscape that constantly abstracts reality into fiction.... more
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  Vers.Augt

  Austria , 2011 , 5 min.
  Director: Tone Fink Blinks of an eye give birth to episodes involving life and love. A smiling Buddha; a couple making love; a galloping udder, equipped with a drag parachute, vanishing into nothingness.... more
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  Workers Leaving the Factory (Again)

  Austria , 2012 , 11 min.
  Director: Katharina Gruzei We see the backs of workers leaving a factory. We wonder: Is it nighttime? What work do they do? What do they earn? When will their jobs be moved overseas?... more
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  Zounk!

  Austria , 2012 , 6 min.
  Director: Billy Roisz Colorful, flashing screen signals sink back into black; horizontal and vertical lines become a series of flickering grids. A mix of brutality and tenderness—a bonfire of image and sound.... more

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  film/STILL: An Evening with Stacey Steers

  90 min. Stacey Steers’s labor-intensive films are composed of thousands of individual, handmade works on paper. Her films have screened at festivals and museums worldwide. She is this year’s recipient of the Denver Film Society's Stan Brakhage Vision Award.... more
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  Shorts 2: Close Encounters of the Animated Kind

  95 min. The best animated shorts of the year. Bring hungry eyes.... more
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  Supporting Characters

  USA , 2011 , 87 min. In Daniel Schechter’s movie about a movie, two best friends are a sharp co-editing team brought in to polish a substandard romantic comedy. Problems in their own off-duty relationships spill over into their workdays. A smart New York buddy flick.... more
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  Surviving Life

  Czech Republic , 2010 , 105 min. Now 78, the “Animator of Prague,” Jan Svankmajer, uses an innovative mixture of live action and cutout photo animation to explore the vivid fantasy life of a middle-aged clerk who dreams constantly of a beautiful woman dressed in red.... more