Festival Predictions

2013 Cannes Film Festival Predictions: Ulrich Seidl’s In the Basement

Published on April 3, 2013

#73. Ulrich Seidl’s In the Basement

Gist: Seidl returns to his roots as a documentary filmmaker for his first feature after completing his revered Paradise trilogy. His latest subject means to explore the relationship Austrians have with their basements, as well as the possible specificities of Austrian basements. While details remain vague, Seidl has been filming this on and off since 2009, so we’re sure this was inspired by that 2008 Josef Fritzl scandal.

Prediction: We are assuming this will be along the lines of Seidl’s 2005 doc, Animal Love, exploring Austrians and their relationship to their furry friends, but perhaps even more morbidly fascinating. Cannes 2012 saw the first part of Seidl’s trilogy, Paradise: Love play in the Main Competition, and we are guessing the same for this title in 2013 (Venice 2012 and Berlin 2013 nabbed the other two trilogy titles, and his 2007 film Import/Export also played in the Main Comp).

Related Topics:2013 Cannes Film Festival, In the Basement, Ulrich Seidl

Nicholas Bell

Los Angeles based Nicholas Bell is IONCINEMA.com's Chief Film Critic and covers film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Cannes and TIFF. He is part of the critic groups on Rotten Tomatoes, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and GALECA. His top 3 for 2021: France (Bruno Dumont), Passing (Rebecca Hall) and Nightmare Alley (Guillermo Del Toro). He was a jury member at the 2019 Cleveland International Film Festival.