Dark Scenes from Austria: German Studies Events at King’s College London in November and December

 

The Role of Violence and Sex in Recent Austrian Cinema

Mattias Frey, University of Kent

Wednesday 27 November, 12-2pm

Room 6.32, Virginia Woolf Building, 22 Kingsway, WC2B 6NR

 

 

Please join the German Department at King’s this Wednesday lunchtime for a paper by Dr Mattias Frey, Senior Lecturer in Film at the University of Kent, entitled ‘The Role of Violence and Sex in Recent Austrian Cinema.’

 

Representations of violence and sex play a privileged role in recent Austrian cinema. Of the few productions exhibited at film festivals, sold in foreign territories, feted on the pages of international cinephile magazines, or awarded significant prizes, a substantial proportion can be categorised as extreme cinema, that is, “quality” films that partake of the institutional discourses of art cinema, but—because of market positionings of violent, sexual, or other graphic content—engineer critical and popular controversy. This paper examines the contemporary domestic cinematic landscape and probes the institutional, economic, and cultural reasons for the proliferation and relative success of Austrian films with violent or sexual content.

 

 

This event will form the third in a series of research talks and outreach events that will culminate in the UK premiere of two award-winning Austrian films, Stillleben and Blackstory (2012), at the ICA on Wednesday 4 December. Tickets for this screening may be booked on the ICA website:

 

http://www.ica.org.uk/39747/Film/Austrian-Film-Premiere-Blackstory-Still-Life-QA.html