The Seventh Continent(Der siebente Kontinent)

Michael Haneke solidifies his reputation as a cinematic provocateur right out of the gate with his first feature, a chilling drama about a seemingly ordinary middle-class family that commit an unimaginable act. Set over the course of three years, the film intersperses scenes of the family’s normal everyday life with footage of a sterile, capitalistic modern society obsessed with consumption and mundane repetition. The film’s most unsettling element isn’t Haneke’s signature disturbingly tranquil tone, the gruesome details of the family’s actions, or his void of easy answers, but rather its suggestion that our blind pursuit of modern comforts may be enough to drive anyone over the edge.

Locarno Film Festival: Bronze Leopard

21/11(Sat): Double-screening lecture

14:00 The Seventh Continent

16:15 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance

With a 25-min intermission

Speaker: May Fung (Independent art and cultural worker)