<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font><div class=""><font color="#011993" class="">We are very happy and congratulate <span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><b class="">Johann Lurf </b></span>wholeheartedly, </font><span style="color: rgb(1, 25, 147);" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><b class=""> award winner </b></span>of the </span></div><div class=""><span style="color: rgb(1, 25, 147);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" size="5" class=""><b class="">PRIZE FOR INNOVATIVE CINEMA </b></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class="">at the </font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" size="5" class="">Diagonale 2018 - Festival of Austrian Film in Graz</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class="">for his outstanding masterpiece</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 72px;" class="">★</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" size="4" class=""><b class="">by Johann Lurf</b></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class="">AT 2017 / 99 min</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="209F9F9F-D958-4B26-99D5-B6F24D1ED75A" src="cid:9069320B-C4D4-470D-86B0-3A9F87552E39@local" class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" size="4" class="">Jury statement:</font></div><div class=""><p class=""><font color="#011993" class="">„In his vertiginous, colossal work, ★, Johann Lurf gathers together
imagery from no less than 550 films throughout the history of cinema,
extracting only those sequences that depict the star-filled nighttime
sky, unobscured by any terrestrial element. The resulting cinematic
journey of more than 99 minutes is truly transcendental.<br class="">
With the soundtrack edited in sync with the imagery, ★ is as much a
sonic collage as a visual one, conjuring up an entire world of
off-screen space and narrative traces. But if ★’s gaze is perpetually
outward, away from the earth, it sheds as much light on matters
political, social, cultural, and historical as celestial. The sequences
Lurf has gathered together have a fascinating story to tell about the
gradual shifting of human perspectives, intellectual and artistic ideas,
gender codes, and technological tools.<br class="">
The film reveals the astonishing range of methods filmmakers have used
to depict the nighttime sky. Part of the poetry of ★ lies in its
revelation that, despite its ubiquity in our daily lives and collective
imagination, the stars elude photographic representation – their
depiction in the cinema is almost necessarily a matter of imaginative
reconstruction, opening a space even in the most literal-minded films
for creative expression.<br class="">
A film whose apparent minimalism functions as a portal to a great
richness and invites profound contemplation, ★ takes its place within
the glorious tradition of experimental found footage films, following in
the footsteps of pioneers like Adrian Brunel, Henri Stork, the French
lettrists, and Bruce Conner. With this film Lurf joins the firmament of
the great contemporary masters of the genre, such as Volker Schreiner,
Matthias Muller, Christoph Girardet, Gustav Deutsch, and Christian
Marclay, to name a few.<br class="">
Designed to be as comprehensive and ever-expanding as possible, STAR is
more in the nature of a compendium than a fixed artistic product. It is a
work of exhilarating thematic complexity, open to an almost unlimited
range of interpretations. Appropriately for a film that focuses its
attention on the heavens, ★ contains multitudes.</font></p><p class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><span style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><b class="">Jury Innovative Cinema:</b></span><br class="">
Christophe Bichon (Collection Manager, Light Cone, FR)<br class="">
Jed Rapfogel (Film Programmer, Anthology Film Archives, US)<br class="">
Kate Strain (Artistic Director, Grazer Kunstverein, IE)</font></p><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="7AA708DF-4709-4196-AF8D-FE353A13C97A" src="cid:1EEE55D8-96A7-448A-AA6D-F339B36CBAA0@local" class=""></font></div></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><a href="http://www.sixpackfilm.com/en/catalogue/show/2424" class="">read more about the film</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" size="4" class="">upcoming festival screenings of Johann Lurf: ★ </font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Copenhagen cph:dox</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">San Francisco Golden Gate International Film Festival</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Buenos Aires Bafici</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">London Essay Film Festival</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Wisconsin Film Festival</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">IndieLisboa</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Osnabrück European Media Art Festival</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">Seattle Film Festival</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class="">a. o.</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="8B8BEF53-C883-4153-ABAE-633DAAC22C33" src="cid:F99F56D8-A426-4054-8CD7-3ED775BC6256@local" class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class="">——————</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class="">for further information regarding press or booking please contact:</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" style="font-size: 14px;" class=""><a href="mailto:office@sixpackfilm.com" class="">office@sixpackfilm.com</a></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><br class=""></font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class="">——————</font></div><div class=""><font color="#011993" class=""><a href="http://www.sixpackfilm.com" class="">www.sixpackfilm.com</a></font></div><div class=""><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sixpackfilm" class=""> <img apple-inline="yes" id="CA147AB3-AA74-44C0-9F8A-9DD227922677" src="cid:A03B412C-1DE4-4EE0-AD53-136452EB68DD@local" class=""> </a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div></body></html>