Magdalena Chmielewska is a Polish-born film director and screenwriter working within German-language cinema. She graduated from the Vienna Film Academy at the University of Music and Performing Arts, where she studied directing with, among others, Michael Haneke and Jessica Hausner. Her films have screened at numerous international festivals and received major awards, including the First Steps Award from the German Film Academy and the Max Ophüls Prize. Her visceral cinematic style, blending raw emotion, physicality, and sensuality earned her recognition as one of Europe’s top ten young directors at the 56th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. She has received scholarships and grants from institutions including the Austrian Federal Ministry of Arts and Culture, the City of Vienna, and the Austrian Screenwriters Association. Her experimental music video was selected by Michael Haneke for the ARTE Television competition, where it won the Audience Award. A social campaign she directed for the US NGO Population Services International (PSI) sparked a global initiative presented at the International Women’s Day Conference in Toronto. She is currently post-producing “Teresa’s Body” and developing her next long feature. She has lectured internationally on visual storytelling at the Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Maisha Film Lab (US NGO) in East African Region, and the AS Academy of Arts in Szczecin (PL).
Masterclass with Magdalena Chmielewska at the Joongang University and the SESIFF in Seoul.
Magdalena Chmielewska in the selection of the ten outstanding newcomer directors from Europe
“Lullaby” among selected projects for the A-Festival in Karlovy Vary
Magdalena Chmielewska represents Austria in the Future Frames’22 in Karlovy Vary IFF
“Lullaby” is opening the Vienna Shorts’22
Magdalena Chmielewska in the selection of the Pop Up Residency
“Lullaby” wins the Max Ophüls Preis
New Horizons Studio + awards announced – “Mira’s Fire” among the winners
Using the magic of cinema to make the unspeakable tangible – interview with Magdalena Chmielewska
First Steps Award for Magdalena Chmielewska
Becoming the member of the German Filmacademy
Diagonale Festival of Austrian Film – interview
“stay obsessed of your idea!” – the director Magdalena Chmielewska advises young filmmakers
Since 2015, the EFP – European Film Promotion has been presenting ten outstanding young film directors at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. This year Magdalena Chmielewska will present her Max Ophüls Award-winning film Lullaby at the festival. Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) is one of the oldest A-list film festivals, a category it shares with the festivals in Cannes, Berlin, Venice, San Sebastian, Moscow, Montreal, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Among filmmakers, buyers, distributors, sales agents, and journalists, KVIFF is considered the most important event in all of Central and Eastern Europe. https://www.kviff.com
“Lullaby” will celebrate its North American Premiere at the renowned Academy Awards® and our Oscar®-qualifying ShortFest Film Festival in Palm Springs in California. It is the largest short film festival and market in North America and one of the most acclaimed short film showcases in the world. https://psfilmfest.org
As the rest of the world falls asleep, Eva stays awake. No matter how hard she tries, she just cannot close her eyes. In order to get at least a little bit closer to that elusive slumber, she spends her nights in other people’s houses, quietly watching their sleeping inhabitants. But people are slowly losing patience with her nighttime visits. If sleep allows us to take a break, to not be here, Lullaby’s tale of a seventeen-year-old girl shows how insomnia can make existence oppressive and tiring. Not only is Eva’s ever-growing sleep deprivation a source of fatigue, but it also causes her to view the world differently as its real contours are increasingly distorted. But herein lies the potential for seeing things from an altered perspective.
Sandra Hezinová @kviff
www.austrianfilms.com
Masterclass with Magdalena Chmielewska at the Yoongan University and the Seoul International Extreme-Short Image & Film Festival, SESIFF The film program presented in the context of the masterclass provides insights into Chmielewska’s diverse oeuvre. The short fiction film “Spring Miracle” depicts the survival strategies of three female prisoners. In this early work, shot on analogue film, the story revolves around a strong female character haunted by her past – of this many more will follow in Chmielewska’s later works. The music video “Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel“ is a dream-like visual reinterpretation of the classical music piece of the same title by Franz Schubert that lends a new face to the classical drama of hopelessness. It was a commissioned work for the Austrian State Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) with Michael Haneke as artistic advisor. The medium long feature film “Am Himmel/Heaven’s Meadow” features the haunting presence of Maria Spanring as a young woman radically performing her psychological and physical autonomy to regain her strength after an assault. Chmielewska and Spanring achieve a rare symbiosis of performance and visuality which expands the intensity of the film far beyond what is visible onscreen. In Chmielewska’s current film “Lullaby” the seventeen-year-old insomniac Eva does everything to stay the night at other people’s houses where she quietly watches others sleep. As she staggers sleeplessly through the nights, Eva takes us to the flip side of the everyday life. Her challenging situation causes those around her to turn more and more away from her. 20th October 2022 at 12:00 – 14:00 Masterclass at the Graduate School of Advanced Imagining Science, Multimedia & Film at the Yoongan University Seoul 21st October 2022 Austria Focus 2: Master Class 14:00- 16:00 at Cinema 7 at the SESIFF
