Cinema for me is…

 Maria in 23 frames

1. Describe yourself in ten words.
   Ambitious, thoughtful, empathic, creative, interested, spontaneous, adventurous, observant, restless, dreamy.
2. Your best quality? Your worst habit?
   Best quality: Always full of ideas and never bored.
   Worst habit: Being unnecessarily nervous when having to talk in front of a crowd.
3. Your dream job?
   At the moment I love the idea of becoming a theatre director or / and dramatist and being able to combine this with film.
4. What do you like most about your country?
   I love the Viennese grumpiness, even though it’s definitely not Austria’s best quality.
5. Your favorite dish in your country?
   The Austrian kitchen is still very rich in meat, so it’s quite hard to say. I’d probably go for the classic “Apfelstrudel”, which is a pastry you get in about every small Viennese café.
6. Which word or phrase in your native language do you like the most and what does it mean?
   Definitively “oida”. It doesn’t really have a very specific meaning – you can use it all the time, both in a positive or negative way, depending on the tone you say it in. For example you could say “Oida, I love this film!”.
7. What European capital have you visited lately?
   Athens.
8. Other than your own, which European country would you love to live in?
   Greece. I never came across so many so friendly people anywhere else in Europe and coffee is so cheap there in comparison to Austria.
9. What does Europe mean to you? 3 values.
   Culture, travelling, community.
10. What film made you fall in love with cinema?
    Michael Haneke’s Amour (2012, FR).
11. Your favorite film theatre? What do you like about it?
    There are so many great film theatres in Vienna. I really like “Votiv Kino” and “De France” just because they are so authentic, relaxed ans show great films.
12. Who is your movie hero?
    Robin Williams as John Keating in Dead Poet Society (Peter Weir, 1989, US).
13. Which movie director would you like to be?
    Christoph Schlingensief – I find him and his work so fascinating.
14. Briefly describe your favorite scene.
    Dead Poet Society (Peter Weir, 1989, US) has so many inspiring scenes. One of them is the scene in which John Keating describes the power of poetry and literature to his students for the first time. Robin Williams is so authentic in his role as a teacher that as a recipient of the film you follow everything he says with great suspense and sincerely believe in what he states. John Keating doesn’t want the boys to understand poetry from a technical point of view but to understand what poetry means in life and that the world can be changed through poetry. To me it brings up the question of how narrow – minded school and some ways of teaching can be.
15. What are the 3 best European films you have seen in the last year?
    Undine (Christian Petzold, 2020, DE)
    Quo vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Zbanic, 2020, BX)
    The Trouble with Being Born (Sandra Wollner, 2020, DE)
16. Which film character do you most identify with?
    Saoirse Ronan as Christine in Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017, US).
17. Your favorite soundtrack or song?
    Heroes, David Bowie.
18. If you had to live in a movie, which one would you like it to be?
    I’m sorry but it has to be Harry Potter.
19. Your life becomes a bio-pic. Who plays the role of you?
    Paula Beer!
20. Which talent would you most like to have?
    To be able to sing.
21. What is your most treasured possession?
    My family and friends.
22. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
    Being where I am now, doing what I love and taking steps into the right direction each day.
23. What is your motto?
    “Carpe diem. Seize the day […]. Make your lives extraordinary.” (John Keating in Dead Poet Society).

Maria is the Stadtkino’s ambassador. Find out more about the Cinema here.