Last night Reto and I inadvertently went to the Zurich Film Festival. I hadn't realised it had started yet or I'm sure we would have gone deliberately, but we had actually gone to Zurich to see another movie (and to waste time, because Reto has this exam of his on Monday and he is looking around for excuses not to study any more). Anyway, the film we had meant to see was only on dubbed into german, blahblahblah, so when we happened upon a ZFF programme we decided to go to the next thing that was on at that instead, which was (the world premiere of) this Austrian movie called Freundschaft. It was about a father and son discussing family and national politics relentlessly for an hour and a half (based on a play, which you could really tell from the intense wordiness of it all, the absence of other characters and action, and the total lack of importance of scenery), and which was all quite charming (although possibly better if you know more about Austrian politics).
Several things are worth noting. Firstly, the tickets were ludicrously expensive (21 francs each!), which is not really surprising but still worth being horrified by. Secondly, english really seems to be the main language of the ZFF, which I appreciate but I am still sort of outraged on behalf of Switzies. Freundschaft was obviously in german (with english subtitles), but the short film before it (which was this extremely explicit and funny cartoon about one girl's sexual (mis)adventures) was in english and had no subtitles. Reto saw a few things at the Fest last year and he says that one of the features he saw (as opposed to the short film before it) then was also in english and had no subtitles at all. Which, as I said, is appalling. And speaking of appalling, the subtitles were weird. The word "snafu" featured, as did "perdu". Pardon?
Thirdly, the movie theatre we were in had a flat floor (which has nothing to do with the Fest, but still). The seats were absolutely enormous (so much so that you couldn't really see the head of the person in front of you) and the screen was a fair way up in the air, so it was no problem seeing the screen, but it was still peculiar to be in a flat movie theatre. The only other times I can think of this happening were in places that aren't really movie theatres (such as the State Theatre in Sydney (although only if you sit in the Stalls, and even then the floor is gently slopy), or at the Inverell town hall when I was a kiddy and they used to show movies there once a fortnight because there was no movie theatre in town. Although, archaically enough, there was a drive-in. Which also had a flat floor). Weird.
There was no intermission (hurray). We did still have allocated seats, and ticket prices that depend on which seats you want, which I totally disapprove of, but the lack of intermission was good.
Possibly the funniest thing that happened was the entry of the festival jury (who were all sitting in the row in front of us), which involved them all turning up a bit late and the last one, who was sort of old and a bit unsteady on his feet, and who was still walking in as they turned the lights down so he probably couldn't see anything, inadvertently sitting on Dieter Meier (who seems to have done everything, including being a member of Yello, the only Swiss band you have ever heard of). Fortunately it seemed they had already been introduced and so it wasn't as awkward as it could have been, and the man took his own seat, not on top of Dieter Meier.
It was a nice evening. The film wasn't so great (Reto liked it far more than I did. I like the fact that I had no idea what it was going to be about before we went and saw it. Oh, and the short film was excellent) but I always enjoy a film fest experience, and this one didn't let me down. I think there will definitely be more of it next week...
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8 comments:
More info about the short films please. I have a former colleague who's won a few prices for his shorts. I'd love to know if he had any on the festival.
- snafu means "Situation Normal, All Fucked Up" - apparently it's a WW2 acronym much like FUBAR.
- perdu :
1. hidden; concealed; obscured.
2. Obsolete. a soldier assigned to a very dangerous mission or position.
- not to be lecturing or anything, just if you didn't know.
Yeah, I looked up snafu and perdu after I got home and found out what they meant. The fact that I had to do that, though, is insane (I mean the fact that they are using such archaic and/or obscure words when there was no need to, and when what they said in german (according to Reto) was nowhere near as arcane and stoopid). Grr.
I'm not too sure about the shorts. There doesn't seem to be any specific info on them on the website, and searching on their search thing doesn't seem to help either. The easiest way to find out would (it seems) to be to go here (http://www.zurichfilmfestival.org/en/programm_und_tickets/filmindex/nach_regisseur/) look at the end of each little blurb about each film and see if it says if there is a supporting film. What's your friend's name?
His name is Rune Christensen. His most recent short is "Down the Road".
I think the Film Festival site is neglecting the shorts. They should have proper info about those movies as well.
I agree, especially since the only time anyone ever sees short films is at film festivals. If they (the short films) aren't going to be properly recognised at film fests, then when will they be?
i just wanted to put a word in for the fabulously flat-floored valhalla (downstairs)... and then there's the vaguely slopey manly twin... and there must be more that i can't think of off the top of my head. it does always feel like an olde worlde cinematic experience at these places, 'tis true.
Does Valhalla really count, though, or is it like the State? Was it originally built as a movie theatre?
dude, the State was originally a movie theatre, back in the day when they were all grand, ornate things and there were dozens of them all over town cos the only fun to be had on a saturday arvo was a western double feature. it only became a venue for lame bands when it was restored in the 80s after a decade or so of dust-languishing.
i'm pretty sure the Val also opened as a cinema back in the early 70s.
cinema used to be big, remember, before DVDs.
My god, I can't believe I forgot that the State was originally a movie theatre. That's weird, and vaguely embarrassing.
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