by Jörg Burger, Austria 2007, 72'
| PHOTOGRAPHY: Johannes Hammel | EDITING: Jörg Burger | |
| SOUND: Jörg Burger | SHOOTING FORMAT: digibeta | |
| MUSIC: Antonia Busacca | PRODUCTION: Jörg Burger |
Presented at The Screen of the Arts 2008
The Sicilian town of Gibellina was destroyed by an earthquake in 1968, then rebuilt years later at a distance of 18 km from its original location. Gibellina Nuova reflected the utopian vision of renewal opposed to the traditional forces of political corruption and the Sicilian Mafia. But the history has developed in a different way. The utopian city has become a lifeless bedroom community with shoddy architecture and an over-abundance of modern art: an oversized, open-air museum with increasing social and economic problems. Jörg Burger examines the rise and the fall of a political utopia in a complex portrait, adding archival historical footage, and juxtaposing the town daily-life with the ideas underlying its design. Better than any other place, Gibellina personifies the contrasts of the Modern age. The many sculptures standing in the public space represent a grotesque contrast with the acute shrinkage of the population and the obvious desolation.Jörg Burger
Jörg Burger is an Austrian artist and filmmaker, born in Wien in 1961. After attending his studies in photography in New York thanks to the economic support of the Austrian Ministry of Culture (2002), his works have been shown at many exhibitions, at home and aboard. His filmmaker’s career still stands by his on-going work as camera-man for many Austrian movies and documentaries.
Selected Filmography
2004 Actually, everything is completely different 2005 Artikel 7 - Unser Recht! 2006 Notes on Marie Menken 2007 Gibellina - The Earthquake; Seized; Unter Beschlag 2008 Frauentag; Marina und Sascha, Kohleschiffer