Faust
Friday, September, 28, 9:00 pm
Castro Theatre
Special Screening
Winner of the prestigious Golden Lion at the 2011 Venice Film Festival in Italy.
A modern depiction of the classic tale, Alexander Sokurov’s version of Faust puts an eerie and surreal spin on the story of the skeptical doctor who sold his soul to the devil for knowledge. Taking a step away from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s popular telling, Sokurov explores through his own perspective humanity’s struggle with concepts of power and love. The film opens with Heinrich Faust (Austrian actor Johannes Zeiler) hard at work as a well-respected but disenchanted man of medicine. Without hope, faith, or even bread, his hunger leads him to a mysterious moneylender (Anton Adasinsky) who offers him an alternative to suffering and longing by showing him a world of meaning. The two travel the town as Faust views life with a renewed sense of wonder, an enthusiasm which eventually leads him into a fatal love for a town girl, Margarete (Russian-German actress Isolda Dychauk). Faust seamlessly weaves together themes of timeless importance in a new and unique fashion, exploring visually what has previously been left up to imagination. Ambitious and passionate as Faust himself, this film will leave you with more questions than answers... —Rickey Lee Bauman
Russia, Iceland (2011), 135 min. (digital projection); in German with English subtitles
Director: Alexander Sokurov
Screenplay: Alexander Sokurov, Marina Koreneva
Cast: Johannes Zeiler, Anton Adasinskiy, Isolda Dychauk, Georg Friedrich, Hanna Schygulla
World Sales: Films Boutique
Director Alexander Sokurov was born in 1951 in Russia in the village of Podorvikha. In 1995, the European Film Academy listed Sokurov as being among the best 100 directors of world cinema. His films have been nominated for Cannes’ Palm d’Or four times. Among his acclaimed works is the first “unedited” film in cinema history — Russian Ark (2002) — which was a continuous shot lasting around 90 minutes.
