UNDER THE UNDERGROUND

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SYNOPSIS

UNDER THE UNDERGROUND guides us through the improvised spaces of Janka Industries, an underground cellar vault and creative microcosm of Vienna’s subculture. Voodoo Jürgens and Bands such as Petra und der Wolf and Tankris practice and perform here in the midst of a bizarre hodge-podge of electronic scrap. A music film and an ultimate underground homage that cinematically captures the magic of the site.

“Anthology Film Archives has a longstanding tradition of presenting the work of filmmaker Angela Christlieb, whose quasi-documentary works are as confounding and disorienting as they are revealing. Her previous films – CINEMANIA (2002), URVILLE (2009), NAKED OPERA (2013), and WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GELITIN (2016) – have explored strange, often hermetic, and always idiosyncratic communities, individuals, or cultural realms, all of which stand apart from or frankly refuse to conform to social and cultural conventions. Her latest film, UNDER THE UNDERGROUND, extends this fascination with unapologetically marginal groups, focusing on a (literally) underground living and performance space in Vienna – Janka Industries – which acts as a home, studio, and cultural nexus for an eclectic mix of musicians, artists, and renegades.
Jed Rapfogel, curator.

 

 

PRESS

„There is magic in the chaos, as a steady flow of artists and musicians come to this otherworldly haven to record, or simply bask in its collaborative atmosphere…Chris Janka`s tinkering with electronic junk to create random inventions is particularly fascinating to witness.“ – The Guardian

 

 

 

AWARDS

„BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY“   UNERHÖRT! MUSIC FILM FESTIVAL HAMBURG 2019 
„AUDIENCE AWARD“   SOUNDWATCH MUSIC FILM FESTIVAL BERLIN 2019 

Jury approach: Angela Christlieb’s film is a magical approach to a literal underground in the centre of Vienna. One quickly feels drawn into this cellar cave, which serves as a rehearsal room, studio, office and laboratory and allows a wide variety of uses, not to mention the fact that it does not impose itself as a profit imperative. This cellar is populated by sound researchers, musicians and hobbyists whose charm lies in their willingness to experiment and openness. A breeding ground on which different genres and acts like “Voodoo Jürgens”, “Petra und der Wolf” or “Tankris” can thrive. The film very clearly points out the possibilities of music-documentary filmmaking that lie beyond the formatted and formulaic television documentary and teach listening, watching, patience, devotion and accuracy. Talking heads or external experts beyond the underground are not required for this film. “Under The Underground” intervenes not only in debates on questions of form in music documentation, but also on questions of urban development and displacement processes, and is a plea for the preservation of such important free spaces.

 

 

 

 

FESTIVALS

  • diagonale Graz 2019 (World Premiere)
  • Kaleidoskop Film Festival Vienna
  • Cinema Talk Festival Graz
  • Antimatter Media Arts Festival Victoria Canada
  • LUFF Lausanne Underground Film Festival
  • Internationale Hofer Filmtage
  • UNERHÖRT! Music Filmfestival Hamburg
  • SOUNDWATCH  Filmfestival Berlin
  • Kasseler Dokfest
  • Stranger than Fiction Documentary Festival Cologne
  • DIAMETRALE Innsbruck

  • UPCOMING SCREENINGS

  • Anthology Film Archive New York
  • Hansa 48 Kiel
  • Metro Kino Vienna
  • Dokfilm Salon Hamburg

  • INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION: sixpackfilm

 

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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GELITIN

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SYNOPSIS

Artist Liam Gillick hasn’t seen them. Director John Waters has no idea where they are. Filmmaker Tony Conrad has his theories, but he’s not talking. But whoever you ask, the fact remains, the four members of the Austrian artist group, Gelitin (Wolfgang Gantner, Ali Janka, Florian Reither, and Tobias Urban) have disappeared! So Salvatore Viviano, artist, art dealer, and occasional collaborator in Gelitin performances, sets off on a cinematic search for the funniest boy group in the world. With an imposing microphone in hand, he questions artists, gallerists and curators about the group’s possible whereabouts. His imaginary quest provides the narrative framework for Angela Christlieb’s tour de force film, which both portrays, and itself, mirrors, the energy of Gelitin’s anarchic operations.  The quartet rose to fame with border-crossing and visually powerful performances, sculptures, installations, and photos.  They roll gleefully in the mud, incite audiences to acts of art destruction, attach stuffed animals to their testicles for a „fashion shoot“; dance naked with spinning tassels attached to their buns, or discusses who of the four’s excrement created which letters in the „Kackabet“—letters made from feces.  At one point, art dealer Christian Meyer analyzes, „Our world is always trying to rationalize things, an approach that Gelitin deliberately refuses.“ Christlieb constructs her film out of a wealth of archival material, rhythmically assembled, and interwoven with stories and observations from various interviews. Art dealer Leo Koenig says that Gelitin’s art just makes him want to strip of his clothes, while artist Tom Sachs admits, „I wish my life were 10 percent more Gelitin!“ After watching this film, maybe you will too!

TRAILER

FESTIVALS

  • diagonale Graz 2016 (World Premiere)
    Espoo Ciné International Film Festival
    Indie Cork Ireland
    International Film Festival Hof
    Parallel Vienna
    Film-und Videofest Kassel
  • Hong Kong International Film Festival
  • Urban Nomad Festival Taipeh
  • Chicago Underground FF
  • Lausanne Underground Film Festival
  • Diametrale Innsbruck
SELECTED SCREENINGS

Galerie Perrotin Hongkong
Anthology Film Archive, New York
Moviemento Linz / Skandal Normal exhibition
21erHaus Vienna
Volksbühne Berlin

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION

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NAKED OPERA

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SYNOPSIS

Prepare for a world of grandeur, wealth and beautiful rent boys. This opulently filmed documentary follows Marc, an eccentric, amusing – and seriously rich – businessman in Luxembourg as he pursues his great passion: the opera Don Giovanni. He travels Europe to see performances every week, accompanied by a succession of young male ‚companions‘. Critically ill since childhood, Marc knows time is limited and he enjoys life to the full, surrounding himself with beautiful young men and staying at luxury hotels. Visually impressive and enormously entertaining.
OUT TAKES Festival NZ

TRAILER

 

AWARDS

  • Heiner Carow Prize / Berlinale 2013
  • Press Jury Award / Message of Man FF St. Petersburg 2014

FESTIVALS

  • BERLINALE (World Premiere)
  • Discovery Zone Luxemburg
  • HOT DOCS Toronto
  • DOCAVIV Tel Aviv
  • Kino Pod Barami, Krakow GLFF
  • Planet Doc Warsaw
  • Out Takes 2013 New Zealand
  • Schwule Filmtage Bielefeld
  • Transilvania IFF
  • GAYMAT Esch-sur-Alzette
  • Galway Fleadh FF
  • Fünf Seen Festival Starnberg
  • Festival de Cinema Quebec
  • Vilnius Documentary film festival
  • Message to Man FF St. Petersburg
  • Reykjavik IFF
  • Pornfilmfestival Berlin
  • German FF Singapore
  • Festival Mix Brasil de Cultura da Diversidade

THEATRICAL RELEASE GERMANY

realfictionfilme.de
Preview Berlin: sept. 30, 6 pm at Kino Central
Preview Köln: oct. 8, 8 pm at Filmpalette Cologne
PRESS
New York Times
blouinartinfo
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URVILLE

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SYNOPSIS

Urville is the most modern city in the world. It is situated on an island in the Mediterranean and you can go there with a ferry boat. After sundown standing by the coast – you can see Urville’s skyline on the surface of the sea. People say everyone is equal in Urville. Neither prisons, nor ethnic rivalries exist and a divorce rate below 1 percent. Solidarity is a school subject in Urville. Urville is fictional. Some have seen it or know exactly where it is situated, others think of it as a reflection on the Mediterranean’s surface just off the coast of Corsica. Urville is reality. Three French villages carry its name and all inhabitants are certain that their Urville is the most beautiful place in the world. Champagne comes out of the faucet and heals Diabetes and Alzheimers disease. Elections are held in an improvised polling booth in the major’s closet and the political opponent is a selfmade Real Estate-Redskin who carries a lifesize cartboard-figure of Bill Clinton around in the woods. No one is afraid of death in Urville, but Urville is also situated next to one of France’s biggest nuclear power plants. In case of an emergency iodine tablets will be given out for all inhabitants up to the age of forty. The world championist of chitling-making lives in Urville and people always stick together in case of an upsetting event. Some people live a circus life outside the constraints of everyday life and dream of a bourgoise marriage. Everything is possible in Urville. You won’t find it without GPS navigation, detailed maps may help but sometimes you can not even see it with binoculars. But if you make your way to Urville you will find out eventually that legends are worth believing in them.

TRAILER

PRESS

Urville makes a more interesting island vacation than Aldous Huxley’s.
NICK PINKERTON, The Village Voice

A refreshing light-docu-fiction which impresses by Christlieb’s loving humor. Urville is many things in one: documentation, because the people who are in it, very real. Fiction, because play fantasies, desires and utopias a central role. Comedy, because the interviewed people are funny guys. And experimental film, because everything is very playful and tells in part with funds alienating.
MICHAEL KANE, New York Times

A strange, mildly provocative and imaginative „documentary“ about an imaginary city. Director Angela Christlieb essentially explores a mythical, fictionalized, utopian society that’s vaguely reminiscent of the town of Pleasantville from the classic movie Pleasantville because everyone seems happy there.
AVI OFFER,The NYC Movie Guru

Angela Chistlieb’s documentary (or ‚fockumentary‘ as I like to call it) searches for signs of existence of an imaginary, utopian city, that no one has ever actually seen. Taken at face value the name ‚URVILLE‘ means ‚original city‘. It is the essence of place and our existence in it that her film tackles, and the search becomes both a poetic  and  literal expedition. In hindsight it seems obvious that utopia would only exist in our own backyards, but these things are never obvious at first. The backyards where the filmmaker lands happen to be four villages in the french countryside all co-incidentally named Urville, that are as magic as the imaginary place she set out to find. In this is the true magic of „Urville“ the film, as it eeks out, in the lives of the dairy farmer, the champagne grower, the circus family and the frenchman who dresses as a native american and lives in a teepee, an everyday, touching, sometimes desperate and sometimes hilarious search for a utopia of the soul. a.k.a, happiness. EVE SUSSMAN, Rufus Cinema Press

Klug montierte Assoziationsketten mit gezielt gestreutem Bildwitz. Eine erfrischend leichte Doku-Fiktion, die durch ihren liebevollen Humor besticht.
PETER GUTTING, Kino-Zeit.de

Angela Christlieb sucht und findet den Mythos im Alltag, und mit Urville schafft sie außerdem noch so etwas wie einen poetischen Dokumentarfilm. Urville ist ein Dokumentarfilm mit einem dritten Auge, der hinter dem Schleier der Wirklichkeit stets noch eine weitere Ebene zulässt, sogar einfordert. So erhält die für eine Dokumentation unerhörte Prämisse, nämlich dass es Urville tatsächlich geben könnte, ihr Gewicht.
THORSTEN FUNKE, Critic.de

Drei Orte. Nirgends. Die Eigenwilligkeit ihrer Protagonisten ist derart absurd, daß man kaum an Zufall glauben mag. Das zugleich spleenige wie alltägliche Treiben der Dörfer kontrastiert sie mit stilisierten Großstadtbildern und Details über die Lebensbedingungen in Urville aus dem Off. Dadurch entrückt einerseits das dokumentierte Geschehen – zumindest partiell – auf seltsame Weise der Realität und zugleich erscheint die Vision von Urville als erlebbar. Und letztlich ist es ein Film über die unvorstellbaren Variationen des Lebens.
CORNELIS HÄHNEL, Schnitt

 

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CINEMANIA

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SYNOPSIS

How many times do you have to see a film before you’ve actually seen it? –Jack Angstreich

Cinemania is a feature-length documentary about several of the most addicted and eccentric film-watchers in New York, obsessives who watch films daily not merely for pleasure, but also as a psychological necessity. They often cannot hold jobs and are on the verge of poverty, but absolutely must watch films day and night, no matter the cost. These film fanatics have seen 4000, 5000, 6000 movies and written them all down on lists that attempt to collect, categorize and ultimately possess an abstract and fleeting procession of aesthetic experiences. There are some who, in their 40s, still live with their parents; while others live alone and lead lonely lives, relating to life on the movie screen rather than interacting with other people. All of these eccentric film-watchers have passed from having a passion for film to an addiction: film-watching has become an obsession that has taken over their lives completely. The reality outside the dark theater has grown to be almost non-existent; reality has been replaced by the projected images and the engaging fictions of the movies they see.

TRAILER

PRESS

These characters in Cinemania, have clearly crossed over some line and can no longer be considered normal or sane. After watching your film, we are ready to cross that line ourselves.
D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus

„Are you prepared to alter your diet to avoid the need for toilet breaks, thus fitting in more movie screenings each day? Do you take changes of clothes to the cinema to avoid coming home? Can you live on peanut butter sandwiches for months in order to afford up to eight screenings a day? The individuals profiled in this probing but frequently hilarious documentary represent the most extreme cinephiles.“
Melbourne International Film Festival

„Unsettling docu about the civilians who virtually surrender everything else in life to attend up to five films a day. The non-narrated „Cinemania“ is an unsparing, if light touched, look at obsession, denial and where to find the cheap seats in Manhattan. The soundtrack’s French popsongs, all about cinephilia, add a dose of fun, as does the perfect finish, which finds the five protags in a small screening room, commenting snarkily on a rough cut of the pic we’re watching.“
Ken Eisner, Variety

The film that best summarized this predicament is Cinemania by Angela Christlieb and Stephen Kijak. A delightful documentary, Cinemania focuses on several NewYork City film junkies whose lives are completely organized by the principle of seeing as many movies in each day as possible. What at first seems like a harmlessaddiction soon reveals its pathological underpinnings as they scour subwayschedules and plan their lives in an almost obsessive-compulsive thrall of figuringout how to constantly cram in three or four movies every day.
Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle

If Woody Allen invented these people as characters for one of his films, he’d be accused of gross exaggeration. Bill (who looks and sounds like a young version of Allen) scrupulously washes his glasses before each screening and arms himself with a large bag of peanut butter sandwiches, thermal underwear and pills for „sniffles“, back pains and anxiety. „My psychiatrist told me yesterday I have a compulsion,“ he reveals.
Sheila Johnston, Screendaily

Highly recommended. But don’t be surprised if you feel like skipping the next film you have scheduled in favour of a nice walk outdoors. And yes, they all wear glasses. Why do you ask?
Gillian G. Gaar, Seattle International Film Festival

Cinemania is potentially the most disturbing film of the festival, if you see yourself anywhere on the sliding scale between regular film goer and film buff. While all of this very amusing, Christlieb and Kijak aren’t in the business of ridicule. Theirs is a celebratory portrait of people who both love and are victims of film going culture, a film that’s by turns hilarious and saddening.
Miles Fielder, Edinburgh International Filmfestival

Anyone who’s held on to some movie ticket stubs or secretly plots to kill the person who takes 3 minutes to unwrap a candy bar during a crucial moment in a film will relate to this brilliant documentary film about the psychological compulsions of 5 obsessive cinephiles in New York City. What particularly stands out is how directors Christlieb and Kijak treat their subjects with dignity and respect..
Anji Milanovic

There are moments of gentle humility and open mouthed absurdity. Cinemania isn’t just interesting to geeks and cinephiles but is in fact a message to anyone who has ever collected or cared about something more than they should have. You are not alone.
Greig Cameron, www.entfirst.com

Jack Angstreich has a problem. He’s attended some 7000 film programs in the second half of his 32 years, but lately it’s been hard to keep up. Welcome to the world of Cinemania, the forthcoming doc by Angela Christlieb and Stephen Kijak on five of New York’s sultans of sitzfleisch.
Josh Goldfein, The Village Voice

Anyone familiar with screen-hopping at film festivals can appreciate the importance of bringing along extra sandwiches, a travel strategy to hit as many films as possible, and an occasional change of clothing. The fantastic documentary Cinemania profiles a group of New York „film buffs“ for whom film passes beyond obsession – more important than jobs, day-to-day relationships and the demands of a human bladder.
Mark Hamilton, Calgary’s News and Entertainment Weekly

It’s like watching the squalor and insanity of Jackie O’s aunt and cousin in the cult documentary Grey Gardens, as the emptiness of the cinemaniacs‘ lives starts to overtake their initial eccentricity.
Sean Nelson. theStranger.com

Everyone in Cinemania is such a recognizable New Yorker that ex-residents will share Jack’s indignation at a parade that blocks his taxi’s progress to yet another screening. „What day is today?“ he snaps impatiently. We know the feeling.
B.R.M, Seattle Weekly

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