CONTEMPORARY CINEMA IN FOCUS:
Alice Rohrwacher and Bertrand Bonello in conversation
30. August 2023
Two non-conformist voices of European cinema are guests in Hamburg: Italian director Alice Rohrwacher and French director Bertrand Bonello will show their latest films La Chimera and The Beast as well as some of their earlier works. In-depth talks with the filmmakers on site complement the programme format “Contemporary Cinema in Focus”, which was introduced in 2019.
Programme director Kathrin Kohlstedde: “With this year’s focus on Alice Rohrwacher and Bertrand Bonello, we once again want to present two outstanding filmmakers to a broad audience. Since their beginnings, both have uncompromisingly pursued their cinematic visions, which are thematically marked by the fusion of reality and fiction. This is the fifth time we have been able to take a concentrated look at two extraordinary directors who are currently having a decisive impact on contemporary cinema.
Alice Rohrwacher, who grew up in Tuscany, has made a name for herself primarily through her sensitive narratives about marginalised social figures. She draws inspiration for her stories and characters from personal experiences, which is reflected in the strong emotional resonance Rohrwacher’s films trigger. Her always central motifs of mythology, religion and popular culture coupled with political issues are tied to her unique visual aesthetic. This peculiarity is evident in her latest work, La Chimera, which was screened in the official competition at Cannes. The film tells of the desires we strive for but will never achieve through the character of Arthur, an Englishman who ventures into the underworld in search of his love.
In addition to La Chimera, two other films by Rohrwacher will be screened at the 31st FILMFEST HAMBURG that link individual destinies with social challenges and tell stories from the perspectives of adolescent girls. In Rohrwacher’s debut film Corpo Celeste (2011), a 13-year-old girl searches for more than a small Calabrian town offers her and finds herself confronted with religion and provincial customs. With bees, criminal youths and left-wing idealism, a 14-year-old wants to save the family beekeeping business with the help of trash TV in The Wonders (2014). The discussion with Alice Rohrwacher will take place after the screening Corpo Celeste on 2 October at 8 pm at Metropolis.
Incorporating obsessions and mysticism into politically topical issues is also central to French-born Bertrand Bonello – even if he otherwise avoids any coherent narration in his works. Between the visual clinical clarity of Bonello’s imagery and the almost opposite nestedness of his plots, which range from time jumps to phantasmagoria to hallucinations, his films show a great passion for new narrative forms of modern cinema. His latest film, The Beast, which is showing at the Venice Film Festival, also fits seamlessly into this category. Between love melodrama and science fiction dystopia, the film tells of artificial intelligence, love and social upheavals of the respective epoch within three time levels.
In addition to The Beast, FILMFEST HAMBURG will also show the films Nocturama (20016) and Saint Laurent (2014). In his most elaborate film to date, Bonello dedicates himself to the eponymous fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent, whose life was marked by art, affairs and his drug addiction. Laurent is played by Gaspard Ulliel. The actor was also intended for the leading role in The Beast, but he died in a skiing accident in 2022. Bertrand Bonello dedicated his current film The Beast to him. The contrasts of social classes, as expressed in Bonello’s film language, are also central to the genre cinema film Nocturama. The thriller tells of the revolt of a group of young people in Paris. The discussion with Bertrand Bunello will take place on 3 October before the screening of Saint Laurent at 2 pm at Metropolis.
FILMFEST HAMBURG will take place from 28 September to 7 October 2023. Over 120 productions from all over the world will be shown as world, European, German or Hamburg premieres. Festival cinemas are the Abaton, Alabama Kino, CinemaxX Dammtor, Metropolis, Passage and the Studio Kino. The complete programme will be announced on 12 September. Advance booking starts on 14 September.
