SEARCH

    Berlinale 2019: Marie Kreutzer’s new film in Golden Bear competition

    THE GROUND BENEATH MY FEET, Marie Kreutzer’s fourth feature film about two unequal sisters, starring Valerie Pachner, Pia Hierzegger and Mavie Hörbiger has been unveiled as one of the contenders of the 69th Berlinale competition.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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).

    JOY reaches for Golden Star at Marrakech

    After Venice, London and Chicago Sudabeh Mortezai’s JOY takes again a major award: The 17th Marrakech film festival honors her second feature film with its main prize, the Etoile d’or.

    Sundance with thrilling voices from Austria

    The 35th SUNDANCE Festival (January 24 to February 3) has reveiled its program with 112 long feature films including thrilling voices from Austria: Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala present their first English language movie THE LODGE in the Midnight programm. Richard Ladkani’s SEA OF SHADOWS is part of the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
    INTERVIEW

    «Wir sind viel selektiver geworden.»

    Die internationale Premiere von Nikolaus Geyrhalters DIE BAULICHE MASSNAHME war ein wesentlicher, aber nicht der einzige Grund für autlook filmsales beim IDFA Amsterdam präsent zu sein. Beim einzigen internationalen Doc-Event, der europäische, amerikanische und asiatische Märkte über TV-Sender, Verleiher, Worldsales, Produzenten und Plattformen zusammen bringt, ist der im Dokumentarfilm spezialisierte Filmsales mit einem fünfköpfigen Team voll im Einsatz. Ein Gespräch mit Salma Abdalla, der Geschäftsführerin von autlookfilmsales über das Dokfilm-Business im Wandel und den neu ins Leben gerufenen Dokfilm-Verleih DOCS.

    New Yorker puts THE WALDHEIM WALTZ on its Best Movies 2018-list

    The New Yorker magazine has selected THE WALDHEIM WALTZ by Ruth Beckermann, Austria’s entry to compete for the Foreign Language Award, among the 40 best movies of the year.

    Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s THE BORDER FENCE competes at IDFA

    The Austrian film year ends with a film about frontiers – on the political agenda, in everyday life, in our minds ... Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s accurate observation THE BORDER FENCE is part of the 31st IDFA main competition. Also screening in Amsterdam: THE WALDHEIM WALTZ by Ruth Beckermann in the Masters selection and Amsterdam Human Rights Award Nominee CHAOS by Sara Fattahi in Best of Fests and Main Focus Program.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «At the moment we are working in both worlds.»

    Following the resounding success of their debut feature film Goodnight Mommy, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala headed off across the Atlantic. Now, after the episode The Trud for The Field Guide to Evil (world premiere at the 2018 South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas) they are back with another full-length feature that aims to scare us out of our wits. THE LODGE was made in association with the British genre institution Hammer Films and will be shown in the Midnight section of the Sundance Festival. A conversation about projects here and there, and the forthcoming remake of Goodnight Mommy.

    CHAOS wins at Mar del Plata

    Sara Fattahi’s CHAOS wins the Altered States competition at the Mar del Plata Film Festival ex-aequo with the film Casanovagen by Luise Donschen.”The director left her native country but took the war with her.”, observes the jury in its particularly accurate statement.

    Tribute to Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel at GIJON

    The 56th Festival Internacional de Cine in GIJÒN (November 16 to 24) dedicates a tribute to TIZZA COVI and RAINER FRIMMEL screening MISTER UNIVERSO, THE SHINE OF DAY, LA PIVELLINA, BABOOSKA and honored the filmmakers with the Premio de Honor del Festival at the opening ceremony.

    Sevilla awards Joy for her "masterful interpretation"

    Joy Anwulika Alphonsus wins the Best Actress Award at the Sevilla film festival: „ she carries the film through her captivating, open, honest, intelligent and authentic performance. A masterful interpretation of an indomitable drama." concludes the jury. It’s award n° 6 since the Venice premiere for Sudabeh Mortezai’s JOY shortly after winning the Vienna Film Prize 2018.

    COPS reaps 4 awards at Skopje, Nantes and Braunschweig

    What a crop for COPS by Stefan Lukacs within two festival weekends: Best Screenplay at the Skopje Cinedays Festival of European film, Univerciné Jury Prize + Audience Award at the Nantes Univerciné Allemand Festival, Best Young Actress Award to Anna Suk at the Braunschweig Film Festival.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «In a global context, fences don't solve anything.»

    Nikolaus Geyrhalter
    The Austrian government's announcement that it would set up a fence at the Brenner border crossing to ensure refugees didn't stream into the country through Italy prompted Nikolaus Geyrhalter to set off for Tyrol, to capture the creation of this defensive edifice in THE BORDER FENCE.

    JOY all over –
    with major awards in London and Chicago

    Sudabeh Mortezai’s second feature film, recently awarded in Venice, garners major distinctions in LONDON and CHICAGO: Best Film Award at the 62nd BFI London Film Festival ("a provocative and unique film offering a devastating portrait of human resilience in the most inhuman of environments") and Silver Hugo: Special Jury Prize at the 54th Chicago IFF

    DOK Leipzig with THE DAYS AND THE YEAR and a tribute to Ruth Beckermann

    The 61th DOK Leipzig hosts the world premiere of Othmar Schmiderer’s THE DAYS AND THE YEAR and pays tribute to Ruth Beckermann with a special program including early works  as well as the Austrian Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film – THE WALDHEIM WALTZ. Ruth Beckermann is also jury member of the Next Masters competition
    INTERVIEW

    «Sehen immer wieder neu lernen»

    Othmar Schmiderer
    Von Winter auf Winter hat Othmar Schmiderer in DIE TAGE WIE DAS JAHR eine kleine Biolandwirtschaft in seinen Fokus genommen, um aus nächster Nähe auf einen Arbeitsprozess in seinen Details und Wiederholungen einzugehen und sich mit einem selten gewordenen Arbeitsbegriff auseinanderzusetzen, der von Autonomie und Unabhängigkeit bestimmt ist.
    INTERVIEW

    «Da formiert sich gerade die nächste Welle.»

    Ohne Johanna Dohnal wären die österreichische Frauenpolitik der siebziger und achtziger Jahre undenkbar. Sabine Derflinger zeichnet in WIR WOLLEN DIE HÄLFTE VOM KUCHEN das Portrait der ersten österreichischen Frauenministerin, um die Pionierin und Wegbereiterin heutiger Selbstverständlichkeiten wieder ins kollektive Bewusstsein zu rücken. Ein Gespräch mit der Produzentin Claudia Wohlgenannt.

    L’ANIMALE wins Zurich Focus competition

    Austrian contenders in focus at the Zurich closing ceremony:  L’ANIMALE by Katharina Mückstein took the Best Film award of the Focus Switzerland/Germany/Austria competition. WELCOME TO SODOM by Christian Krönes and Florian Weigensamer returns from the 14th Zurich film festival with a Special Mention of the Focus jury and the Ecumenical Film Award.

    film comment on JOY: Impressively distilled in plot and style

    Impressively distilled in plot and style, Joy nonetheless explores (but does not untie) a formidable knot of issues around money, migration, motherhood, race, policing, pragmatism, and violence both personal and systemic. Read more of Nick Davis’ thoughts on JOY in film comment.

    ... and further more prizes to Austrian docs

    The JIHLAVA Testimony On Nature-section honors WELCOME TO SODOM as its most outstanding contribution, SAND AND BLOOD receives a Special Mention at the Romanian ASTRA Festival and UTOPIA REVISITED by Kurt Langbein wins the Grande Prémio at CINEECO Festival at Serra da Estrella.

    THE WALDHEIM WALTZ – "film of the week" by Spiegel.online

    WALDHEIM’S WALTZ by Ruth Beckermann hits the screens in Germany and Switzerland and enchants the critics ...

    Variety: «formally stunning and politically seething»

    «Schleinzer’s film takes a chillingly but aptly clinical view of a life treated as an amusing human experiment by all but the man living it.»Read more of Variety’s astute review of Markus Schleinzer’s sophomore film ANGELO, released at Toronto and San Sebastián.

    Busan IFF hosts ANGELO and THE TOBACCONIST

    After acclaimed American and European premieres in Toronto and San Sebastián, Markus Schleinzer's second feature film ANGELO completes a first round across the globe in no less than four weeks. The Busan IFF hosts ANGELO together with Nikolas Leytner's THE TOBACCONIST in its Flash Forward competition.

    ANGELO flies over to San Sebastián

    After a critically acclaimed world premiere at TIFF, Markus Schleinzer’s ANGELO flies over to San Sebastián to embark immediately on its European premiere within the Golden Shell competition.The first San Sebastián screening of ANGELO is scheduled for Tuesday 25. Indiewire is featuring ANGELO among seven outstanding Toronto entries highly recommended to US distributors.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

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

    Markus Schleinzer
    Markus Schleinzer’s highly anticipated 2nd 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.

    Zurich Film Festival: Four Austrians in Focus

    The Focus Switzerland/Germany/Austria competition hosts the world premiere of Eva Spreitzhofer’s humorous reaction to tendencies to redirect religion into the center of social debates – WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS? and three more of our 2018 highlights: ANGELO by Markus Schleinzer, L’ANIMALE by Katharina Mückstein and WELCOME TO SODOM by Christian Krönes and Florian Weigensamer.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «A fine story for a film.»

    Nikolaus Leytner
    Even though the Vienna of Robert Seethaler’s novel THE TOBACCONIST s one where Sigmund Freud still buys his cigars from the little shop round the corner, the barbaric regime of the Nazis is clearly rearing its ugly head. Only for a brief period is the job of a tobacconist an opportunity for 17-year-old Franz from Lake Attersee to learn something about the world and gain a basic training in resistance. Nikolaus Leytner has created a film version of this bestseller about the rapid awakening of a young dreamer, with Simon Morzé in the leading role. 
    INTERVIEW

    «Wir sind viel stärker auf den Inhalt orientiert.»

    Im Mittelpunkt von Jessica Hausners LITTLE JOE stehen die ambitionierte Pflanzenforscherin Alice und eine einzigartige, von ihr kreierte Pflanze, die ihr den wissenschaftlichen Durchbruch, oder aber auch fatale Effekte für die Umwelt bringen könnte. Bruno Wagner über die Dreharbeiten von Jessica Hausner erstem Film in englischer Sprache.

    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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «It's a patriarchal instrument of suppression.»

    Eva Spreitzhofer
    Wanda's world seems to be in order. But one day her daughter Nina turns up, her head wrapped in a scarf, declaring that she has converted to Islam. Wanda’s life, her entire moral concept based on tolerance and feminism, is shaken to the core. In her feature film debut WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO DESERVE THIS? Eva Spreitzhofer adopts a witty approach to the absurdities of a social debate which has recently become dominated by religious considerations.

    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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.
    INTERVIEW

    «A mother and a friend – metaphors for Damascus»

    Sara Fattahi
    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.

    71st Locarno 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 66th 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 ...
    DE – EN

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

    Peter Brunner
    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.

    START-Stipendiat*innen 2018

    Ein dokumentarischer, zwei halbdokumentarische und zwei fiktionale Stoffe, einige davon mit einer deutlich autobiografischen Note – so sieht die Projektpalette bei den START-Stipendien auf, die für 2018 im Bereich Film vergeben wurden.

    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.
    INTERVIEW

    «Jetzt ist ein Ventil geöffnet.»

    Iris Zappe-Heller, Österreichisches Filminstitut
    Stellvertreterin des Direktors, Eurimages, Gender- und Diversityangelegenheiten
    im Gespräch zum Film Gender Report 2012-16
    INTERVIEW

    «Eine Verschwendung von Talent.»

    Katharina Mückstein, Regisseurin, Produzentin und Vorstandsmitglied von FC Gloria im Gespräch zum Film Gender Report 2012-16.

    Film Gender Report
    2012 – 2016

    Kulturpolitische Maßnahmen seitens des Bundeskanzleramtes.
    Eine Information aus dem Büro des Bundesministers.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.

    Peter Brunner returns to Crystal Globe Competition

    The 53rd 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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «We wanted a certain subversive feel.»

    Dominik Hartl
    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 14th 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.
    INTERVIEW

    «Aus einem Zufall entspinnt sich eine gewaltige existentielle Geschichte.»

    Pünktlich zum Frühlingserwachen hat Karl Markovics in der Gartensiedlung auf der Schmelz seinen dritten Spielfilm gedreht. Ein Zufall bedingt in NOBADI die Begegnung zwischen einem betagten Schrebergärtner und einem jungen Flüchtling, eine alltägliche Aufgabe führt sie zur Konfrontation mit sich selbst und ihren offenen Lebensfragen.

    Arsenal Kino shows complete oeuvre of RUTH BECKERMANN

    Ruth Beckermann
    The Berlin based Arsenal Kino is dedicating a retrospective to Ruth Beckermann’s complete oeuvre until april 29, 2018. Opportunities to catch up with documentaries and essays signed by Ruth Beckermann since the late 1970ies and her first and only feature film so far, THE DREAMED ONES.

    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 16th 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 40th 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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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 36th Bergamo Film Meeting. The award assigned by the festival audience is to honor the independent filmmaking.

    Best Berlinale Documentary THE WALDHEIM WALTZ

    Ruth Beckermann wins the GLASHÜTTE ORIGINAL – DOCUMENTARY AWARD selected out of 18 nominated films from the different Berlinale programmes, endowed with € 50,000. Wolfgang Fischer’s STYX took three awards including the EUROPA CINEMAS BERLINALE LABEL, the Prize of the ECUMENICAL JURY for the films screened at the Panorama and the HEINER CAROW Prize.

    Panorama Audience Award with Austrian runner-ups

    Austrian directors Wolfgang Fischer (STYX) and Katharina Mückstein (L’ANIMALE) came in second and third in the race for the Panorama audience trophy.

    Clear, impassioned but never polemical

    ... that’s what Variety stated about Ruth Beckermann’s astute revisiting of the 1986 Waldheim affair that lead to the collapse of Austria’s comforting narrative of being the first nazi victim. Read more about the Austrians on the Berlinale screens.

    On screen at the Berlinale 2018

    Find the screening dates of Austrian films and co-productions at the 68th Berlinale (February 15 -25, 2018)

    Austrian films at the 68th Berlinale

    Ruth Beckermann, Katharina Mückstein, Ludwig Wüst, Werner Boote and three more co-productions add up to an outstanding Austrian presence at the Berlinale 2018: Forum with THE WALDHEIM WALTZ by R. Beckermann and DEPARTURE by L. Wüst. Panorama Special with L’ANIMALE by K.Mückstein, Culinary Cinema presents W. Boote’s THE GREEN LIE.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «I see the Waldheim affair as a conflict of generations»

    Ruth Beckermann
    Kurt Waldheim’s lapse of memory was the beginning of a process which saw the Austrian narrative – that the country was the first victim of National Socialism – eventually eroded. His campaign for the 1986 presidential election polarised the country. Ruth Beckermann, an activist at the time, has now edited Austrian and international archive material for THE WALDHEIM WALTZ to create a film which,  revisits the conflicts in collective and individual memory.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «An alliance between reason and sensitivity.»

    Katharina Mückstein
    Mati is about to leave high school, on the verge of unlimited opportunities: unpredictable perspectives in the city or the security of the countryside? Female identity or male role models? Listen to her inner voice or follow the expectations of others? Katharina Mückstein's second feature film, L’ANIMALE, exposes life as a intermediate area which floats  between certainties, social constraints  and lust for freedom,  while again and again throwing up new options to seize and risks to take.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «I move around in a painting.»

    Ludwig Wüst
    In Ludwig Wüst’s DEPARTURE two strangers reach a tacit understanding to journey together for a time, which leads them to a radical turning point.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Producing goods in an unfair way which harms the environment has to be forbidden. »

    Werner Boote
    In THE GREEN LIE Werner Boote not only demonstrates how major companies use huge advertising budgets to make their images “greener” so they can continue unabated to destroy resources and the environment; he also makes the conscious point that sustainable climatic and environmental protection can only be achieved by political means and not just by more aware behaviour on the part of consumers.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «A spotlight on the dynamics between us brothers»

    Stefan Bohun
    After their second-oldest brother committed suicide, Stefan Bohun and his brothers embarked upon a journey together – first, to discover more about depression and the pharmaceutical treatment available to combat it, but increasingly in an attempt to find out more about their relationship with one another, and about the brother missing from the group now… And to laugh and weep at the places that had been so significant to him, as a means of saying farewell. An interview with Stefan Bohun (director) and David Bohun (producer).

    Mumbai top award to ARE YOU SLEEPING, BROTHER JAKOB?

    The 15th Mumbai international film festival awards Stefan Bohun’s moving essay about grief and brotherhood with the Golden Conch for best documentary film.“A wakeup call to notice the things unsaid,” stated the jury.

    COPS sets off with 4 awards

    Amazing take-off for Istvan's feature debut COPS: after its world premiere at the festival Max Ophüls Prize and immediate follow-up at the FIPA Biarritz, COPS garners  Audience Award, Best Young Actor Award for a secondary role and the award for the socially relevant film at Saarbrücken and, to top it all,  the main prize FIPA d'OR at Biarritz .
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «There is a spiral in operation.»

    Stefan A. Lukacs (aka Istvan)
    Lack of experience leads a young recruit in an elite police unit to provoke an escalation which proves fatal. A failure – or an act of heroism? Some of his colleagues see it one way, some the other. In his directorial debut COPS Istvan reveals the complexity of a police system which does not permit any weakness, and he explores the narrow dividing line between seeking out confrontation and passing it by.

    Three Austrian films vying for Max Ophüls Prize

    The main competition line-ups of the 39th Max Ophüls Prizefestival at Saarbrücken include three Austrian world premiers:  
    • COPS by Istvan,
    • SORCERER by Sebastian Brauneis and
    • Stefan Bohun’s documentary ARE YOU SLEEPING, BROTHER JAKOB?
    INTERVIEW

    «Es geht um Ohnmacht, um Manipulation und im Endeffekt um Ermächtigung.»

    Sebastian Brauneis
    Basierend auf einer Geschichte von Clemens Setz hat Sebastian Brauneis in seinem Spielfilmdebüt ZAUBERER ein enigmatisches Mosaik voll einsamer Stadtgestalten auf der Suche nach Nähe und Überwindung der Einsamkeit geschaffen.

    L'ANIMALE by Katharina Mückstein at Berlinale PANORAMA

    The Berlinale has announed the first Austrian entry to the 68th Berlinale: L'ANIMALE premieres at Panorama.Katharina Mückstein’s second full-length feature film delves into the intermediate areas, between urban and rural life, on the verge of adulthood, at a possible turning point in the life of a normal family confronting the conflicting forces within us: passion, desire, reason.

    CONTACT

    AUSTRIAN FILMS
    Stiftgasse 6
    1070 Vienna, Austria
    Google maps

    tel: +43 1 526 33 23
    office@austrianfilms.com

    IMPRINT

    PRIVACY POLICY

    Find us on



     
     

    Member of