Safari

Synopsis

“Ulrich Seidl continues to amaze and unnerve in this brilliantly composed, deeply upsetting portrait of tourist hunters in Africa. The best films of deadpan Austrian provocateur Ulrich Seidl pull off a tricky paradox: They’re almost entirely passionless in their perspective, yet are engineered to elicit raging, sometimes conflicting, torrents of feeling. Save perhaps for the “conflicting” part, that has rarely been more true than in the case of “Safari” an unremittingly horrible but altogether extraordinary portrait of European hunting tourists in Africa that affords them a platform to defend their sport — yet won’t make any converts from the justly appalled. With its already queasy subject matter and graphic extended sequences of animal killing and carving, this hard-to-shake doc — apparently less “performed” than some of Seidl’s hybrid works, but still composed with exquisite formal precision… (…).” (Guy Lodge, Variety) “I’m not sure that Seidl is simply campaigning against hunt-tourism, just as he wasn’t simply campaigning against sex tourism in his “Paradise” movies. His procedure is more about creating a grotesque world, or isolating the grotesque elements of the world he sees, and then shining a cold, clear light on it. It’s very uncomfortable but legitimate film-making.“ (Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian)

Around The World in 14 Films 2016, presented by Max Moor – in attendance of director Ulrich Seidl

With the support of the Österreichisches Kulturforum Berlin