AUSTRIAN FILM COMMISSION - NEWS

«The star that shines so brightly also illuminates the master it serves.»

Markus Schleinzer

Markus Schleinzer’s highly anticipated 2^nd feature film has premiered at TIFF. Inspired by the fragmentary nature of the mysterious, extraordinary biography of Angelo Soliman he has created an artistic interplay of light and shadow, projecting thought-provoking impulses on identity and freedom into the present day.

JOYful Venice Days

Sudabeh Mortezai’s second feature JOY takes two of the major awards given away within the Giornate degli autori sidebar. JOY is the first winner of the newly launched HEARST AWARD for Best Film by a female director, and also received the EUROPA CINEMAS LABEL, that supports the theatrical release and the visibility of the winning film throughout Europe.

Austrian films at international festivals

Participations July - September 2018

Austrian films on international screens

Theatrical releases
October 2016 – September 2018

Screen International: « ... a genuinely arresting arthouse must-watch»

«Markus Schleinzer’s supremely assured second feature is, in its own way, as profoundly uncomfortable as his 2011 debut, Michael; (...) Inspired by the life of Viennese ‘Court Moor’ Angelo Soliman, ANGELO is a mesmerising portrait of a man of quiet dignity whose very humanity is denied by those around.» A review by Screen International. Read more.

Variety: «A standout in this year’s Venice Days program»

«Austrian-Iranian filmmaker Sudabeh Mortezai doubles down on the promise of 'Macondo' with a tough, fully inhabited portrayal of Nigerian migrant sex workers.» Read more of Variety's enthusiastic review of the Venice Hearst Award-winner JOY

WALDHEIM’S WALTZ: Austria’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film

The Berlinale Best Documentary winner has been selected the Austrian submission for the 2019 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. WALDHEIM’S WALTZ by Ruth Beckermann is the astute revisiting of the 1986 Waldheim affair that lead to the collapse of Austria’s comforting narrative of being the first nazi victim. „Clear, impassioned, but never polemical“, Variety

« ... drastically, essentially different»

The New Yorker took a close and sensitive look at Sara Fattahi’s Pardo-winning essay CHAOS: «It’s a conversational film about silence, a visually complex film about invisibility, a film about the possibility of making a film about the war and what’s been lost in it.»

GOODNIGHT MOMMY back to a second life.

Four years after its world premiere at the Venice Festival 2014 the English-language remake of the pychological chiller by Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala is set on tracks by US-producer Animal Kingdom and French production partner Playtime. GOODNIGHT MOMMY will be re-imagined by director Matt Sobel, the shooting is scheduled for summer 2019.

«The fate of these people involves us all.»

Sudabeh Mortezai

When Nigerian sex workers in Europe manage to pay off their debts and buy their freedom, most of them have one overriding aim: to switch to the side of the pimps. A vicious system of winners and losers features women on both sides. In her second feature film, JOY, Sudabeh Mortezai depicts a relentless cycle where the only real aim is to survive, where morality and solidarity are luxuries that nobody in a system like this can possibly afford.

CHAOS wins Pardo d'oro Cineasti del Presente

„A film about feelings, not about fact“, that’s what Syrian born filmmaker Sara Fattahi wanted to convey by her second feature film CHAOS that takes us deep into the inner devastations which the war has inflicted upon her female protago-
nists. Forceful voices of the present that the Locarno Cineasti de Presente-jury honored with a Pardo d’oro.

Sudabeh Mortezai’s JOY
to the Lido

The Venice Festival's Giornate degli Autori section will host the world premiere of Sudabeh Mortezai's much-anticipated new film JOY – the story of a young woman from Nigeria caught in the vicious cycle of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

«A mother and a friend – metaphors for Damascus»

In her second full-length film CHAOS Syrian filmmaker Sara Fattahi, who lives in Vienna, delves deep into the inner devastation which the war has inflicted upon her protagonists. CHAOS is a contender at the Locarno Cineasti des Presente competition. Read more in an interview with the director.
World Premiere on August 9

MADEMOISELLE PARADIS among 49 films recommended for EFA

The European Film Academy has released a list of 49 films recommended for a nomination for the European Film Awards 2018. On top of MADEMOISELLE PARADIS by Barbara Albert, the selection comprises also two Austrian co-productions – STYX by Wolfgang Fischer and 3 DAYS IN QUIBERON.

World premiere of ANGELO at Toronto Platform

Markus Schleinzer’s highly anticipated second feature film ANGELO is hosted for its world premiere at the Toronto platform competition. African-born Angelo Soliman (1721-96) and the fragments of his biography led the filmmaker into the Vienna of the Enlightenment and an examination of the longing for freedom, home and belonging.

71^stLocarno festival presents CHAOS by Sara Fattahi

Locarno’s Cineasti del presente hosts the Vienna based Syrian filmmaker Sara Fattahi with her second feature documentary CHAOS. Tizza Covi will be one of the five jury members to select the winner of the Pardo d’oro 2018.

ANGELO vies for Golden Shell at San Sebastián

The San Sebastián festival has unveiled the first titles to enter its 66^th main competition: ANGELO, Markus Schleinzer’s eagerly awaited second feature film, will contend for the Concha de Oro 2018 together with Claire Denis, Naomi Kawase, Simon Jaquemet, Kim Jee-Woon ...

«An extreme, excessive and ecstatic exploration of feeling.»

In his first English-language film TO THE NIGHT, Peter Brunner explores the inner world of somebody who is trapped in his suffering, condemned to extinguish the constant flaring up of his own destructive powers.

Special Mention to WELCOME TO SODOM at Filmfest Munich

Christian Krönes’ and Florian Weigensamer’s alarming documentary WELCOME TO SODOM about one if the most poisonous waste dumps on the planet returns from the Filmfest Munich with a Special Mention from the One Future Prize-jury.

«Today he’d be a must-have accessory.»

Markus Schleinzer

Markus Schleinzer, Palme d’or contender in 2011 with his directorial debut Michael, has finished shooting his second feature Angelo. A film about Angelo Soliman (1721–1796), who, abducted from Africa as a small boy, made his way into Viennese society. An enigmatic biography that inspired the filmmaker to shed some light on the idea of home and identity from a historical point of view.

«If an event is never described, it's as though it never took place.»

Christian Frosch

Until recently the name Franz Murer did not feature in Austria's collective awareness of history. The SS officer was instrumental in destroying the Jewish ghetto in Vilnius, and in 1955 he was returned to Austria from a Russian prison to be tried for his crimes. He wasn’t put to trial until eight years later. MURER – ANATOMY OF A TRIAL Christian Frosch has reappraised an outrageous case of post-war jurisdiction in Austria.

Underground Spirit Award to Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel

The Palic European Film Festival has announced Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel as the laureats of the 2018 UNDERGROUND SPIRIT AWARD assigned for exceptional work in the field of independent cinema.

Valencia Cinema Jove honors L'ANIMALE

Katharina Mückstein's second feature film L'ANIMALE wins the Prix CIMA at the Valencia Cinema Jove festival.

«What does being grown-up really mean?»

For his debut feature film Gregor Schmidinger has created a Nevrland between being a child and being grown-up, between reality and fantasy, between the genuine and the staged self. He sends his protagonists Jakob and Kristjan, offspring of Generation Y, into this world on a terrifying journey from the surface to their individual depths. A conversation with Gregor Schmidinger (director) and Ulrich Gehmacher (producer).

Peter Brunner returns to Crystal Globe Competition

The 53^rd Karlovy Vary FF (June 29 to July 7) has unveiled its official program.
Peter Brunner, winner of the Special Jury prize 2015, returns to the Crystal Globe Competition with TO THE NIGHT, his third feature length film and first drama filmed in English, that will celebrate its world premiere in the Czech spa town.

SAND AND BLOOD Best documentary at Espinho

Matthias Krepp’s and Angelika Spangel’s directorial debut SAND AND BLOOD was selected Best feature-length documentary at the Espinho Fest – New Directors | New Films Festival

La Valetta awards STYX and WELCOME TO SODOM

Wolfgang Fischer’s STYX garners two awards at La Valetta Film Festival, including the prize for Best Performance to Susanne Wolff and Best Cinematography to Benedict Neuenfels. The Best Cinematography award of the documentary competition went to Christian Kermer, DOP of WELCOME TO SODOM.

THE GREEN LIE awarded at Cinemambiente

“The film shows us how to be citizens and not consumers and reminds us that to effect change we must fight the battle together”, stated the jury honoring Werner Boote’s THE GREEN LIE with the Arcobaleno Social Cooperative Environment and Society Award of the Turin Cinemambiente festival.

«The central thread running through Justin's stories is abuse.»

A semester spent at Columbia University, where Justin P. Lange was studying directing and Florian Krügel film production, lay the foundation for their creative friendship and their joint feature film debut THE DARK. With the calm, carefully-composed camerawork of Klemens Hufnagl, the film treads the path least taken between the genres as it combines suspense and empathy, zombie-horror and drama.

Fipresci Prize to LIFE GUIDANCE

LIFE GUIDANCE by Ruth Mader, screened at the Cluj Napoca Transilvanian Film Festival
wins the Fipresci Prize, offered by the International Federation of Film Critics for a title in the section To Be or Not to Be Politically Correct?

Best Screenplay award to THE DARK

Justin P. Lange's THE DARK, co-directed and photographed by Klemens Hufnagl wa s awarded for Best Screenplay at the Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival at Porto Alegre.

«We wanted a certain subversive feel.»

When Julia and her friends head to a Croatian party island to celebrate graduating from high school and enjoy life for one carefree summer, Dominik Hartl confronts them with a brutal avenger in the teen slasher movie PARTY HARD, DIE YOUNG, putting a grim and dramatic end to their happy-go-lucky antics.

L’ANIMALE at Sydney’s Europe! Voices of Women in Film

It’s becoming a tradition that the Sydney Film Festival in cooperation with EFP and Screen International as a media partner showcases ten remarkable films of European female directors. Katharina Mückstein’s L’ANIMALE and the German-French-Austrian co-production 3 Days in Quiberon by Emily Atef are to be discovered on the Sydney screens.

Two awards at the Munich DOKfest

I’M A BAD GUY by Susanne Freund is the winner of the VIKTOR DOK.deutsch, for the best German-language documentary. A film, as the jury stated, „that allows us to look into an abyss that could be our own“. The highly topical SAND AND BLOOD by Matthias Krepp & Angelika Spangel bagged the Megaherz Student Award.

THE WALDHEIM WALTZ wins at Play Doc

Ruth Beckermann’s Berlinale winner THE WALDHEIM WALTZ took the main award together with Pablo Sigg’s Lamaland (part I). at the 14^th PLAY DOC festival where both films had celebrated their Spanish premiere. The film sets the Waldheim affair in a bigger international political context, yet 30 years on, it is dauntingly timely”, stated the jury.

Docu/Life Award for SAND AND BLOOD

„Great cinema is able to unfold the hidden aspects of human life, by projecting light where there are shadows,“ stated the jury at the KIEV Human Rights Documentary Film Festival where SAND AND BLOOD by Matthias Krepp and Angelika Spangel stood out in the Docu/Life competition.

CPH:DOX with Austrians vying for Dox: and F:act Award

The 16^th CPH:DOX screens two Austrian films in their prestigious competition programs: the thought-provoking WELCOME TO SODOM by C. Krönes and F. Weigensamer celebrates its world premiere in the DOX:AWARD main competition. F. Ofner’s and E. Hausberger’s WEAPON OF CHOICE, a gloomy success story of a pistol made in Austria, is selected for F:ACT Award.

THE WALDHEIM WALTZ at Cinéma du réel

Ruth Beckermann’s Berlinale Best Documentary winner WALDHEIM’S WALTZ is part of the international competition of the 40^th Cinema du Réel. Only two years ago, Ruth Beckermann was awarded the Prix de la Scam and a special mention at the Young Award for her previous opus The Dreamed Ones at the Paris based festival.

«In order to understand this non-place, you have to look deeper.»

One of the most poisonous scrapyards on the planet can be found in the middle of Ghana’s capital. Electronic scrap is brought here by the container-load, and the people who recycle it earn a pitiful living, while the air is polluted, the water is poisoned, and the city has been brought to the verge of ecological collapse. In the middle of the garbage, filth and chaos of Agbogbloshie, Christian Krönes and Florian Weigensamer expose a microcosm and the orderly system which governs it in WELCOME TO SODOM, sending an alarming signal to Western consumers.

«There are far more heroes than people think.»

Fernando Romero-Forsthuber

NAMRUD – TROUBLEMAKER is the title Fernando Romero-Forsthuber has chosen for his portrait of Jowan Safadi. And this is not just a reference to the artist’s first solo album. In fact, the Palestinian musician from Haifa is a provocative and multilingual thinker, relentless and unerring in exploring areas of conflict in his society.

«A film about the Glock and not against the Glock.»

Fritz Ofner, Eva Hausberger

Whether on the right or the wrong side of the law, in military conflicts or for personal defense, the fame of the Glock pistol knows no bounds. On the American private firearms market it registers over a million sales each year, while in the music scene there it is rare to see a brand name used so often as a synonym for the object in question. But in Austria itself people know little about the international success story of this weapon made in Austria. Now Fritz Ofner and Eva Hausberger plan to change that with the documentary WEAPON OF CHOICE.

THE THIRD OPTION awarded at Bergamo

Thomas Fürhapter's THE THIRD OPTION, a documentary critically examining our concepts of normality and disability garners the Best Documentry Prize of the Visti da Vicino-Section at the 36^th Bergamo Film Meeting. The award assigned by the festival audience is to honor the independent filmmaking.

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