The joint retrospective of the Austrian Film Museum and the Viennale (Vienna International Film Festival) is dedicated to a city that is more closely attached to the medium of film than any other place in the world: Los Angeles, home to a vast industry called "Hollywood," but also to many independent film movements that have opened up new perspectives both on cinema and our imagination of L.A. The show is curated by the filmmaker and scholar Thom Andersen, whose epic 2003 work Los Angeles Plays Itself is one the most highly acclaimed essay films of the past decade. With the Retrospective, Andersen expands on his film's approach: due to his detailed knowledge of the city, its history, and its film cultures, he creates a portrait of the real Los Angeles, oscillating between film noir and the avant-garde, Academy-Award winning classics and the gay underground, critical film essays and roaring genre flicks, slapstick comedies and rock music.

Featured Works:

Never Weaken (Fred C. Newmeyer and Harold Lloyd, 1921); Lizzies of the Field (Del Lord, 1924); Big Business (James W. Horne and Leo McCarey, 1929); The Salvation Hunters (Josef von Sternberg, 1925); The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra (Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapich, Greg Toland, 1928); Hollywood Boulevard (Robert Florey, 1936); Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, 1943); Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944); Detour (Edgar G. Ulmer, 1945); Fragment of Seeking (Curtis Harrington, 1946); Fireworks (Kenneth Anger, 1947); Muscle Beach (Irving Lerner and Joseph Strick, 1948); Puce Moment (Kenneth Anger, 1949); On the Edge (Curtis Harrington, 1949); Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wilder, 1950); The Towers (William Hale, 1953); Crime Wave (Andre de Toth, 1954); Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldrich, 1955); House After Five Years of Living (Ray & Charles Eames, 1955); Bunker Hill (Kent Mackenzie, 1956); Zone Moment (Stan Brakhage, 1956); Nightcats (Stan Brakhage, 1956); The Wormwood Star (Curtis Harrington, 1956); Aleph (Wallace Berman, 1956-66); Murder by Contract (Irving Lerner, 1958); The Exiles (Kent Mackenzie, 1958-61); City of Fear (Irving Lerner, 1959); The Savage Eye (Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, Joseph Strick, 1960); Night Tide (Curtis Harrington, 1961); By The Sea (Pat O'Neill, 1963); Bump City (Pat O'Neill, 1964); Kustom Kar Kommandos (Kenneth Anger, 1965); Breakaway (Bruce Conner, 1966); 1:42.08 (George Lucas, 1966); The Wild Angels (Roger Corman, 1966); Olivia's Place (Thom Andersen, 1966); unc. (Bruce Lane, 1966); The Emperor (George Lucas, 1967); ---  ------- (Thom Andersen and Malcolm Brodwick, 1967); God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance (Les Blank/Skip Gerson 1968); 7362 (Pat O'Neill, 1968); Pit Stop (Jack Hill, 1969); Dusty and Sweets McGee (Floyd Mutrux, 1971); Minnie and Moskowitz (John Cassavetes, 1971); S.W.L.A. (Rob Thompson, 1971); Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song (Melvin Van Peebles, 1971); Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles (Julian Cooper, 1972); Cisco Pike (Bill Norton, 1972); Hickey & Boggs (Robert Culp, 1972); Sex Garage (Fred Halsted, 1972); L.A. Plays Itself (Fred Halsted, 1972); I Don't Know (Penelope Spheeris, 1972); Throbs (Fred Worden, 1972); The Gypsy Cried (Inga Uwais, 1972); Venusville (Fred Worden and Inga Uwais, 1973); Pasadena Freeway Stills (Gary Beydler, 1974); Special Warning (Robert Nelson, 1974/99); Gone in 60 Seconds (H.B. Halicki, 1974); Bush Mama (Haile Gerima, 1975); Experimental Dancer Edit #1 (Paul McCarthy, 1975); Venice Pier (Gary Beydler, 1976); Dead Reckoning (David Wilson, 1980); Big Wrench (Chris Burden, 1980); The Decline of the Western Civilization (Penelope Spheeris, 1981); Zoot Suit (Luis Valdez, 1981); Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982); My Brother's Wedding (Charles Burnett, 1983/2007); Standard Gauge (Morgan Fisher, 1984); Bless Their Little Hearts (Billy Woodberry, 1984); Hot Pink (Patssi Valdez, 1984); Water and Power (Pat O'Neill, 1989); Chapbook of the Non-eminent (Elizabeth Wiatr, 1993); When It Rains (Charles Burnett, 1995); Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997, pictured); Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned (Michael Apted, 1998); The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, 1999); Hoover Street Revival (Sophie Fiennes, 2002); Los Angeles Plays Itself (Thom Andersen, 2003).

Program Information
Los Angeles. A City in Film