IT
Lux Prize

STYX

by Wolfgang Fischer
Germany, Austria, 2018, 94', color, DCP
Saturday 01 September 2018
09:30 Cinema Astra Screening upon invitation to collect at the Villa degli Autori
Original version with English subtitles
 

screenplay
Wolfgang Fischer
Ika Künzel
cinematography
Benedict Neuenfels
editing
Monika Willi

music
Dirk von Lowtzow
sound
Uwe Dresch
Andre Zimmermann
costumes
Nicole Fischnaller

cast
Susanne Wolff (Rike)
Gedion Oduor Wekesa (Kingsley)

producers
Marcos Kantis
Martin Lehwald
Michal Pokorny
productions
Schiwago Film

co-producers
Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu
Bady Minck
co-productions
Amour Fou Vienna
in collaboration with
WDR
ARTE

world sales
Beta Cinema
contact

Rike embodies a typically Western model of happiness and success. She is educated, confident, determined and committed. We see Rike's everyday life, as an overworked emergency doctor, before she sets out on a much-needed holiday on Gibraltar. There she fulfils along-held dream and sails out to sea alone in her sailing boat. Her goal: Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean. But her dream holiday is quickly broken off on the high seas, when, after a storm, she finds herself near a stricken refugee boat. Unless she intervenes, around a hundred people will drown their utterly overloaded boat has sprung a leak. Rike follows maritime law and radios for help - legally, she is not obliged to do any more. But when her calls are left unanswered, and then rejected for spurious reasons, she decides to overcome her fear and try to rescue whoever she can.

 

Filmography

2018 Styx
2013 Der Bär (The Bear)
2009 Was du nicht siehst (What You Don't See)
2001 Grau (Grey, short)
2000 Schön 2000 (short)
1999 Disk - Dusk
1999 Remake of the Remake (doc)
1999 9h11 (short)
1994 In Time (short)

"We were certain that we wanted to make a very physical, bodily film with little dialogue. A person who sets out into a hostile nature that can never be completely controlled, where it is necessary to be an expert. This was the point of departure: someone sets out into this world, confronts these elements, and tries to master the ensuing challenges. Bearing solitude is an important theme: who is capable of this today? She sets out without a cell phone, without internet access in order to be alone on this boat for weeks - and she loves it. This intrigued us. Rike doesn't need anyone else in order to experience joy. But she is a very sensual person. We see her swimming in the open sea, and when she feels the first rays of the sun on her face, or when the wind blows into the sails, we see her smile. Or when she talks about her dream, the paradise she wants to travel to."
Wolfgang Fischer (Vienna, 1970) studied psychology and painting at the University of Vienna followed by film studies at the Art Academy of Düsseldorf and at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) in Cologne. He also worked as an assistant for Paul Morrissey and Nan Hoover. He was awarded a scholarship by the Munich Screenplay Program and by Equinoxe Europe.

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