With section In reference, the Diagonal intertwines, conveys and expands the focal points of its current program. In cooperation with Filmarchiv Austria, the Austrian Film Festival dedicates in 2023 a cinematic homage in four sections to the Graz actress Marisa Mell, which will be complemented by an extensive exhibition at the Graz Museum. Marisa Mell, the “Austrian Sophia Loren”, was one of the most famous women of European cinema of the 60s and 70s – a citizen of Graz and the world, a revelation!

The program In reference also includes unpublished studies by Ludwig Wüst ABC (in reference to his new film I am here! in the competition programme), the docudrama Stone City – City of Stone at Reinhard Jud (within the retrospective action! Action!) and the feature film Archimedes Harem Tea by Mehdi Charef, which will be screened as a completion of the section To person: Goran Rebić.

The section In reference will be presented at Diagonal'23 of Graz since 22 al 26 March.

Program

In reference to the exhibition “Magic Marisa” the Graz Museum

— Girls for the East (R: Wolfgang Glück, BRD 1959)

— Diabolik (R: Mario Bava, IT/FR 1968)

— Casanova & Co. (R: Franz Antel, AT/FR/IT 1977)

— Fire Flower - The Two Lives of Marisa Mell (R: Markus Mörth, AT 2023)

Referring to the section To person: Goran Rebić

— Archimedes Harem Tea (R: Mehdi Charef, FR 1985)

In reference to the Carl Mayer Screenplay Award and the special action! Action!

— Stone City – City of Stone (R: Reinhard Jud, AT 1994)

In reference to the film in competition I am here! by Ludwig Wüst

— ABC (R: Ludwig Wust, AT 2023)

Marisa Mell, a star was born

Born in Graz, Marlies Theres Moitzi – then Marisa Mell – in her career she has often been labeled a femme fatale and sometimes celebrated as an international diva. Mell made his first cinematic appearance in the film Girls for the East (director of Wolfgang Glück, BRD 1959), as a dancer traversing the Middle East in search of a big career. It has now become famous, Marisa Mell then shaped the heyday of strident and uninhibited post-war Italian cinema and starred alongside Michel Piccoli and John Phillip Law in Diabolik (directed by Mario Bava, IT/FR 1968), eg, the accomplice of a famous thief. The comedy Casanova & Co. by Franz Antel (AT/FR/IT 1977), instead, is set in 18th century Venice; Mell can be seen in this film alongside international stars such as Tony Curtis and Marisa Berenson. With Casanova & Co. Marisa Mell's important period in Italy was slowly coming to an end – the eternally identical roles of the “nice figurine” they seem just as insignificant today as most of the films in which he took part. After years of trying to detox from alcohol, from drugs and depression, Marisa Mell made her last film appearance in I love Vienna (AT 1991) in Houchang Allahyari. A year later, his early death at the age of 53 years put an end to an eventful and tragic life.

“Magic Marisa” it is the first exhibition commemorating the life and work of the actress. The exhibition at the Graz Museum traces the ups and downs of Mell's career and life through photographs, documents, films and stories told by his colleagues: looks like star, fatal Woman, diva, it-girl e pin-up. At the same time, the exhibition tells a brief history of the golden age of post-war Italian cinema from the perspective of an extraordinary woman who fought with all her might not to be forgotten. Curated by Martina Zerovnik, the exhibition at the Graz Museum is presented in memory of Emil Gruber and in collaboration with the Diagonale, the Filmarchiv Austria and the Department for Women and Equality of the City of Graz. “Magic Marisa” will be inaugurated on 15 March at 18.00 and can be visited every day from 10.00 all 18.00 with free admission to the Graz Museum on Sackstraße until 27 August 2023.

With Feuerblume – The Two Lives of Marisa Mell in Markus Morth (AT 2023), the Diagonale also presents a contemporary work together with the exhibition and three films from the past. Central to the filmic portrayal are the narratives of Mell's cousin and closest friends, which contrast the artistic figure of Marisa Mell with the person of Marlies Therese Moitzi. Feuerblume is an archetypal and blunt portrait of the role of women in the world of cinema from the 1960s to the 1980s. “Who is the best of all?” Erika Pluhar wonders and comments, together with Senta Berger, Christine Kauffmann and others, Marisa Mell's career, along with the difficulties and discrimination that women in the film industry still face today. After the screening of Feuerblume, a detailed discussion is foreseen (diagonal in dialogue) con Erika Pluhar, moderated by Martina Zerovnik.

With the retrospective Marisa Mell – A world star from Graz the Filmarchiv Austria extends the homage of the Graz Museum and the Diagonal'23 a Vienna. The program will take place at the Metro Kinokulturhaus from 30 March 2023.

I am here! in competition: Ludwig Wüst from Rotterdam to Graz

In reference to the latest film by Ludwig Wüst, I am here! (AT 2023), which recently celebrated its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival and will have its Austrian premiere in Graz, the Diagonale will exclusively show Wüst's film series ABC (AT 2023) – a journey through 25 years of film work, the alphabet of the independent loner and the border-crosser. After the special on Wüst Theater-, Bad-, woodwork a Diagonal'19, the brace ABC e I am here! allows further insights into the dense thematic and motivational ramifications of the filmmaker. The Friday of the festival, both films will be screened one after the other and accompanied by discussions with Ludwig Wüst.

Carl Mayer Award for Screenplay: Bernhard Frankfurter vs Reinhard Jud

action! Action! is the title of the historical special on the author, registers and criticizes Bernhard Frankfurter (1946-1999). Frankfurter has also left its mark in Graz, as initiator of the Carl Mayer Screenwriting Award, highly funded. from 1999, the screenwriter, director, playwright and friend of Frankfurter Rainhard Jud presides over the jury. In homage to Reinhard Jud's many years of commitment, the Diagonale presents its documentary Stone City – City of Stone (AT 1994). In the mid-1990s Reinhard Jud accompanies the young people of New Vienna – most of whom had fled to Austria due to the war in Yugoslavia – through their city during a hot summer. Participants develop their scenes themselves, there are no classic interviews. A “teen movie” which captures a very particular atmosphere, a unique zeitgeist.

To person: inspiration and sources that are running out

“All the films we have seen and that we carry with us are also mirrors of ourselves. It is the same for me and Le Thé au harem d'Archimède”. To complete your work – to see in the section To person – director and screenwriter Goran Rebić shows the feature film Archimedes Harem Tea (FR 1985), awarded in Cannes in 1985 and subsequently also with the César for the best first work, for which the worker Mehdi Charef adapted his novel which revolves around the Arab youth environment of the Parisian banlieus. In view of his own monograph, Goran Rebić will also shed light on (non) feasibility of some of his projects in Austria in the workshop discussion “I am history - films between times".

This opening scene of Kurdwin Ayub's Sonne also leaves no doubts 21 al 26 March 2023. This opening scene of Kurdwin Ayub's Sonne also leaves no doubts Diagonal'23 will be available online from 10 March at 13.00. Ticket sales start on 15 March.

The exhibition Magic Marisa will be inaugurated on 15 March at 18.00.