07/04/2006

Today, Austrian audiences will have a chance to discover the long awaited Octopusalarm by Elisabeth Scharang, a moving story presented in the Panorama section at this year’s Berlin Film Festival as well as at the Diagonale festival. The film is being distributed by Polyfilm.

Produced by Veit Heiduschka for Wega Film, the documentary – with a soundtrack from Austrian pop group Garish – tells the story of Alex Jürgen, born a hermaphrodite. This transsexual rebelled against the very Manichean social need to define clear and simple standards and bore the name Alexandra throughout his childhood, before discovering that his feminine qualities were the consequences of an operation and that he was, in fact, a man.

Once the moment of confusion passed, which Alex calls "Octopusalarm", he still needed a few years to realise that the best solution against the alienation of silence was to openly reveal and speak about his story. Scharang followed him for three years and offers us a complete and intense portrait of his life.

Apart from four US films released today, Austrian moviegoers will also have the chance to see Odessa... Odessa!, a French/Israeli production by Michale Boganim, and Keeping Mum [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a UK film by Niall Johnson, starring Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas and Patrick Swayze (distributed by Constantin Film).

(Translated from French)