JESUS, YOU KNOW

Jesus, You Know (Jesus, du Weisst)Austria

Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl shocked Festival audiences in 2002 with the disturbing Dog Days. Seidl returns this year with the more austere, but nonetheless equally compelling Jesus, You Know, in which he turns cinema into a confessional.

Focusing on six individuals who bare their souls, praying very personally with Jesus, Seidl's subjects talk candidly about matters such as jealousy, revenge fantasies, hero worship, love and desire. Shot in an assortment of churches, ranging from spartan to baroque, Jesus, You Know benefits from Seidl's wry point of view and restrained aesthetic.

Jesus, You Know won the Best Documentary Award at the 2003 Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

'I didn't want to show the hypocrisy or the stiffness of the Catholic Church: neither the ceremonial, nor the bigotry of authoritative conservatism; and not the kitsch either. What interested me was the intimacy of the people praying to God.' Ulrich Seidl

'With Jesus, You Know, Seidl proves again that he is one of the most intriguing filmmakers in contemporary European cinema.' -Toronto International Film Festival

D Ulrich Seidl P Martin Kraml S Ulrich Seidl, Veronika Franz WS Austrian Film Commission L German w/English subtitles TD 35mm/Col/2003/87mins,p>Ulrich Seidl was born in Vienna, Austria in 1952. Films include: Goods News (1990), Animal Love (MIFF 1996), Models (1998), State of the Nation (2002, co-dir).