And the Whole Sky Fit in the Dead Cow´s Eye

Screening & Live Event
Austrian American Short Film Festival 2

Sunday, June 4, 2017, 2:00 p.m.
Bartos Screening Room

Filmmakers Alex Strada (Save the Presidents) and Inger Sveberg Dietrichs (The Art of Not Appearing) will appear in person

Presented in collaboration with the Austrian Cultural Forum New York

The second edition of the Austrian American Short Film Festival featuring artistically ambitious works by promising young artists and filmmakers from Austria and the United States took place in March in New York City. The festival aims to introduce emerging new talent to audiences in both countries. This program presents the award-winning films that were selected by a jury headed by Austrian filmmaker and artist Virgil Widrich, and including Museum of the Moving Image Chief Curator David Schwartz and Creative Time Director of Media Initiatives Marcia Mazria Katz. (The festival curator is Stephanie Falkeis, who founded the AASFF together with ACFNY Director Christine Moser. Special thanks to Arianna Kronrief, Austrian Cultural Forum New York.)

Program duration: 98 mins. Digital projection.

And the Whole Sky Fit in the Dead Cow´s Eye (Dir. Francisca Alegria, 19 mins. Columbia University) A lyrical, beautifully performed and directed example of magic realism that captures the transcendent power of a mother’s love. The same day that 55 cows appear dead in a Chilean village, an 85-year-old woman is visited by a ghost. She believes he has come to take her to the afterlife, but he has different news.

Wartezeit (Dir. Clara Stern, 10 mins. Filmacademy Vienna) A suspenseful and riveting film that viscerally translates into cinematic terms the all-toocommon fear of a woman alone at night. 

Save the Presidents (Dirs. Tal Keren, Alex Strada, 13 mins. Columbia University) A visually compelling and poetic study of a group of decaying sculptures of the American presidents in a Virginia field.  

The God of the Labyrinth (Dir. Michael Simku, 21 mins. Academy of Fine Arts Vienna) A highly inventive and deeply research documentary hybrid about espionage, culture, and the Cold War that raises fascinating and timely questions about politics and fiction. 

The Art of Not Appearing (Dir. Pernille Rivedal Hellevik, 15 mins. Columbia University) A witty and succinct ghost story that explores themes of love, ambition, the afterlife, and the unending desire to find resolution and meaning in life.

The Burden of Memory
(Dir. Albert Meisl, 20 mins. Film Academy Vienna) A witty and well-paced comedy that captures a distinctly Viennese slice of life about a power play between a musicologist and a young acolyte.

Tickets: $15 (Free for members at the Film Lover and MoMI Kids Premium levels and above). Order tickets online. (Members may contact [email protected] with any questions regarding online reservations.)

Ticket purchase includes same-day admission to the Museum (see gallery hours). View the Museum’s ticketing policy here. For more information on membership and to join online, visit our membership page.