THE BIRTHMARK: US PREMIERE AT ST. LOUIS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Consuelo’s daughter Victoria was brutally murdered in Mexico City. The Birthmark visualizes the mother’s inexpressible pain in blurry, abstract images, which become concrete only selectively: in macro-recordings of fleshy scar tissue and threatening pointy spikes that emphatically drill into not only the viewers’ eyes, but also their bosom. (© Diagonale 2020, Michelle Koch)
After its World Premiere at the Morelia Int. Film in Mexico The Birthmark was invited to more than 20 film festivals in Europe and Latin America. The screening at the St. Louis International Film Festival will be the film’s US Premiere.
For legal reasons, the film is available at the Festival’s website only to viewers in Missouri and Illinois: www.cinemastlouis.org/festival-home
ACFNY’s followers in the US will have special viewing rights offered to the first 90 views. This exclusive offer is geoblocked to the United States and is available from November 5nd through 22nd:
watch.eventive.org/2020sliff/play/5f8a086ac8218e00c15a625c
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ABOUT SLIFF
SLIFF is an annual film festival in St. Louis, Missouri, which has been running since 1992. It is a world-class showcase of the best in international, documentary, and American-independent cinema, dedicated to exploring cross-cultural understanding through the art of the cinema. This year’s festival screens approximately 300 films from 5-22 November.
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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Bernhard Hetzenauer (*Innsbruck 1981) graduated from the Angewandte in Vienna and HFBK Hamburg with an MFA in Film. His books “Faces of Athens” and “Das Innen im Aussen” were published in Berlin. His previous film “A God’s Shadow” screened at 50 international film festivals, e.g. Viennale 17, and won Best National Short Doc 2018 at various Mexican festivals.
Pia Ilonka Schenk Jensen (*Oslo 1981) holds an MA in Visual Anthropology, a BA in Film and TV Production and a 2-year art degree. She has worked extensively for National TV in Norway before moving to Mexico. Her work has participated in international film festivals and retrospectives. Her film “Hungarian Lullaby” competed for “Best Norwegian Documentary” in 2017.
Image Credit: The Birthmark, © Bernhard Hetzenauer / Pia Ilonka Schenk Jensen