‘Great Freedom’: Have you watched this enticing queer film?

The acclaimed queer film ‘Great Freedom’ will be screened at the European Film Festival in Johannesburg and Cape Town on 19 October and online until 23 October.

For its ninth edition, the festival will be a hybrid event. Sixteen award-winning films from Europe are being screened between 13 and 23 October. All of them are South African premieres and 10 of the 16 were their country’s official submissions to the Oscars.

Each film will have just one screening at Ster-Kinekor’s The Zone in Johannesburg and The Labia in Cape Town. Alternatively, the films will be available online and free on the festival website until 23 October.

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The line-up includes the Austrian film ‘Great Freedom’ directed by Sebastian Meise with a stunning performance by Franz Rogowski as Hans.

In post-war Germany, Hans is repeatedly imprisoned under Paragraph 175, which criminalizes homosexuality. Over the decades, he develops an unlikely bond with his cellmate Viktor.

Forget the cliches about gay stories and about prison life, this is about an unapologetic man seeking his own freedom on his own terms.

The film also goes beyond the historic repeal of Paragraph 175 and the pseudo-freedom it brings Hans. It explores tenderness, love, lost time, and the tenacity of the human spirit.

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‘Great Freedom’ wins and nominations

Amongst its 30 wins and 28 nominations, ‘Great Freedom’ won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes in 2021 then scooped another five prizes at the annual Austrian Film Awards in 2022.

‘Great Freedom’ was selected as Austria’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards.

Robert Abele from the Los Angeles Times said that “’Great Freedom’ makes an exquisite case for the impossibility of caging the heart, even when love itself is criminalized.”

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“Chronicling an ignominious chapter in queer history, ‘Great Freedom’ is also a contemplative psychological study of the effects of incarceration, and beyond that, an unconventional love story, tender but unsentimental.”

The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney wrote:

You can book tickets to see ‘Great Freedom’ on the big screen on 19 October in Johannesburg here or Cape Town here or watch it online for free here.

by Mamba Writer

This article was initially published on MAMBAonline.com

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