The Hurt Locker

Premiere:

"The Hurt Locker" by Kathryn Bigelow

October 15 and 16, 2009
 
Among the American filmmakers who emerged as important auteurs after the "New Hollywood Era" of the 1970s, Kathryn Bigelow is a special case. She has dedicated her work to a highly stylized re-reading of classical genre cinema. Some of her works – the vampire film Near Dark (1987), the psychological thriller Blue Steel (1990), the surfer film Point Break (1991), and the cyber science-fiction Strange Days (1995) – can be considered cornerstones of postmodern US cinema. On October 15 and 16, the Film Museum presents the Austrian premiere of The Hurt Locker, Bigelow's most recent film and her "comeback" as a critical favorite. Unanimously acclaimed at last year's Venice Film Festival and upon its US release this summer, the film tells the story of an elite unit of American soldiers in Iraq who are specialized in defusing explosive devices.