Premiere of Ulrich Seidl’s In the Basement to take place in Venice.
It was merely a few months ago, when Seidl paid a visit to Torun and won the Tofifest’s Golden Angel for Artistic Insolence. In a couple of weeks, we will have an opportunity to see the premiere of Im Keller/In the Basement, his newest project, in Venice.
He was interviewed about this quasi-documentary, as early as during his visit in Torun. It seems that everybody is expecting another scandalous film, since its title alone has already aroused controversy. The reason for such an uproar is the fact that the Austrian filmmaker makes a reference to the great Austria trauma, which was the discovery of the Joseph Fritzl's dark basement. In that basement, Firtzl held captive his own daughter, abused her and made her give birth to 7 children – the ordeal lasted for 24 years. Consequently, one cannot be surprised that the title In the Basement was enough to catch media attention.
And Seidl has not done much to disclaim rumours, which is grist to his mill. Quito the opposite, he has added fuel to the fire. “The film is about people and basements and what people do in their basements in their free time. The film is about obsessions, about brass-band music and opera arias, about expensive furniture and cheap male jokes, about sexuality and shooting, fitness and fascism, whips and dolls. It is a film essay that delves into the underground of the Austrian soul” - as the director summarised the film on his own website. “The basement in Austria is a place of free time and the private sphere. Many Austrians spend more time in the basement of their home than in their living room, which often is only for show. In the basement they actually indulge their needs, their hobbies, passions and obsessions. But in our unconscious, the basement is also a place of darkness, a place of fear, a place of human abysses” - writes Seidl.
The new film by Ulrich Seidl will be featured as part of the Out of Competition programme, during this year’s International Film Festival in Venice. The event starts on 27th August with the screening of Birdman and finished on 6th September with Huangjin Shidai. Ich seh Ich seh, the debut film by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, produced by Ulrich Seidl Film, will also be screened in Venice (as part of the “Orizzonti” competition). It may be of significance that Veronika Franz is a co-author of In the Basement.
Keeping our fingers crossed for Ulrich Seidl to succeed in Venice!
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