Gondola

Local title
Gondel
Original title
Gondola
Director
Veit Helmer
Country
Georgia, Germany
Year
2023
Festival
19th Tartuff
Programme
Town Hall Square Film Programme
Genre
romantic comedy

A cable car connects locals and visitors from the small town of Khulo in the valley to the summit village of Tago in the mountainous region of Sakartvelo. Two colourful gondolas make the 1,919-metre journey, passing each other every half hour (except at lunchtime between 13:00 and 14:00). The gondola operators, Iva and Nino, use these brief moments to interact and express their feelings. One fateful evening they decide to meet after work at 18:00. Not all men are happy to accept such a friendship.

Veit Helmer, the German mastermind of the silent lyrical musical ride, is famous for "Tuvalu", "Absurdistan", "Bra", and short films that have been invited to Cannes, Venice, Sundance, Busan, Tallinn, and many other festivals. The film, "Gondola", which premiered in the Tokyo International Competition in 2024, is still flying around the world. There is no dialogue in this wordless poetic romantic drama, but two charismatic gondolas magically make us laugh, dream, feel good, listen and raise uncomfortable questions about the acceptance of sexuality under the enchanting cinematographic tricks of Goga Devdariani ("Taming the Garden", "The Summer of Frozen Fountains" from PÖFF's previous selections).

Director
Veit Helmer
Screenwriter
Veit Helmer
Cast
Mathilde Irrmann, Nino Soselia
Producer
Veit Helmer, Tsiako Abesadze
DoP
Goga Devdariani
Editor
Danis Karaisaridis
Composer
Malcolm Arison, Soley Stefansdottir
Runtime
Language
no dialogue
Subtitles
no dialogue
Other festivals
Tokyo

Screenings

Open Air Cinema Town Hall Square
ScreeningGondel
Subtitlesno dialogue
Screening duration
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