FEATURE

We take a look back at a year...

 

Austrian cinema has a long tradition of constantly reinventing itself

Thessaloniki Film Festival

 
We take a look back at a year...

 
... which gave us one of Peter Kern‘s most powerful films and shortly afterwards took from the Austrian film scene its most rebellious spirit
 
... when Martin Gschlacht was named 2015 European Cameraman
 
... when a range of young voices made themselves heard and demonstrated their talent in various ways, including two First Steps Awards and a Student Academy Award
 
... when American audiences spent over $1 million at the box office a genre movie from Austria
 
... when two Austrian films made the shortlist for Oscar nominations
 
 
 
How an aunt and her nephew made one of 2015’s creepiest movies is the title chosen by Matt Barone on tribecafilm.com for his extensive portrait, dedicated to directing partners Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala to mark the US cinema release of GOODNIGHT MOMMY. With more than $1 million in box office receipts, 7.8 million clicks on the US trailer, a nomination for European Discovery, nine international prizes including the Méliès d’Or for the best European Fantastic Film of 2015 and 64 Festival showings in the year 2015 alone, there can be no doubt that ICH SEH ICH SEH, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s feature film debut, is the biggest success of the Austrian year in film.
Just three years previously the two filmmakers made their directing debut with KERN, a portrait of Peter Kern, thus establishing a direct link to the most regrettable loss of this year: the death of Peter Kern meant Austrian film-making had lost another of its powerful personalities. In February, when he presented his social satire DER LETZTE SOMMER DER REICHEN at the Zoo Palast in Berlin, it was obvious that he was exhausted. None of us wanted to believe that he had used up almost all his strength. He always referred to himself as a troublemaker. In him the Austrian film scene has lost its most unruly spirit. Nobody was safe from his rage, because his ruthless exposure of hypocrisy extended to everybody and everything. We shall miss his outspoken fury, his belligerence and his forgiveness just as much as his sharp observations, his wit and his incredible exaggeration.
 
Austrian cinema has a long tradition of constantly reinventing itself was the view of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, which took the opportunity to focus on young filmmakers "made in Austria". It proved to be an inspired decision, since 2015 was definitely a year when new blood came to the forefront in Austrian cinema:
Starting with the participation of Lukas Valenta Rinner‘s PARABELLUM in the Tiger Award Competition in Rotterdam, this year of young Austrian filmmakers not only emphasizes once again the wide range of creativity within Austrian cinema but also, in view of the sheer breadth of talent within this spectrum, prompts eager anticipation of what the future has in store.  
Jakob M. Erwa showed his second feature film HOMESICK, which was produced in Germany, at the Berlin Film Festival, and this was followed by Karl Markovics being invited to the Berliner Forum with SUPERWORLD. Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique set the seal on the second success story of the year by extending an invitation to Patrick Vollrath with EVERTHING WILL BE OKAY: the 30-minute production by this student of the Film Academy received the First Steps Award as well as a Student Academy Award in Bronze and then secured a place on the shortlist for Oscar nominations in the category of Best Short Film. Peter Brunner (THOSE WHO FALL HAVE WINGS) and Albert Meisl (THE FATHER TAPES) both returned with prizes from competitions in Karlovy Vary. In the Semaine de la Critique at Locarno Jakob Brossmann was awarded the main prize, the Boccalino d’oro, for LAMPEDUSA IN WINTER, and San Sebastián invited Stephan Richter’s first work, EINER VON UNS, to take part in the New Directors competition.   
 
The price for most successful film at festivals in 2015 was won in resounding fashion (despite having had its world premiere in Venice in 2014) by GOODNIGHT MOMMY, which appeared in 64 international film festivals this year alone. It was followed in the ratings by Ulrich Seidl‘s IN THE BASEMENT with 33 appearances and Karl Markovics’ SUPERWORLD with 24. There was also considerable festival interest in Nikolaus Geyrhalter‘s OVER THE YEARS and Jessica Hausner‘s AMOUR FOU, each with 20 appearances. IN THE BASEMENT and AMOUR FOU also began their festival careers in 2014, making their sustained international festival presence in 2015 even more remarkable.
 
The total figure of 71 films making about 500 appearances indicates yet again that Austrian film-making is perceived at an international level as having enormous appeal in terms of both form and content. Of the 71 films represented at festivals in the year 2015, 32 celebrated their international premiere, and seven of those were feature film debuts. 13 films began their festival careers at a key festival of particular relevance for international exploitation. A total of 34 prizes were awarded to 19 different films, of which nine alone went to GOODNIGHT MOMMY, and four to SUPERWORLD.
* all figures correct as of 21.12.2015
 
The world and European premieres at key festivals: DREAMS REWIRED (Rotterdam, Signals Regained), PARABELLUM (Rotterdam, Tiger Award Competition), THE LAST SUMMER OF THE RICH (Berlin, Panorama Special), HOMESICK (Berlin, Deutsche Reihe), SUPERWELT (Berlin, Forum), OVER THE YEARS (Berlin, Forum), THOSE WHO FALL HAVE WINGS (Karlovy Vary, Competition), THE FATHER TAPES (Karlovy Vary, Documentary Film Competition), JACK (Locarno, Piazza Grande), LAMPEDUSA IN WINTER (Locarno, Semaine de la Critique) HELMUT BERGER, ACTOR (Venice, Venice Classics), THANK YOU FOR BOMBING (Toronto, Contemporary World Cinema), ONE OF US (San Sebastián, New Directors Competition)
 
We are eagerly looking forward to the year 2016 in film and in particular to new works from: Ruth Beckermann (THE DREAMED ONES), Nikolaus Geyrhalter (HOMO SAPIENS), Händl Klaus (TOMCAT), Michael Kreihsl (ON THE ROAD), Tizza Covi & Rainer Frimmel (MR. UNIVERSO), Ulrich Seidl (AUF SAFARI), Monja Art (SEVENTEEN), Michael Palm (CINEMA FUTURES), Mirijam Unger (MAIKÄFER, FLIEG), Edgar Honetschläger (LOS FELIZ), Daniel Hoesl (WINWIN), Marie Kreutzer (WAS HAT UNS BLOSS SO RUINIERT), Josef Hader (WILD MOUSE) ...
 
 
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