Austrian director Manuel Witscher depicted his autobiographical experiences in his first feature film eclipsewhich will have its world premiere in the Horizons section of the 83rd Venice Film Festival on September 5.
The title, spelled with a “k” in its German and English versions, means “eclipse,” suggesting how the film touches on what a solar eclipse does to our vision and understanding—both bringing darkness to Earth as the moon obscures people’s view of the sun, but it also briefly reveals things that remain hidden to the naked eye.
eclipse Inspired by Witcher’s experience when details of his father’s death due to AIDS in the 1990s were kept from him. The film stars Moritz Hohlrieder as Tommy and Finley Brown as his best friend Chris. The two teens spend the summer on a dairy farm in the Austrian Alps, where they help Uncle Tommy, portrayed by Hans Berkman, with milking and exploring the outdoors. But the time they spend together isn’t just fun and games.
“Tommy’s mother decides to continue hiding the real reason his father is in the hospital from her son,” the film’s synopsis notes. eclipse. When Chris learns that Tommy’s father is in the hospital with a homosexual disorder, he is frightened – and Tommy suddenly faces the rejection and silence of his family.
Also appearing in the film are Linz Moretti, Lisa Schutzenberger, and Barbara Romaner, which explores fears and taboos and how they can obscure important truths.
Witcher co-wrote the film with Bernhard Jarosz, with whom he had also previously collaborated on short films Magma and Four Seasonson which he was also a co-writer At night when mice screamIn which Jarosz worked. Simon Hart is the cinematographer eclipseWhile Anna Kirst edited the film.
Films Boutique handles international sales eclipse. Its production companies are Austria’s Eutopiafilm and Italy’s Albolina Film.
THR Today you can exclusively premiere a clip from the film that premiered in Venice that will take you back to the 90s in the Alps. Get ready to meet Tommy and Chris. And get ready for a spectacle that hopefully won’t leave your head spinning the same way the Earth spins on its axis. Watch the exclusive clip from eclipse here.
