Forum Expanded dedicates a complete program to new works by Friedl vom Gröller, one of Austria’s most prolific filmmakers. Her personal approach to filmmaking, combining a keen eye for the humor and poetry of everyday experiences with a playful cinematic sensibility, consists largely of short portraits of friends, family, and acquaintances. In the nine films that make up this program, vom Gröller visits her mother in the nursing home, has an appointment at the dentist, presents a new dress to her family and friends, listens to a poet selling his work in the subway, peeps on a couple playing around in their new lingerie, has a friend test beauty products, portrays a group of women behind bars, witnesses an instant of liberated urination and a woman dancing in front of a brightly lit window. “In her well-known day, month, and year portraits, the photographer Friedl Kubelka, who as filmmaker has used the pseudonym Friedl vom Gröller since 2009, grapples with the visualization of time. Her most recent film compilation, which brings together nearly her entire cinematic production from 2013, can be understood on the basis of her serial photographic works. Or to put it differently: a year in the life, or rather production of the artist observed from the perspective of a cinematic narrative. In the course of this, Friedl vom Gröller, and people in general, are at the center of the examination, with all of their inadequacies, ascriptions, and states of mind. ... A successful balancing act in the depiction and production of affects fluctuating between poignancy and sobriety.” (Dietmar Schwärzler)
Friedl vom Gröller, born in 1946 in London, lives and works in Vienna.
Format: 16mm, b/w
Running time: 1 to 4 minutes (total running time: 23 minutes)
