Portrait
Yann Gonzalez (*1977 in France) is a boundary crosser. In his films, the longing merges with the obscure, the emotional with the brutal, the dreamlike with the mysterious. His narratives always delve into the depths of human existence, his characters are driven beings on often surreal journeys, striving to find love and redemption. Gonzalez’s willingness to take risks, to transcend the boundaries of conventional cinema, and to work in a manner that is both intoxicatingly theatrical and unabashedly cinephilic, leaves no one indifferent.
“One should not be afraid of emotions,“ the director once said in an interview. “As a viewer, it’s a fundamental part of watching movies for me: I like going to the cinema to cry.“ Gonzalez — also the brother and close collaborator of M83 frontman Anthony Gonzalez — will spend a month in Vienna as our artist-in-residence, presenting a program of his short films at the festival, featuring a film still on this year’s poster, and last but not least, being virtually omnipresent with the trailer for this year’s edition.
Gonzalez is a jack-of-all-trades, working as an artist, author, director, and producer. Even before he caused a sensation with his feature film debut You and the Night (2013), an erotic comedy featuring Kate Moran, with Béatrice Dalle and football star Eric Cantona (!) in smaller roles, his mysterious and provocative short films had already earned him a kind of cult status. Not least We Will Never Be Alone Again (2012) could also serve as a motto for all those who have found a home in this intense cinema for outsiders and outcasts.
In 2017, he wins the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, not far from his hometown of Nice, with his short film Islands, before finally rising to (underground) stardom with his second feature film Knife+Heart (2018). The film — with Vanessa Paradis as the producer of third-rate school pornos — receives multiple awards and resonates with audiences with its blend of comedy and tragedy, extravagance and innocence. Subsequently, he creates several music videos and, most recently, the magnificent musical Hideous, which premiered at Vienna Shorts in 2023.
Gonzalez is a master of cinema of longing; he quotes, borrows, and pays homage to various genres or grand masters, playing with the signs and rearranging them in a way that is new and extremely entertaining. His cinema is a surreal mixture of neon lights, nocturnal vibrations, and strange characters that can be as eerie and voyeuristic as they are yearning and profound — and one cannot get enough of it. Welcome to Vienna! (dhe)
Yann Gonzalez (*1977 in France) is a boundary crosser. In his films, the longing merges with the obscure, the emotional with the brutal, the dreamlike with the mysterious. His narratives always delve into the depths of human existence, his characters are driven beings on often surreal journeys, striving to find love and redemption. Gonzalez’s willingness to take risks, to transcend the boundaries of conventional cinema, and to work in a manner that is both intoxicatingly theatrical and unabashedly cinephilic, leaves no one indifferent.
“One should not be afraid of emotions,“ the director once said in an interview. “As a viewer, it’s a fundamental part of watching movies for me: I like going to the cinema to cry.“ Gonzalez — also the brother and close collaborator of M83 frontman Anthony Gonzalez — will spend a month in Vienna as our artist-in-residence, presenting a program of his short films at the festival, featuring a film still on this year’s poster, and last but not least, being virtually omnipresent with the trailer for this year’s edition.
Gonzalez is a jack-of-all-trades, working as an artist, author, director, and producer. Even before he caused a sensation with his feature film debut You and the Night (2013), an erotic comedy featuring Kate Moran, with Béatrice Dalle and football star Eric Cantona (!) in smaller roles, his mysterious and provocative short films had already earned him a kind of cult status. Not least We Will Never Be Alone Again (2012) could also serve as a motto for all those who have found a home in this intense cinema for outsiders and outcasts.
In 2017, he wins the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, not far from his hometown of Nice, with his short film Islands, before finally rising to (underground) stardom with his second feature film Knife+Heart (2018). The film — with Vanessa Paradis as the producer of third-rate school pornos — receives multiple awards and resonates with audiences with its blend of comedy and tragedy, extravagance and innocence. Subsequently, he creates several music videos and, most recently, the magnificent musical Hideous, which premiered at Vienna Shorts in 2023.
Gonzalez is a master of cinema of longing; he quotes, borrows, and pays homage to various genres or grand masters, playing with the signs and rearranging them in a way that is new and extremely entertaining. His cinema is a surreal mixture of neon lights, nocturnal vibrations, and strange characters that can be as eerie and voyeuristic as they are yearning and profound — and one cannot get enough of it. Welcome to Vienna! (dhe)