The opening on September 19 at Gartenbaukino will get down to business with the Austrian premiere of Coralie Fargeat’s body horror gem THE SUBSTANCE. Winner of the award for best screenplay in Cannes, the director brings an uncompromising and full-bodied Demi Moore back to the genre in her second feature film (debut: REVENGE, SLASH 1/2 2018): when TV celebrity Elisabeth Sparkle is declared too old for her fitness show by her producer (grandiosely disgusting: Dennis Quaid), she resorts to “The Substance” to create a younger, more perfect version of herself (Margaret Qualley). What follows is body grind galore and a completely off-the-wall reckoning with youth and beauty mania, male gaze and show business. 💉🩸
THE SUBSTANCE (R: Coralie Fargeat) (c) Polyfilm
The completely different yet no less haunting closing film, the long-awaited new stop-motion masterpiece by Adam Elliot (MARY & MAX), proves that SLASH plays all the pieces. MEMOIR OF A SNAIL tells the heartbreaking and highly comical (family) story of Grace Pudel. Through a series of tragic events, the snail-collecting outsider threatens to succumb to her fears, but hope is brought by her friendship with the eccentrically resolute senior Pinky. A magical and fantastically animated tale that leaves nothing out, from sexual kinks to death, that makes life a living thing.🥲🐌
MEMOIR OF A SNAIL (R: Adam Elliot)