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Wide-Ranging Film Selection // Readings, Panels, Presentations and Exhibitions

This year, exground filmfest (12 - 21 November 2021) has taken that which the festival's established American Independents section usually covers on the periphery and placed it centre stage: the 2021 Country Focus is devoted to the United States of America. A carefully curated programme, featuring 13 feature-length and 10 short films, as well as two productions in the International Short Film Competition, attempts the impossible: to represent the social, cultural and political circumstances and developments of a region that has been paid particularly close attention by people around the world over the past years. Funding for the Country Focus is provided by Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, whose managing director Karin Wolff calls it a "wonderful challenge". In addition to the film programme, the Focus also includes readings and presentations, as well as art exhibitions at Nassauischer Kunstverein and in the foyer of the Murnau-Filmtheater. The Country Focus will also be paying a visit to established post-festival venues beyond Wiesbaden, namely REX in Darmstadt and Pupille in Frankfurt am Main.


Courageous Debuts and Young Filmmakers

The Country Focus includes no fewer than nine directorial debuts among its 13 feature-length productions. In this respect, exground filmfest is above all aiming to give young voices a platform for their cinematic commentaries on life and conditions in the United States. From lyrical cinematic language to trenchant humour and experimental essays, all the way to surprising documentary insights, the films explore with great variety the perspectives of a young generation of filmmakers, who have been shaped by political ruptures, cultural battles waged in the streets and a society marked by stark contrasts.

The relationship between the individual films is also full of contrasts. The rapidly unfolding tragicomedy ZOLA (2020) by Janicza Bravo follows the eponymous stripper on a road trip to Florida. Amidst copious cursing, social media hijinks and lots of sex, the film concentrates above all on the perfectly exaggerated acting of Taylour Paige, who almost single-handedly carries this wild, entertaining, satirical work with her enormous presence.