45 jaar NoFF: de filmkeuze van Rik Vermeulen: Attenberg

To celebrate our 45th anniversary, we are screening three favorite films from former artistic directors of the Noordelijk Film Festival; Attenberg is Rik Vermeulen's choice. He will give a short introduction to the film and will be present after the screening for a discussion with Asing Walthaus.

Athina Rachel Tsangari's tragicomic Attenberg centers on 23-year-old Marina, who lives with her terminally ill father Spyros in an industrial Greek factory town by the sea. Marina is a virgin, finds the human species strange, and prefers to observe the world through David Attenborough's nature documentaries, punk music, and the sexual lessons of her only friend Bella.

While her father undergoes chemotherapy and accepts his impending death with a remarkably laconic attitude, Marina is confronted with her own fears, but the arrival of a stranger challenges her. Amidst saying goodbye to her father, she discovers physical love and the wondrous mystery of human fauna for the first time, with Attenberg creating a fascinating contrast between Marina's burgeoning adulthood and the light that is slowly fading in Spyros. 

Attenberg, one of the defining films of the Greek Weird Wave, is Athina Rachel Tsangari's second feature film and was screened at the 67th Venice Film Festival in 2010. It was nominated for a Golden Lion and lead actress Ariane Labed was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. Three years later, she married director Yorgos Lanthimos, who also plays a small role in this film.