The 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which will be held in Goa from November 20 to November 28, will be opened by Austrian film Alma and Oskar. The passionate and stormy relationship between Viennese society grand dame Alma Mahler (1879-1964) and Austrian artist Oskar Kokoschka ((1886-1980) is the subject of this biopic. The film is directed by Dieter Berner and has a total length of 110 minutes.
As a festival that strives to celebrate the art of cinema to its fullest, it is only fitting that IFFI 53 opens with a film about the love affair between a composer and an artist. Oskar Kokoschka, an aspiring painter, finds Alma, a music composer, at a time when she has already established a relationship with the architect Walter Gropius, after the death of her first husband, Gustav Mahler. Because Alma does not want to be with another man, in whose shadow she cannot realize her artistic potential, she begins a fiery romance with Oskar Kokoschka. Their relationship is such that, according to him, Kokoschka paints his most famous work. The film explores their relationship, which has been described as “tumultuous” and “tumultuous”.
Director Dieter Berner is a renowned Austrian film and theater director, actor and screenwriter. In Austria, he became nationally known as the director of the six award-winning Alpensaga films, a family and village chronicle that ran from 1976-1980. He received international recognition for the film Berliner Reigen (2006) based on Schnitzler’s play Der Reigen.