THIS FEBRUARY, FILM MOVEMENT SETS SAIL WITH
STYX
A GRIPPING AND TOPICAL DRAMA ON THE HIGH SEAS
“This is “All Is Lost” with a spinning moral compass and a topical dimension
that proves even more gripping than its brilliantly achieved visceral action.”
— Variety
“Engrossing”
— Screen International
Opening February 27 at Film Forum in New York City
SYNOPSIS
Rike (Susanne Wolff), a German emergency room physician, leaves behind her everyday life to fulfill a long-held dream: a solo crossing of the Atlantic. But when she boards the Asa Gray, her gleaming white sailboat, in Gibraltar, she has no way of knowing the troubles or personal transformations that await her on the open seas. Following a rough storm, she happens upon an overloaded, damaged boat teeming with dozens of refugees. When emergency calls to the Coast Guard and nearby commercial vessels go unreturned and rescue seems unlikely, she’s forced to take matters into her own hands in a film Variety calls, “brisk, efficient and thrillingly dynamic.”
Aptly named after the mythological river that separates the living from the dead, STYX is an astute modern day parable of Western indifference in the face of marginalized suffering. Carrying practically the entire film, Wolff is riveting as a woman pushed to her physical, psychological and moral limits. Of her turn, which captured the Best Actress Award at the Valletta Film Festival, The Hollywood Reporter said, “Wolff is never less than remarkable in a demanding role that’s 80 percent silence and 20 percent English-language dialogue. The fully inhabited turn should further help cement her international status as a star to be reckoned with.”
STYX had its World Premiere at Berlin this year in the Panorama Section, where it captured the Heiner Carow Prize, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Europa Cinemas Label.
STYX (2018)
Directed by: Wolfgang Fischer
Written by: Wolfgang Fischer, Ika Künzel
Cast: Susanne Wolff., Gedion Oduor Wekesa, Alexander Beyer, Inga Birkenfeld
Produced by: Schiwago Film GmbH in co-production with Amour Fou Vienna GmbH
Cinematography by: Benedict Neuenfels
RT: 94 minutes
Genre: Drama
Language: English & German with English subtitles
