The Innsbruck International Film Festival, which takes place from May 24th to 29th, is dedicated this year to the motto: “every star and every planet is in place but you, Planet Earth.” The festival shows a total of 75 short and long films, with selected films also being streamed until June 8th.
INNSBRUCK. EVERY STAR AND EVERY PANET IS IN PLACE BUT YOU, PLANET EARTH means that everything in the universe is in the right place except the earth and is not only the motto of this year’s International Film Festival Innsbruck (IFFI) but also comes from Afrofuturistic Science Fiction Classic Space is the Place from 1974, which will be shown this year as part of the festival. The retrospective part of this year’s festival was curated by the French film critic and journalist Clair Diao and is dedicated to Afrofuturism, which was founded in the 1960s during the civil rights movement in the USA and is dedicated to the representation of societies marked by discrimination and racial struggles, with the oppressed liberate themselves with the help of technologies. In addition to the 20 films in the Afrofuturistic Festival section, 22 films will be in the film competition this year and a further 30 films will be in the area of worldwide visions.
Since 1992
The International Film Festival is entering its 31st edition and always has a socially critical – often political tenor. This year it should be shown that the earth should not be at war, the climate crisis or a pandemic and should not be unfair or imbalanced. Therefore, many of the films in this year’s program are dedicated to one or more of these aspects, which create the uneasy impression of another earth. Festival director Anna Ladinig is pleased to be able to present the program of this year’s festival: “Every year it is a very special moment that is difficult to describe when the individual films come together as a program to form the whole. This year the IFFI is also offering a wide range of competition programs great films from the years 2021 and 2022. When making our selection, we always ensure that the protagonists are treated with respect and thought through, and we look for innovative and fresh approaches in filmmaking.”
Huge interest
Last year more than 2,000 people visited the film festival. “Watching films at a festival is more than watching a film, it is immersion: the concentration, the concentration of films, encounters, debates and impressions make a visit to a festival an impressive experience,” explains Ladinig. “IFFI is not only a fixed star with a fixed place in the cultural universe of the city of Innsbruck – to change the motto of IFFI 31 a bit – the IFFI also brings the whole (film) world to Innsbruck” to deal with the central questions of the time”, thanks GR Uschi Schwarzl explains to the IFFI team and state councilor Beate Palfrader, “that it is the combination of factual seriousness and artistic form of expression, of showing and telling, of image, voice, music and atmosphere that makes cinema a socio-political place – where we Gain understanding of certain topics and be able to broaden and change our perspective.”
program and stream
The festival will open on Tuesday May 24 at 4:55 p.m. at the Leokino with the film Yuni, a production from France, Indonesia and Singapore that focuses on the life of a 16-year-old girl trying to marry her destiny, trying to get out of the way. The official opening will then take place by festival director Anna Ladinig and representatives from the city and state. The award ceremony for the winning films will take place on Saturday, May 28th at 8 p.m. From May 30th to June 8th, nine selected films will also be available online via IFFI Stream.
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