Funny Games
USA, France, UK, Austria, Germany, Italy , 2007

Directed by: Michael Haneke
Script: Michael Haneke
Producer: Hamish McAlpine
Production company: Celluloid Dreams
Cinematography: Darius Khondji
Cast: Naomi Watts, Tim Roth, Michael Pitt, Brady Corbet, Devon Gearhart

Format: boja, color, 35mm
Running time: 110'

Synopsis
In 1997, writer-director Michael Haneke made the controversial Austrian thriller, Funny Games, about two young men who terrorize a family on vacation. A decade later, Haneke was convinced by producer Chris Coen to bring the story to America, filming a nearly word-for-word, shot-for-shot English-language version. Shortly after Ann, George, and Georgie arrive in their country home, Peter, an eerily polite young man dressed all in white, including odd white gloves, appears on the doorstep, asking Ann if he can borrow some eggs for their neighbor. Peter is joined by Paul, and the Leopold-and-Loeb-like duo are soon doing horrible things to Ann, George, and Georgie, torturing them both physically and psychologically (nearly all the violence occurs off-screen), for no apparent reason other than they can, referring to the whole thing as a game. Biggest game of all is whether the family will be alive at the end?

Directors Biography
Michael Haneke, born March 23, 1942 in Munich, Germany, is an Austrian filmmaker and writer best known for his bleak and disturbing style. Haneke has worked in television‚ theater and cinema. He attended the University of Vienna to study philosophy, psychology and drama after failing to achieve success in his early attempts in acting and music. As a playwright, he directed a number of stage productions. Haneke's feature film debut was 1989's The Seventh Continent, three years later, the controversial Benny's Video put Haneke's name on the map. Haneke's greatest success came in 2001 with his most critically successful film, the French film The Piano Teacher. The Time of the Wolf (2003), Hidden (2005) followed.

Location and screening schedule:
premiere: SC Cinema, Wednesday, October 22nd at 14.00
reprisal: EUROPA Cinema, Wednesday, October 22nd at 21.30