The 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI Goa) will open with the Austrian film Alma and Oskar directed by Dieter Berner. This film festival to be held in Goa from November 20 to November 28. The passionate and tumultuous relationship between the Viennese society Grand Dame Alma Mahler (1879-1964) and Austrain artist Oskar Kokoschka ((1886-1980) is the subject of this biopic. Directed by Dieter Berner, the film has total runtime of 110 minutes.
As a festival that seeks to celebrate the art of cinema to the fullest, it is only fitting that IFFI 53 opens with a film about a love affair between a composer and an artist. Oskar Kokoschka, an upcoming painter, finds Alma, a music composer, during a time when she had already begun a relationship with architect Walter Gropius, after the death of her first husband, Gustav Mahler.
Not wanting to be with another man in who’s shadow she cannot realize her artistic potential, Alma initiates a fiery affair with Oskar Kokoschka. Such is the nature of their relationship that Kokoschka paints his most famous work based on it. The film explores their relationship which has been described as ‘stormy’ and ‘tumultuous’.