George Harrison: Living in the Material World, 2011, Martin Scorsese

Premiere:

Films by Martin Scorsese und Ruben Östlund

April 20 and May 2, 2012

 

Throughout Martin Scorsese's career, documentary work – especially about music and cinema – forms a major trajectory which parallels his career as a narrative filmmaker and shines a light on his personal preferences. In the manner of his epic portrait of Bob Dylan (No Direction Home, 2005), Scorsese has now created a three-hour-plus film tapestry with the most mysterious member of the Beatles at its center. George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011) is comprised of a seemingly inexhaustible wealth of historical (and often previously unknown) footage and numerous interviews with "survivors" (including Yoko Ono and Phil Spector). The film traces the life of an extreme, contradictory personality who underwent numerous transformations and was always striving for more: "People say I'm the Beatle who changed the most, but to me, that's what life's about."
 
38-year-old Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund is one of the great discoveries in European cinema of recent years. After a series of works in many genres and formats, his breakthrough finally came last year – with the help of the Cannes Film Festival: Play (2011), Östlund's third feature, was shown at the Director’s Fortnight and hailed by many international film critics as the 'hidden gem' of the Festival. Play is based on an actual case and uses an extremely naturalistic aesthetic – yet it evolves into a kind of thriller about role-playing, group dynamics and the mechanisms of social exclusion and inclusion. A group of 12-14 year-old boys is able to swindle other kids without physical violence, using their rhetorical and manipulative skills instead.
 
The Austrian premiere of George Harrison: Living in the Material World takes place on April 20; with thanks to Margaret Bodde, Martin Scorsese and StudioCanal. The Vienna premiere of Play takes place on May 2, in collaboration with the Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz.