Favoriten (film)

Last updated

Favoriten
Favoriten film poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Ruth Beckermann
Written by
  • Elisabeth Menasse-Wiesbauer
  • Ruth Beckerman
Produced byRuth Beckerman
StarringIlkay Idiskut
CinematographyJohn Hammel
Edited byDieter Pichler
Production
company
  • Ruth Beckermann film production [at]
Distributed byAutlook Filmsales
Release date
Running time
118 minutes
Country
  • Austria
LanguageGerman

Favoriten is a 2024 Austrian documentary film directed by Ruth Beckermann. It is a film about teaching and learning and the often very surprising experiences somewhere in between. [1] [2]

Contents

Favoriten had its world premiere on 16 February 2024 in the Encounters at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival. [3] It was also nominated for the Berlinale Documentary Film Award. [4]

Content

The documentary by Ruth Beckermann portrays the daily experiences of students at a challenging school in Vienna-Favoriten. The film tracks the kids as they go through their third grade at elementary school, which is an important stage in their learning paths. The students deal with problems in school and personal life and encounter big obstacles. However, they also demonstrate how much power and talent they possess when they get help and motivation.

Production

The film directed by Ruth Beckermann on the concept from her and Elisabeth Menasse-Wiesbauer, has Johannes Hammel as director of photography and Dieter Pichler as the editor. [1]

The film was funded by the Austrian Film Institute, which provided 120,000 as part of production funding and 62,363 as part of reference funding (as of January 2021). The ORF contributed 70,000 as part of the film/television agreement. 120,000 in production funding came from the Vienna Film Fund and 113,000 from FISA Filmstätte Austria. [5] [1]

Principal photography began on 1 July 2021 in Vienna, Austria, and ended in February 2023. [1]

Release

Favoriten had its world premiere on 16 February 2024, as part of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, in Encounters. [6] [7]

The film will have its first screening at CPH:DOX on 13 March 2024 in Artists & Auteurs section. [8]

Reception

Susanne Gottlieb reviewing the film at Berlinale for Cineuropa wrote, "Beckermann offers a moving glimpse into a world, into the potential of young minds – the minds of people who, despite having the odds stacked against them, are often willing to fight the uphill battle for self-realisation." [9]

Jessica Kiang writing in Variety gave positive review and said, "Ruth Beckermann filmed a Viennese grade-school class over three years to deliver a vibrant, provocative and ultimately optimistic portrait of good kids responding to good teaching." She opined, "The judicious honing of the material not only allows the film to flow, it makes commentary on the Austrian schooling system’s failures... all the more eloquent for being evoked rather than underlined." Concluding Kiang described the film as "one of her [Ruth Beckermann's] most straightforwardly enjoyable films" and felt "sadness at the passing of childhood’s sweetest phase," but on the other side she had "warm feeling with regard to the future". [10]

Nikki Baughan reviewing at Berlinale for ScreenDaily wrote, "Favoriten effectively navigates ideas of race, community and opportunity through its endearing, and often surprisingly insightful, subjects." [11]

Accolades

AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryRecipientResultRef.
Berlin International Film Festival 25 February 2024 Encounters Golden Bear Plaque for Best Film Ruth Beckermann Nominated [12]
Berlinale Documentary Film AwardNominated [4]
Peace Film PrizeFavoritenWon [13]

Related Research Articles

CPH:DOX is the official name for the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, an international documentary film festival established in 2003 and held annually in Copenhagen, Denmark. CPH:DOX has since grown to become one of the largest documentary film festivals in Europe with 114,408 admissions in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Beckermann</span> Austrian filmmaker and writer

Ruth Beckermann is an Austrian filmmaker and writer, who lives and works in Vienna and Paris. Her films have been shown at prestigious festivals, and Paper Bridge and East of War won several major awards.

<i>The Look of Silence</i> 2014 film

The Look of Silence is a 2014 internationally co-produced documentary film directed by Joshua Oppenheimer about the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66. The film is a companion piece to his 2012 documentary The Act of Killing. Executive producers were Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, and Andre Singer. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 88th Academy Awards.

<i>Music</i> (2023 film) 2023 film by Angela Schanelec

Music is a 2023 drama film co-produced by Germany, France and Serbia, written and directed by Angela Schanelec. Starring Aliocha Schneider and Agathe Bonitzer, the film is a modern retelling of the Greek myth of Oedipus.

<i>Andrea Gets a Divorce</i> 2024 Austrian film by Josef Hader

Andrea Gets a Divorce is a 2024 Austrian drama film directed by Josef Hader. The film starring Birgit Minichmayr tells the story of rural policewoman Andrea, who wants a divorce and become a detective inspector in the city, but gets involved in a hit-and-run after a birthday party her drunken husband runs out in front of her car.

<i>The Devils Bath</i> 2024 film by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala

The Devil's Bath is a 2024 Austrian-Germany horror drama film written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. The film starring Anja Plaschg tells the story of Agnes, a young married woman, who does not feel at home in her husband's world.

<i>Dahomey</i> (film) 2024 French documentary film

Dahomey is a 2024 documentary film directed by Mati Diop. The work is about return of 26 of the royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey to Benin.

<i>Scorched Earth</i> (2024 film) German crime film

Scorched Earth, a 2024 German crime film directed by Thomas Arslan is a sequel to 2010 film In the Shadows. Mišel Matičević is reprising his role as Trojan, a professional criminal who specializes in robberies.

<i>A Family</i> (2024 film) 2024 French documentary film

A Family is a 2024 documentary film directed by Christine Angot in her directorial debut. It is an autobiographical documentary which questions the words within a family which was struck by incest.

<i>Sleeping with a Tiger</i> 2024 Austrian biographical film

Sleeping with a Tiger is a 2024 Austrian biographical film directed by Anja Salomonowitz. The film starring Birgit Minichmayr tells the story about the artist Maria Lassnig.

<i>Architecton</i> 2024 Germany –French documentary film

Architecton is a 2024 documentary film written and directed by Viktor Kossakovsky. It is an extraordinary journey through the material that makes up our habitat: concrete and its ancestor, stone.

<i>Averroès & Rosa Parks</i> 2024 documentary film by Nicolas Philibert

Averroès & Rosa Parks, also known as At Averroès & Rosa Parks, is a 2024 documentary film directed by Nicolas Philibert. The film is part of a triptych of feature documentaries devoted to patients and caregivers in Paris’ Central Psychiatric Group.

<i>My Favourite Cake</i> 2024 international co-production film

My Favourite Cake is a 2024 drama film co-written and directed by Maryam Moqadam and Behtash Sanaeeha. The film was among the first six films selected for the first round of the New Dawn scheme after its launch in 2022. The film, starring Lily Farhadpour and Esmail Mehrabi, follows the story of a woman who decides to live out her desires in a country where women's rights are heavily restricted.

<i>Pepe</i> (2024 film) 2024 film by Nelson Carlo de Los Santos Arias

Pepe is a 2024 drama film written and directed by Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias. The film starring Jhon Narváez and Sor María Ríos, is voice of Pepe, the first and last hippo killed in the Americas, who appears as ghost and recounts his story with the powerful oral tradition of these communities.

<i>Maydegol</i> 2024 Iranian documentary film

Maydegol is a 2024 documentary film written and directed by Sarvnaz Alambeigi. The work is about an Afghan teenager Maydegol, an immigrant in Iran, who strives to pursue her dream of becoming a professional Muay Thai boxer while battling the social injustice and violence she encounters beyond the ring.

<i>Ivo</i> (film) 2024 German drama film

Ivo is a 2024 German drama film written and directed by Eva Trobisch. Starring Minna Wündrich, the film is about tough end-of-life decisions, told through the story of a palliative home-care titular nurse Ivo.

<i>Cidade; Campo</i> 2024 drama film by Juliana Rojas

Cidade; Campo is a 2024 drama film directed by Juliana Rojas. Starring Fernanda Vianna, Mirella Façanha and Bruna Linzmeyer, the film tells two tales of migration between the city and the countryside. In first tale: Joana moves to São Paulo and tries to restart her life, after a disaster floods her land. In the second tale: Flavia moves to farm in the country with her wife Mara, following the death of her estranged father.

<i>Direct Action</i> (film) 2024 documentary film

Direct Action is a 2024 French–German documentary film directed by Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell. Taking its title from the tactical protest strategy of the same name, the film is a modern portrait of one of the most important militant activist communities in France.

Turn in the Wound is a 2024 documentary film directed by Abel Ferrara. It is a film about performance, poetry, music and the experience of people at war, focusing on life in Kyiv since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

<i>No Other Land</i> 2024 Palestinian documentary film

No Other Land is a 2024 documentary film directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor in their directorial debut. This film by a Palestinian-Israeli collective of four young activists has been made as an act of creative resistance on the path to greater justice.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Children of Vienna". Austrian Film Institute. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  2. "Die Kinder von Wien" [The Children of Vienna]. Film Starts (in German). 1 July 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  3. Abbatescianni, Davide (22 January 2024). "The Berlinale unveils its Competition and Encounters titles". Cineuropa . Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Berlinale Documentary Award and Jury". Berlinale. 1 February 2024. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
  5. "Favoriten: Documentary, 2021-2024 – Austria". Crew United. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  6. Ntim, Zac (22 January 2024). "Berlin Reveals 2024 Competition Lineup: Rooney Mara, Mati Diop, Isabelle Huppert, Abderrahmane Sissako Movies Among Selection". Deadline . Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  7. "Favoriten". Berlinale. 6 February 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  8. "Favoriten: Ruth Beckermann / Austria / 2024 / 118 min". CPH:DOX. 23 February 2024. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
  9. Gottlieb, Susanne (16 February 2024). "Review: Favoriten". Cineuropa. Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  10. Jessica Kiang (16 February 2024). "'Favoriten' Review: The Classroom Is a Community in a Lively, Poignant Primary-Education Doc". Variety . Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  11. Baughan, Nikki (16 February 2024). "'Favoriten': Berlin Review". ScreenDaily . Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  12. Rosser, Michael (22 January 2024). "Berlin film festival reveals 2024 competition line-up". ScreenDaily . Retrieved 1 February 2024.
  13. Scott Roxborough (24 February 2024). "Berlin: Indie Juries Pick 'Sex', 'Dying' and 'Cake'". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 24 February 2024.