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    LOCARNO 2021 with new films from Stefan Ruzowitzky and Peter Brunner

    The 74th Locarno Festival (August 4 to 14) has announced its selection that includes two new films from Austria. Stefan Ruzowitzky will present HINTERLAND on the Piazza Grande, Peter Brunner’s LUZIFER is a contender in the main competition for the Pardo d’oro 2021. The Swiss, German and Austrian co-production MONTE VERITÀ will also celebrate its world premiere on the Piazza Grande.
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    GREAT FREEDOM wins Jury Prize at Un Certain Regard

    Sebastian Meise returns from Cannes with one of the top awards of the Un Certain Regard section. The jury under the presidency of Andrea Arnold awarded Sebastian Meise’s captivating drama GREAT FREEDOM with the Jury Prize. This second feature film starring Franz Rogowski and Georg Friedrich, produced by Austrian FreibeuterFilm and German Rohfilm Productions, was one of 20 contenders in a line-up that refocused on the discovery of emerging filmmakers this year.

    Austrian films at international festivals

    Participations January - August 2021

    Austrian films on international screens

    Theatrical releases
    October 2016 – May 2021

    Festival Calendar + Corona Update 2021

    Festivals online, postponed, or cancelled? We're keeping you posted
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «The whole world was out of line»

    Stefan Ruzowitzky
    Peter Perg’s world has become completely out of line. In 1914, when he left to fight in the First World War, full of optimism, it was for his Emperor… But when he returns from prisoner of war camp several years after the war finishes with a handful of his men, it is to discover that only a fraction of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire now calls itself Austria. Stefan Ruzowitzky filmed his actors for HINTERLAND using blue screen technology. The dark lanes, the façades and structures of desolate Vienna which appears completely out of line were all created on the computer, providing a grim background to the hunt for an obsessed serial killer.

    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Capitalism is only a symptom of a completely mistaken way of thinking about ourselves.»

    Peter Brunner
    Johannes lives with his deeply religious mother in an Alpine hut surrounded by nature, close to God but far from the despised people down in the valley. A young man with the mind of a child, he can barely master the spoken word and is unconditionally tied to his mother, who has attempted to protect him by defining the world in simple terms as consisting of God and the forces of evil. Peter Brunner is a filmmaker who explores in images the rifts within his characters. In LUZIFER he brings about a collision between fanaticism and freedom which is a depiction of blind faith and its misunderstandings. LUZIFER, featuring Franz Rogowsky and Susanne Jensen in the main roles, has been made by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion.

    THR on GREAT FREEDOM: «Stark, shocking and beautiful.»

    The Hollywood Reporter critic David Rooney wrote, Chronicling an ignominious chapter in queer history, Great Freedom is also a contemplative psychological study of the effects of incarceration, and beyond that, an unconventional love story, tender but unsentimental. read more

    MUBI signs multi-territory deal for GREAT FREEDOM

    Streamer and theatrical distributor MUBI has signed a multi-territory deal for Sebastian Meise’s second feature GREAT FREEDOM, which premiered in Cannes' Un Certain Regard. The deal closed with sales outfit The Match Factory covers North America, UK, Ireland, LATAM (excluding Mexico), Turkey and India.

    JESSICA HAUSNER is part of the jury of the 74th CANNES festival

    Together with jury president Spike Lee, five women and 3 men of seven nationalities, coming from five continents, will judge the 24 films of the 2021 international Competition and award the PALME D’OR 2021.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Imagine you live in a world where love is forbidden by law.»

    Sebastian Meise
    When the state dictates which love is allowed to exist, it puts lives at stake. As a gay man Hans Hoffman is thrown into a concentration camp under the Nazis; immediately after being liberated by the Allies he is put back behind bars, because the passion in his heart is against the law. Both in the Nazi dictatorship and also in the democracy which follows. Sebastian Meise’s GREAT FREEDOM casts a subtle light on elements of society (and of societies) which are still concealed. His protagonist Hans represents countless lives which were destroyed because regimes abused one of the most fundamental human rights by means of social discrimination and legal persecution – and, in too many cases, this is still happening.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Like an extended prison.»

    By the middle of March only 21 of the scheduled 32 shooting days for Sebastian Meise’s second feature film GREAT FREEDOM Freedom, with Georg Friedrich and Franz Rogowski in the leading roles, were in the can when everything was shut down. But at the end of June FreibeuterFilm was the first production company to resume filming, and they finished the shoot. A conversation with the producers about their current feature film GREAT FREEDOM, Stefan Ruzowitzky’s HINTERLAND and the new approach to production, in zones and on Zoom.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «In capitalism everything becomes a commodity: a person’s lifetime, his body, his being.»

    C.B. Yi
    Fei is a boy from the countryside. At some point he is drawn to the city, or financial necessity forces him to make the move. His family is only too happy to accept the good money he earns as a male prostitute, but by taking this step he has sacrificed his place in the village and in the family. C.B. Yi, in his feature film debut MONEYBOYS, depicts the desolation of not only one young man but a whole generation which can all too easily find itself in a dead end between the financial and moral pressures exerted by society.

    Cannes 2021: GREAT FREEDOM and MONEYBOYS at Un Certain Regard

    The Cannes Festival – this year scheduled for a summer edition from July 6 to 17 – has announced its Official Selection 2021: We are thrilled to announce that two Austrian co-productions will be part of the Un Certain Regard selection 2021: GREAT FREEDOM by Sebastian Meise and MONEYBOYS by C. B. Yi.
    Lukas Valenta Rinner’s new project LANDSCAPES OF FEAR is invited to the Cinéfondation’s L’Atelier, Magdalena Lauritsch’s (not yet finished) debut RUBIKON is one of the seven genre films picked for the Frontières Buyers Showcase at the Marché du Film.

    Screen International on SNOTTY BOY: «Meticulous and witty»

    Here are the first press reviews on SNOTTY BOY after its world premiere at the Annecy Festival.
    Screen International: meticulously and wittily detailed and like Deix himself, confrontationally iconoclastic, fearlessly tackling religious and social mores, and skewering hypocrisy and bigotry.
    Deadline: an affectionate, playful homage to Deix
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Poetic, cheeky, bawdy and surprising.»

    Marcus H. Rosenmüller
    Caricaturist Manfred Deix had an unrelenting view of his compatriots: portly and deformed in stature, lecherous, reactionary and hostile to foreigners in manner: thus the Deixian depiction of the average Austrian is preserved in countless publications. Deix’s provincial childhood in the Lower Austria of the 1950s and 60s may have provided the first impulses for his drawings; it has certainly proved inspirational for the first full-length Austrian animation film, directed by Marcus H. Rosenmüller und Santiago López Jover. SNOTTY BOY borrows the spirit and silhouettes from Deix’s cosmos of characters, portraying with humor and a light touch the confines of an era which resonates down to the present day in terms of certain political attitudes.
    INTERVIEW

    «My first impression was definitely a shock.»

    Santiago López Jover
    SNOTTY BOY, Austria’s first feature length animation film, borrows the spirit and silhouettes from the unique cosmos created by late Austrian caricaturist Manfred Deix. Santiago López Jover co-directed the film together with Marcus H. Rosenmüller, adding his profound experience as animation artist to an ambitious project which respectfully translates the essence of the legendary cartoons.

    SNOTTY BOY, the first Austrian feature-length animation film, premieres at Annecy

    It's an absolute first: SNOTTY BOY, inspired by characters created by late Austrian caricaturist Manfred Deix, is the first feature length animation film produced with an Austrian funding majority. Which makes us all the more proud to announce that SNOTTY BOY has been selected to celebrate its world premiere in the main competition of the top-notch festival for animated films the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

    Anne Laurent-Delage to be new Executive Director of the AFC

    The board of the Austrian Film Commission has resolved unanimously that the Deputy Director of the AFC, Anne Laurent-Delage, who has been responsible for international relations for many years, will take the position of Executive Director from 1 July 2021.

    LILLIAN wins Best Film Award at Padova

    Andreas Horvath's intriguing road-movie LILLIAN entered the festival circuit at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight in 2019 and keeps on travelling. The 8th Detour Film Festival in the Italian city of Padova honored LILLIAN with its Best Film Award, pointing out that the film is a pure cinematic experience, a fascinating and radical cinematic and existential journey that pushes the viewer to revise their physical and conceptual maps.
    INTERVIEW

    «Where are we all going?»

    Jasmila Žbanić
    Aida is running. Racing desperately, helplessly between the central offices of the Crisis Unit at the UN safe area and the perimeter fence, which is secured by armed soldiers. As a local interpreter, can she possibly do anything to help the inhabitants of her home town? Get her own family in saftety? Rescue at least one of her sons? In her film QUO VADIS, AIDA? Jasmila Žbanić has captured the harrowing events of the Srebrenica massacre in 11 July 1995 with compelling immediacy, earning her an Oscar nomination for Best International Feature and the Independent Spirit Award.

    Deutscher Kamerapreis to Christine A. Maier

    Austrian DoP Christine A. Maier wins the Deutscher Kamerapreis in the category fiction film for her outstanding work in Jasmila Žbanić’ Oscar nominated QUO VADIS, AIDA? Christine A. Maier's camera moves with the action, it races, pauses (…), opens spaces, looks, looks away, it captures emotions and creates understanding and comprehension, stated the jury.

    THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN awarded at Fantasporto

    Sandra Wollner’s second feature film, THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN, launched at the Berlinale Encounters 2020, wins the Special Award of the Jury at the 41st Fantasporto Film Festival. This is the first time a woman wins one of the top fantasy awards of the festival.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «An adventure film with a scary factor.»

    Daniel Geronimo Prochaska
    It’s a daring step for Sabine and her two sons, Hendrik and Eddie, moving from northern Germany to a village in the southernmost corner of Austria to begin a new life after the death of her husband. When their new house in Carinthia starts to display signs that invisible forces are at work, the boys find two courageous kids their own age in the village, and the gang of four set about exposing mysteries that have been hidden for years. THE SCARY HOUSE is Daniel Prochaska’s cinema debut, a striking bid to initiate younger audiences into horror movies with a light-hearted touch.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «He is the person he wants to be.»

    Harald Aue
    It isn’t so often that a person establishes a circus the size of Roncalli without having grown up in the milieu of artistes and acrobats. The personal union of Zippo the Clown and Bernhard Paul the director has determined the identity of this circus for decades: an arena which provides a very special stage for the artistry of the clown, both serious and rib-tickling. In his documentary film A CLOWN, A LIFE Harald Aue focuses on Bernhard Paul both with and without the face of a clown: the circus-maker, the collector of old bric-a-brac, and the boy who always remained true to his childhood dreams.


    World premiere of A CLOWN, A LIFE at DOK.fest Munich

    Harald Aue’s portrait of Bernhard Paul and his Circus Roncalli, is also a homage to the poetic art of clowning. A CLOWN, A LIFE has its world premiere in the DOK.panorama section of the 2021 DOKfest Munich online edition (May 5 to 23). WOOD by Monika Lăzurean-Gorgan, Michaela Kirst, Ebba Sinzinger will be screening at DOK.focus Empowerment. See full list of Austrian (co-)productions at Munich.

    PLEASE HOLD THE LINE wins FIPRESCI Prize

    Pavel Cuzuioc’s second feature documentary pointed out by the film critics: PLEASE HOLD THE LINE wins the FIPRESCI Prize at the goEAST Festival of Central and Eastern European Film. “The film shows”, stated the jury, “intense human relationships that normally appear to be simple everyday interactions.”

    Independent Spirit Award to QUO VADIS, AIDA?

    Jasmila Žbanić QUO VADIS, AIDA? picked up the Independent Spirit Award in the Best International Film category. The annual Independent Spirit Awards ceremony traditionally held shortly before the Oscars, honors outstanding achievements in independent filmmaking. QUO VADIS, AIDA?, one of the five 2021 Oscar nominees for Best International Feature Film,  was co-produced by Vienna-based coop99 filmproduktion.

    52nd Visions du Réel with world premieres of SOLDIER AHMET and THE BUBBLE

    The 52nd Visions du Réel Festival at the Swiss town of Nyon kicks off its second “Corona” edition offering a hybrid festival format from April 15 to 25, 2021. Two Austrian (co-)productions are to celebrate their world premiere:  Jannis Lenz presents his first feature SOLDIER AHMET within the Burning Lights Competition, the Swiss-Austrian co-production THE BUBBLE by Austrian director Valerie Blankenbyl is a contender in the International Competition.

    WHY NOT YOU and SPACE DOGS are the  Bolzano winners

    Two Austrian winners at the 34th Bolzano online Film Festival: Evi Romen’s WHY NOT YOU takes the Prize for Best Feature Film “for its courageous approach to the story of an outsider” and the terrific performance of its lead actor. The Prize for Best Documentary went to Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter’s SPACE DOGS, “a powerful film”, as the jury puts it, “about the absurdity and cruelty of human action and about innocence, tenderness and the natural brutality of animals”

    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Ahmet’s search for tears»

    Jannis Lenz
    Ahmet Simsek has lived his life in Austria since childhood. As a medic in the Austrian army, state champion in boxing, son of a Turkish-Muslim family in Vienna, he could be tagged with several labels at once. But Jannis Lenz goes against common expectations: in his portrait SOLDIER AHMET he follows a multitalented young man who hasn't cried since he was twelve and had to learn early on to craft his own place.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «There is a lot at stake.»

    He rejected both the ideal line and the latest ski technology, but when Franz Klammer completed his stunning run down Mount Patscherkofel in less than two minutes he made Austrian sporting history. Elisabeth and Andreas Schmied are too young to have experienced this moment in person, but they certainly appreciate the fascination of the Klammer phenomenon. Together they wrote the screenplay for CHASING THE LINE, which focuses on the few days before the legendary Olympic event. In Andreas Schmied’s sixth cinema film he studies the man and myth that is Franz Klammer and hauls a moment of collective joy back into the present.

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    QUO VADIS AIDA? nominated for Best International Feature Film

    The Oscar race enters its last round, the nominations are out:  QUO VADIS AIDA? by Jasmila Žbanić is nominated for Best International Feature Film. QUO VADIS AIDA? was co-produced by coop99 filmproduction. On top of the financial support, Austrian artists provided a major creative input with Christine A. Maier (DoP), Hannes Salat (production design), Michaela Payer (make-up/hair designer), Thomas Hollaus (gaffer), Edita Malovcic in the role of Vesna and many more.

    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Nobody could get away from that»

    July 1995, Srebrenica. General Mladic sweeps to power, the UN mission fails miserably, the Bosnian population is massacred.  UN interpreter Aïda is obliged to watch helplessly as a tragedy of unimaginable proportions befalls the city and her family within one day. Filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić, originally from Bosnia, plunges into the epicentre of this crime against humanity in QUO VADIS, AÏDA?, 25 years after the mass murder at Srebrenica, when betrayal and failure led to the deaths of thousands of people. She depicts the terrible force of the collective drama as it strikes each individual character in the film. Vienna-based coop99 filmproduktion is one of the international co-producers on this project, which will be among the 18 competitors for the Golden Lion at the 77th Venice Film Festival. A conversation with the DoP of QUO VADIS, AÏDA?, Christine A. Maier.

    Austrian films at the EFM online

    The BERLINALE Industry Event 2021 gathers film professionals around the world online and opens its virtual European Film Market. 
    Eight Austrian films are booked on EFM screens:  AUSTRIA2AUSTRALIA by Andreas Buciuman, Dominik Bochis |DAVOS by Daniel Hoesl, Julia Niemann |  FOX IN A HOLE by Arman T. Riahi | GLORY TO THE QUEEN by Tatia Skhirtladze, Anna Khazaradze |  PLEASE HOLD THE LINE by Pavel Cuzuioc | RISKS AND SIDE EFFECTS by Michael Kreihsl | THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH by Elke Groen | WHY NOT YOU by Evi Romen

    Goodbye, Peter Patzak

    We are deeply sad to learn that Austrian filmmaker and painter Peter Patzak has passed away. Peter Patzak (1945-2021) made Austrian TV history by creating  the legendary satirical crime series Kottan ermittelt (1976-84) together with author Helmut Zenker. He was a prolific director working for both TV and cinema, first achieving international acclaim with Kassbach at the Berlinale 1979. From 1993 to 2003 he also was professor of Directing at the Film Academy Vienna.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Stories that should be told»

    Tatia Skhirtladze
    They were born within the same generation and came from the same city. They were virtually neighbours, sometimes colleagues and sometimes rivals, but above all: in the 1970s and 80s they were the queens of international women’s chess. The Georgian women Nona Gaprindashvili, Nana Alexandria, Maia Chiburdanidze and Nana Ioseliani were dominant at the very peak of female chess for almost 30 years and also challenged the elite male players. In Georgia they were national heroines, but in the West – outside specialist circles – they are almost completely unknown. Filmmaker Tatia Skhirtladze, whose home is Vienna, plans to change all this with GLORY TO THE QUEEN.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Elections aren’t about content any more.»

    Elke Groen
    Pinkafeld is a small town in Austria where the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ) has absolute majority in the town council. Pinkafeld is also the hometown of far-right politician Norbert Hofer from the Freedom Party (FPÖ)… and 70% of voters in this “red” community voted for him in the Austrian presidential election. Filmmaker Elke Groen examines the growing polarization of society and the completely blurred ideological lines revealed by people’s voting habits. THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH is an attempt to understand.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «The world was our living room.»

    Cycling from Austria to Australia. It sounds like the sort of thing two harden triathletes might try, to set themselves a new challenge. But Andreas Buciuman and Dominik Bochis, two averagely fit guys, wanted to see if they could handle an adventure taking them to the other side of the world. The bicycle seemed ideal: fast enough to manage the distance in about a year but slow enough to meet the world on the way. AUSTRIA2AUSTRALIA documents a courageous cycling quest across three continents, a story of daring to dream and having the determination to believe in it.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «I am a simultaneous interpreter of the natural.»

    Michael Kreihsl
    Arnold is a renowned architect. His projects venture higher and higher into the sky, and his family life also appears to be a flawless edifice. But it turns out to have extremely fragile foundations when his wife tells him one day that she needs a donor kidney. Inspired by the theatre piece Die Niere, Michael Kreihsl puts a single question to two sound couples in RISKS AND SIDE EFFECTS and catapults them out of their structured happiness.

    THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN awarded at the Boston Sci-Fi FF

    One year after its Berlinale world premiere, Sandra Wollner's THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN is still successfully travelling around the world: THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN won the Festival Director Award at the Annual Boston Sci-Fi Festival.

    OSKAR & LILLI and MADISON awarded at FIFEM Montréal

    The Festival international du film pour enfants de MONTRÉAL thrilled by stories from Austria: OSKAR & LILLI by Arash T. Riahi wins the Prix INIS and the Prize for Best Feature Length Film awarded by the children’s jury. The Special Mention from the young festival jury went to MADISON by Kim Strobl.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «I’m looking forward to being a kind of sparring partner.»

    Jessica Hausner
    When Jessica Hausner began studying Directing at the Vienna Film Academy in the early 1990s she felt not only that powerful female role models in the cinematic arts were lacking but also that there was not sufficient encouraging feedback about her own early narrative attempts. The short film Inter-View marked the conclusion of her studies and the beginning of a career which took her straight to the top festivals of Cannes and Venice. From that moment on there was no lack of resonance. Now Jessica Hausner is returning to the place where she began her artistic endeavors as Professor of Directing – the first woman in almost 70 years of Film Academy history to hold that position.

    FOX IN A HOLE wins three awards at MOP Saarbrücken

    Arman T. Riahi triumphs at the 42nd Max Ophüls Prize Festival, reaping three major awards for his second fiction feature FOX IN A HOLE:
    • MOP for Best Director
    • MOP for Best Screenplay and the
    • Prize of the Youth Jury
    We were angry. We were annoyed. We were happy. Cold, expressive images make us empathize, stated the Youth Jury.
    :
    VIDEO INTERVIEW

    «I think that prison makes even more criminals, espescially at that adolescent age»

    Arman T. Riahi in a video conversation
    on FOX IN A HOLE.

    42nd Max-Ophüls-Prize festival launches online edition

    From January 17 to 24 the 42nd Max-Ophüls Prize Festival puts the spotlight on young German language cinema. Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann’s documentary DAVOS and Arman T. Riahi’s fiction feature FOX IN A HOLE will be vying for the Max Ophüls Prize in the respective competition sections. Luna Jordan as Samira in FOX IN A HOLE is nominated for the Best Acting Talent Award.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «It’s a concoction like no other.»

    Hubert Sauper
    Hubert Sauper‘s films are voyages of discovery in the global present. While he exposed the networks rooted in colonialism from an African perspective in Darwin’s Nightmare and We Come as Friends, he has adopted a new focus in EPICENTRO. His new film is a multi-faceted essayist encounter with the Caribbean island of Cuba. In it the filmmaker explores the historical background to the many connotations surrounding power and longing here, a story which proceeds in a spiral of liberation and conquest. A dynamic which is driven in no small part by the powerful medium of cinema itself.

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