The first edition of the “Retinal Ton Film Festival” starts in Wiener Neustadt on August 27th. On four consecutive evenings, there are film screenings in the city theater and in the mayor’s garden, as well as musical walks and concerts. The full program for the festival, originally planned for June, is scheduled for August 6.
For actress Katharina Stemberger and cameraman Fabian Eder, who as festival director presented the project in Vienna on Wednesday, the focus is on the dialogue: the main focus is on five double features, each consisting of a documentary and a feature film on a specific topic. These include, among other things, social development in Great Britain taking Brexit into account, the representation and perception of women since the 1960s, and migration and integration. The screenings are flanked by discussions with experts and filmmakers. “This creates an exciting situation that, as far as I know, does not exist anywhere else,” announced Eder.
Among the films curated by Eder, Daniel Ebner, Sigrid Hadenius and Astrid Heubrandtner, films from film schools can also be seen as part of their own youth program, many of them debuts by directors. According to Stemberger, the state of Lower Austria also supports young people with its own scholarship. Instead of question rounds about the films, there should be “crossover and music”, in which the city should be involved and the screenings in the city theater and in the mayor’s garden should be connected.
“We can design the music in these four days,” said Klemens Lendl from the Viennese duo Die Strottern. On the first day of the festival, the Velvet Elevator orchestra, which specializes in film and television music, will kick off the event. On August 29, 5/8 people will perform in Ehr’n. On the remaining days there will be musical walks through the city, during which the participants should listen to the sounds via radio headphones. “You experience music and the city in a completely different way,” announced Lendl.
The two festival directors had learned to appreciate the city after a short film shoot in the casemates, said Mayor Klaus Schneeberger (ÖVP). That’s how the idea for the festival was born. “I am convinced that the festival will bring the film tradition to new heights in Wiener Neustadt,” he said. (apa)
–
