AUSTRIAN FILMS - INTERVIEWS

«We can lose everything except the human being inside us.»

Creating relevant films collectively was the impetus for young filmmakers from Kiev to found the Tabor production lab more than ten years ago. For Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova and Simon Mosgovyi, creating images together to counter the inescapable reality of chaos and destruction in the sudden state of war became an existential strategy. MILITANTROPOS explores the double nature that military violence turns people into, allowing a profound collective portrait and a narrative to emerge in the turmoil of loss and solidarity, which brings together meaning where solid ground seems to shatter.

«Wenn alles ineinandergreift, ist es ein besonders schöner Moment.»

Andi G Hess ist seit Anfang des Jahres Produzentin in der Wiener Produktionsfirma Schubert. Davor hat sie breit gefächerte Erfahrungen gesammelt: Die letzten vier Jahre in der Dor Film, davor einerseits im kommerziellen Segment bei Red Bull Mediahouse, gleichzeitig aber auch als freie Produzentin im Arthouse-Bereich, wo Sandra Wollners Debüt Das unmögliche Bild sowie in Zusammenarbeit mit Panama Film deren Berlinale-Preisträger The Trouble with Being Born entstanden sind.

«We are laughable creatures.»

Astrid, Elli and Isabella have known each other since the days when school was just behind them and life was ahead. It was the time when they shared freedom and sorrows, as well as an apartment. Today they are around 50. A vacation together – an annual occurrence – is intended to maintain the old ties, but things just aren’t the way they used to be anymore. In IT’S ALL GOING SOUTH Pia Hierzegger sends her three women south, where – despite the sun, Aperol and the sea – they are also forced to confront themselves.

«She still reaches to the stars.»

An Austrian musician in the 90s who dreamed of being signed by a major label actually did stand a chance, because scouts were even roaming even the provinces in search of talent. When a record deal from London beckoned, Helen followed the lure of international success, leaving more than just the other members of her band behind in the village on the Danube where she grew up. In Evi Romen's HAPPYLAND, a woman in her 40s returns home with no money or glamour left, somehow lost between reality, desires that were pursued and opportunities that were missed.

«Oppression is outdated.»

Women who demand freedom and religions that know how to prevent it are the two forces pulling against each other in GIRLS & GODS. The feminist activist Inna Shevchenko travels to various cities in search of points of view - from believers and non-believers, from women who quietly reform their religion from within and those who raise their voices to challenge it and, most of all from those who who have put everything on the line for their position. Dialogue instead of dogma is the fundamental tone of this attempt to sharpen the focus on plurality as the only vector for social change.
We talked with Inna Shevchenko, Arash T. Riahi and Verena Soltiz

«The day that changed everything.»

When the Taliban seized power on August 15, 2021, the Afghan Embassy in Vienna had a prestigious location on Vienna's Ringstrasse, with a dedicated Ambassador in Manizha Bakhtiari. While her function was rendered ambiguous on that day, her critical attitude towards the new rulers has never wavered. Natalie Halla was impressed by this courageous stance and wanted to create an account of the weeks of transition. In fact, it turned into a long-term documentary, THE LAST AMBASSADOR, because three and a half years later, her protagonist is still clinging on to her position and using it to appeal to the world about the shocking situation of women in her country.

«Social conditions get in the way.»

Marie Luise Lehner

For Anna, the signs indicate that changes are coming. She’s twelve years old, starting at a new school, discovering new opportunities – and also their price. WHEN YOU'RE AFRAID, YOU PUT YOUR HEART INTO YOUR MOUTH AND SMILE is both the title and the agenda. Because in the world of Marie Luise Lehner's feature film debut, social conditions are the way we know them but at the same time a little different, a little gentler, a little more relaxed and more open to adopting an unusual perspective on things.

«I wanted to trace the origins of political change.»

Nathalie Borgers

As a student in the 1970s, Nathalie Borgers' husband Abidin was involved in the flourishing Turkish democracy movement – and also experienced its suppression. Scars on his body still bear witnesses to a personal and political turning point. The military coup in 1980 forced him to make a new start in Vienna, which gave rise to a break with the past while also forging an unbroken connection. In SCARS OF A PUTSCH, the filmmaker tries to get to the bottom of the mystery that Abidin contains within himself by tracing a movement of social awakening and the powerful forces opposing it.

«Nothing is the same as it used to be.»

Julia would appear to have achieved it all by the age of 40: artistic success, a gratifying relationship, a chic home. However, to attain perfection as a woman she still needs one more thing – at least, according to the world around her: to be a mother. Julia decides to take the plunge… and experiences alienation and disillusionment during and after giving birth. In MOTHER'S BABY, Johanna Moder dares to question and demystify the taboo of society's promise that motherhood brings only fulfilment.

«Anxiety has become the background noise in our society.»

Florian Pochlatko

Is there anything left that passes for normality in today's reality? And if so, who is qualified to say what is normal? Or to put the question at a more fundamental level: does something like reality even exist? In his first feature film HOW TO BE NORMAL AND THE ODDNESS OF THE OTHER WORLD, Florian Pochlatko simply dismantles the boundaries of the levels of perception. He takes the thoughts of his protagonist Pia, who is trying to reconnect with the outside world after a stay in a psychiatric hospital, and creates a profound kaleidoscope packed with wit and references, against the backdrop of a crumbling world.

«What matters is liberation and self-empowerment.»

Judith didn't grow up with her parents – and she could never really work out why. She has a good life in Berlin, so when she inherits her late father's house in Austria, she just wants to dispose of the property as quickly as possible. But the moment she steps inside the impressive building, she begins to be sucked down into buried memories, and before long she’s cornered by an entire village. With this gripping plunge into deep-seated fears, Andreas Prochaska's psychological thriller WELCOME HOME BABY depicts the clash of old and new orders and a blow that brings liberation.

«We are all ambivalent.»

Alexandra Makarová

Many of Perla's actions can be understood. Not all of them, though. She is an artist and a mother, she loves two men and has rebelled against a regime; when she makes a decision, it is based on her gut feeling – and most of all, it is her own decision. In her second feature film, PERLA, Alexandra Makarová has created a powerful and ambivalent character who takes us back to the times of the Iron Curtain and reminds us of the worlds separated only by a shallow little river on the Austrian border, and the ways of life it managed to prevent and destroy.

«There’s an us and a them.»

The filmmaker Olga Kosanović was born in Austria, where she has always lived. She only left for vacations and – like many young Europeans – to study abroad. But when she applied for Austrian citizenship, the authorities calculated that she’d spent two months too long out of the country. She was stunned to discover that she didn’t belong in the land she had always called home. Her feature film debut FAR FROM BEING LIPIZZANS records with considerable humour the bureaucratic process of naturalization and reflects on the factual and fictional elements involved in determining where someone belongs.

«I'm a fan of reduction and sharp contours.»

THE DEVIL'S BATH depicts 18th century life in the countryside: a cold, harsh existence marked by hardship which is reflected in the few colours and materials of people’s garments. Tanja Hausner's costume art begins in this simplicity, finding the essence of her figures in the finest nuances and a wide range of fabrics, interweaving past and present to create a subtle dialogue between the forbidding nature and the painterly intensity of the images. A conversation with Tanja Hausner, who was awarded the European Excellence Award 2024 in European Costume Design for this work.

«A historic paradigm shift is taking place in West Africa.»

Gerald Igor Hauzenberger, Gabriela Schild

The city of Agadez in northern Niger has a complex history; the upheaval it has experienced in recent years is simply dramatic. While tourism declined long ago as a source of income, the city of the Tuareg then flourished as a hub of sub-Saharan migration – until a virtual border established in the Sahara at the behest of the EU cut off the city's main source of income. Gerald Igor Hauzenberger and Gabriela Schild, the directors of ON THE BORDER, have paid repeated visits to Agadez, accompanying committed Tuareg and watching as a city which had always maintained links to its nomadic tradition became, within a relatively short period and for the most contradictory motives, a plaything of geopolitical interests.

«I embarked upon a bizarre voyage of exploration.»

The German title, DER SOLDAT MONIKA makes it clear immediately: someone here is both she and he. And that’s not all: in existential and political issues too, Monika Donner appears to take opposing positions. The filmmaker Paul Poet has been working for four years on a portrait of the former Defence Ministry official and military strategist, the anarchist and individualist, left-wing queer and right-wing Covid activist Monika Donner. In an attempt to do justice to a personality full of facets and contradictions, he has created a wild collage which also reflects a period of irrationality and declining rigor in the media and politics.

«Beirut can’t be summed up in one sentence.»

Nicola von Leffern, Jakob Carl Sauer

Long before the Beirut blast in August 2020, they had established a deeply-rooted connection to Lebanon: Nicola von Leffern and Jakob Carl Sauer waited several months after the gigantic explosion before they moved to the country. They wanted to get an idea, initially without a camera and later with one, of what such a traumatic event can do to a society already battered by crises. They spent three years accompanying several protagonists in their attempts at individual healing, completing TO CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SEE FIRE at precisely a time when the people of Lebanon are once again being plunged into a daily frenzy of destruction.

«We look away too much.»

Pittu, a traditional game where the aim is to knock down and quickly rebuild a wobbly tower made of seven stones, comes to represent the rare but carefree encounters between Happy and his nine-year-old daughter. But the old Indian game also stands for his situation in life as an asylum seeker in Vienna. Because even though he’s been in Austria for ten years now, he never knows whether what has been built up today may not collapse again tomorrow. In HAPPY, Sandeep Kumar takes a look at the invisible existences of a city where life seems so simple.

«The border runs through a person's own body.»

In the mist, contours are unclear; in the borderlands between two countries, it is differences that become blurred. In the village on the Czech-Austrian border at the centre of THE END OF SILENCE, war and political upheavals have repeatedly created savage rifts through people's living space. Trauma and taboo dictate the consequences to this day. Tereza Kotyk has drawn inspiration from the grandchildren of those who lived through World War II, known in psychology as “mist children”, to expose the violence and lift the ensuing veil of silence that has characterized the life stories of three generations of women ever since.

«The biggest limitations are in our heads.»

Sabine Hiebler, Gerhard Ertl

Two women have had enough: of being alone and of paternalism. Toni’s life has always been tough, and although Helene enjoyed fame and fortune as an actress, she’s now over 80 and finds the loneliness so hard to bear that she’s decided to put an end to it all in Switzerland, with assistance. But how will she make it to her appointment on time when some people want to prevent her with every means at their disposal? In their comedy 80 PLUS, Sabine Hiebler and Gerhard Ertl dispatch two opposing temperaments on a road trip that’s about life and death – but even more about defying one-dimensional concepts of aging.

«Peacocks can’t fly far.»

Bernhard Wenger

Friendship, status, civil courage. There is no social marker that can’t be scrubbed up very nicely for someone prepared to pay the My Companion fees. Matthias is the top performer at the agency. He expertly adopts a new identity for a few hours every day, acting the role of the educated companion at a concert, the exemplary son visiting from overseas or the dad in a pilot's uniform. But he’s helpless when it comes to simply being himself within his own four walls. Bernhard Wenger's feature film debut PEACOCK spans social surfaces and traces the fault lines between the real and the fake with satirical humour.

«Princess, fighter or mother.»

One hard blow catapults Sarah out of the ring and puts an end to her career as a martial arts athlete. She ends up being a personal trainer in the luxury villa of a wealthy Jordanian businessman, teaching three young girls the basics of martial arts. It doesn’t escape Sarah's senses that suppressed voices can be heard behind closed doors. In her second feature film, MOON, Kurdwin Ayub explores the sparse options of female agency and its ruthless limitations.

«My question was: What is war?»

At first, Juri Rechinsky only went as far as the Ukrainian border, supporting friends, family and refugees in the first weeks of the war. But as he came to appreciate the almost inconceivable repercussions of the invasion on Ukrainian society, his need to risk a trip to the front became more urgent. DEAR BEAUTIFUL BELOVED documents the filmmaker's journeys to his own borders and into the invisible zones of the war region, along the grim routes of grief that has become an everyday phenomenon.
A talk with director Juri Rechinsky and editor Andrea Wagner.

«Spaces are opening up in between.»

Lilith Kraxner, Milena Czernovsky

Two young protagonists and everyday life. Being alone at home. Being alone in public, outdoors. Sometimes looking for a connection – only to retreat again soon afterwards. In their second feature film, BLUISH, Lilith Kraxner and Milena Czernovsky explore an intangible state of being in-between after a period of social isolation. While their sensory images trace the vague moods of their characters, the fluid boundaries at the edges of the frame initiate a multi-layered encounter with other media and art forms.

«At this very moment they are all alone.»

What Gina wants more than anything else is for them all to remain a family. The nine-year-old girl is already taking care of her younger brothers. She’s also prepared to look after the baby that’s on the way. She does her best to keep an eye on her mother, who is in the later stages of pregnancy and suffers from alcoholism. In GINA, filmmaker Ulrike Kofler looks at three generations of a family where failure is perpetuated inescapably, addressing the delicate issue of what happens when the private sphere urgently needs help from outside.

«It's about humanity and being human.»

Mamargade has no experience of long-term prospects; given the conditions of life in his Somali village, they are simply out of the question. But considering the consequences of his actions would also be against his nature. People here help each other wherever possible, fighting to get by from one day to the next. When his son's school closes, he has to make a decision to provide the boy with a better future. In his feature film debut THE VILLAGE NEXT TO PARADISE, Mo Harawe develops a gentle tone to tell of family and a solidarity that ensures survival in an unforgiving world.

«A sensation of being adrift.»

Elsa Kremser, Levin Peter

Moscow's inhospitable streets and the stray dogs there have once again inspired Elsa Kremser and Levin Peter. In DREAMING DOGS, Dingo and his homeless mistress Nadja form an inseparable team; the filmmakers accompanied them over three years of an unstable existence. Against the harsh background of financial collapse and loss of livelihoods, a narrative emerges which engages fully with the animal and its impulses, attempting repeatedly to shake off customary connotations.

«Es muss klicken.»

Als Produzentin stand Katharina Posch von Beginn an auf zwei Standbeinen. Zum einen in der NGF Geyrhalterfilm, wo sie als Junior Producerin begann und zuletzt für die erfolgreichen Christine Nöstlinger-Adaptationen (Neue) Geschichten vom Franz verantwortlich zeichnete. Zum anderen ist sie Mitbegründerin des Kollektivs European Film Conspiracy, das sich formierte, um alternativ und mit low budegts unkonventionelles Kino auf die Leinwand zu bringen.

«Democracy doesn’t exist because of some law of nature.»

Eva Spreitzhofer

In her comedies, Eva Spreitzhofer aims to make people laugh together in the cinema about things that are harming society. And the issues have multiplied: global warming, Covid denial, social media addiction, transgender discussion... The filmmaker has extended Wanda's patchwork family from What Have We Done to Deserve This? as well as enlarging the complex state of public debate, ensuring that in HOW DO WE GET OUT OF THIS? the ideological sparks fly on Christmas Eve and yet a joint celebration is possible.

«A silent heroine of everyday life»

They are all invisible. The old people no longer able to cope with everyday life without assistance – and also the women who live under the same roof to provide them with the necessary care, which entails leaving their own homes for an extended period. In 24 HOURS, Harald Friedl observes a Romanian nurse during the course of one care cycle, focusing attention on an activity that is performed every day without receiving public perception or social recognition.

«Live your best possible life»

The filmmaker Kat Rohrer has lived long enough in Vienna and New York to know that something is missing both here and there. In Austria, it was the startlingly low visibility of queerness in narratives on screen, which provided her with a good reason to do something about it. Her romantic comedy WHAT A FEELING is carried by the contrast between two families, the incomprehension between two women and the desire to admit, though briefly, a world that is both happy and whole.

«Beauty is often on the outside, hell on the inside.»

Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala

Agnes is a young woman. Extremely sensitive and quiet, she feels at one with nature. Not the best prerequisites for someone from modest circumstances in the 18th century who marries into a peasant family which relies primarily on a young workforce. Agnes is one of countless women who found an escape from her sense of alienation in a world defined by harshness, austerity and fear of God. Inspired by historical records of interrogations, Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala employ the power of beauty and cruelty in THE DEVIL’S BATH to tell a story of confinement and liberation.

«These children are the future of our society.»

Ruth Beckermann

Favoriten is Vienna's 10^th district, and for about 40% of the people living in this, the most heavily populated district of the capital, German isn’t their mother tongue. Over the course of three years, Ruth Beckermann accompanied an elementary school class and their highly motivated teacher through everyday life: sometimes happy, sometimes very demanding. FAVORITEN provides explosive food for thought about the social relevance of elementary education for coexistence and cohesion in a big city.

«Stupid coincidences and messy lives.»

Andrea really tried her best: a police career in her own village, a husband with a penchant for strong liqueur, a mother-in-law under the same roof and a father in the early stages of dementia. She was willing to make every compromise to create a life for herself in the countryside. Until at some point, enough is enough – and this is when fate steps in. In his second feature film, ANDREA GETS A DIVORCE, Josef Hader tells the story of a provincial existence where there’s no escape from the flat landscapes and low houses.

«America is the force field of the film.»

Alexander Horwath

America is always waiting to be rediscovered. In his essay film HENRY FONDA FOR PRESIDENT, on the works of the eminent Hollywood star, Alexander Horwath embarks on a wide-ranging journey of exploration into well-known and lesser-known territories. He interweaves the family history of the Fondas, the body of work created by one of their most prolific offspring and excerpts from the past and present of the United States, creating a polyphonic and at the same time very personal homage to a multifaceted country and the uncountable versions of itself that emerge from the dream factory.

«Wrestling with the world.»

Anja Salomonowitz

Fame, international recognition, high prices on the art market. By the end of her life, 95-year-old Maria Lassnig had achieved everything she’d so much desired. It had been a long road. Anja Salomonowitz moves along Lassnig's life story to permeate into her processes of perception and creation, creating in SLEEPING WITH A TIGER a portrait of an artist which engages with the internal and external worlds of this fascinating painter.

«I advocate conversation.»

Rebecca Hirneise

At some point, Rebecca Hirneise had to get away. Far away from her family, where religion held the thoughts and lifestyle of children and adults alike in an oppressive straightjacket. Many years later, the desire for connection and understanding led her back to her Swabian hometown. In GOD BETWEEN US she records her attempts to clear away the mutual alienation in her own family circle, where there’s plenty of prayer but not much discussion.

«Well-kept secrets come to light.»

Angela Christlieb

G.W. Pabst's grandchildren are extraordinary personalities with extraordinary professions. A chance encounter with Daniel, the youngest of them, prompted Angela Christlieb to explore a rather neglected subject and find out more about Trude Pabst, wife of the famous film director. In PANDORA'S LEGACY the filmmaker has created a mosaic, interspersing Trude's letters, records of her dreams and other writings with excerpts from Pabst's films and encounters with his descendants, thus exploring the traces left by a genius in his own family history.

«Who is going to stop these people?»

In their cinematic works, Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann consistently focus attention on capital and the way its power derails efforts to achieve social equality. Their protagonist in VENI VIDI VICI is an elegant billionaire, a devoted family man, a cold-blooded killer. In the world he has created for himself, there is nothing to prevent him from maintaining a permanent, shining appearance – because laws that apply to everyone have been suspended for him.

«Basically I played an orchestra on my own.»

Seldom does a film score have such a distinctive character as that of Jessica Hausner's CLUB ZERO. Sometimes it adopts a contrasting position to the European setting of the film, while at others it is self-confidently in the foreground of the action. It is intriguing, touching and surprising. A conversation with Markus Binder, winner of the 2023 European Film Award in the European Original Score category for the film music for CLUB ZERO.

«Film is bodies in space.»

Nordrand, shown in competition for the Golden Lion at the 1999 Venice Film Festival, is considered a milestone. It marked the beginning of growing international appreciation of Austrian filmmaking, but above all it launched Barbara Albert's career as a director, screenwriter, producer and teacher. After ten years at the Film University of Babelsberg, where she was most recently Vice President for Academic Affairs, and 32 years after she herself began her studies in directing and screenwriting at the Vienna Film Academy, she returns there to succeed Michael Haneke as Professor of Directing.

«Bilder von Pjöngjang, die niemand auf der Welt je gesehen hat.»

Nach ihrem Portrait des nordkoreanischen Frauenfußball-Dreamteams der frühen 2000-er Jahre (Hana, dul, sed, … 2009) verspürten die Filmemacherin Brigitte Weich und ihre Bildgestalterin Judith Benedikt den Wunsch zu erfahren, wie das Leben ihrer außergewöhnlichen Protagonistinnen nach dem Ende der aktiven Sportkarriere weiterging. In einer flüchtigen Überwindung der Isolation gelingt …NED, TASSOT, YOSSOT … über den Schutzwall der Diktatur hinweg ein unermüdlicher, vielschichtiger Versuch nach Verbundenheit.

«Politik, die versucht, bestehende Sorgen zu Ängsten zu machen.»

Projekt Ballhausplatz ist der Titel eines Strategiepapiers, das Mitte der 2010er-Jahre im Umfeld um Sebastian Kurz entstand und minutiös dessen geplante Machtübernahme in Partei und Regierung darlegt. Der Filmmacher Kurt Langbein analysiert in PROJEKT BALLHAUSPLATZ den Höhenflug des österreichischen Ex-Kanzlers und die dabei so wirksamen politischen Mechanismen in Zeiten der vielfachen Verunsicherung.

It's just a brief, miniscule happiness

As a child in the early 1930s, Josef had already discovered his vocation – to be a photographer – and met the love of his life – Ragusa. But the war carries him away and turns him and his camera into witnesses of unimaginable violence. 30 years later, sensations of guilt and longing bring him back to his village, where almost everything has remained the same. Peter Keglevics has chosen a historical context for his film ALL WILL BE REVEALED in order to explore persistently recurring political mechanisms and reflect on a decidedly up-to-date approach to the truth.

«I felt within myself the task of the chronicler.»

Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s perspective is the long shot. If something attracts his interest, he takes a cross-border, often world-embracing look at burning issues of global coexistence. When Covid reduced freedom of movement for all of us to a minimum, he captured the state of emergency in Vienna with his camera, and in THE STANDSTILL he confronts us with the fragility of our supposed security.

«So riesig, wie eine eigene Welt.»

Hans Steinbichler

Der Roman bringt es in seiner Schlichtheit auf den Punkt: Egger hatte seine Kindheit, einen Krieg und eine Lawine überlebt. Robert Seethaler hat auf nur 150 Seiten die acht Lebensjahrzehnte eines Mannes erzählt, der in sich verankert bleibt, auch wenn sein Leben ihn ständig mit dem Stärkeren und Mächtigeren konfrontiert. Der Filmemacher Hans Steinbichler hat sich in seiner Verfilmung von EIN GANZES LEBEN der Herausforderung gestellt, die Wucht und Einfachheit der literarischen Vorlage in filmische Bilder zu setzen.

«Er transportiert das Melancholische, das Zynische, aber auch Hoffnungsvolle.»

Adrian Goiginger

Rickerl hat eine alte Gitarre und großes Talent. Leider auch einen Vater, der es versteht, seinen fragilen Glauben an sich selbst immer wieder zu demontieren. Adrian Goiginger ließ sich für RICKERL – MUSIK IS HÖCHSTENS A HOBBY von seiner Liebe zum Austropop leiten und von den Songs und in manchem auch der Lebensgeschichte seines Hauptdarstellers Voodoo Jürgens inspirieren, um den zutiefst wienerischen Sound einer Geschichte von Vätern und Söhnen zu treffen.

«What happens if my system collapses?»

Elisabeth Scharang

Marian leaves the city. Without any thought, without any plans. An irresistible impulse propels her to the countryside. The terrorist attack in Vienna has made everyday life in the city unbearable for her. Twenty years earlier, a similar force had impelled her to leave the village where she grew up, and now this is where she returns. In WOODLAND, Elisabeth Scharang creates a force field of experiences where there is no movement for generations, yet everything can change in a second; her protagonist is brought to a point of absolute zero – which is essential if she is to get her bearings afresh on the past and the future.

«The big word: sustainability... »

Sudabeh Mortezai

The European flag flies proudly, promising respected rights and respectable prosperity. International corporations are currently colouring their image green and feminist. In EUROPA, Sudabeh Mortezai focusses on the vast shadowy areas behind all this. The two sides of Europe clash in an Albanian valley, revealing the price to be paid for success and the direction chosen for the future.

«We really try to make every premiere a special event.»

When the first Sarajevo Film Festival took place in October 1995, the near end of the war was not yet in sight. Elma Tataragić has been part of the festival committee since the very beginning. She shared with us her memories of the festival's start in Sarajevo under siege and her thoughts on Austrian filmmaking, to which 29th SFF has dedicated a focus program.

«Diese Menschen verkörpern die Narben der Geschichte.»

Daniel Chanoch (geb. 1932) wurde mit einem Schlag aus seiner behüteten Kindheit gerissen. Er erlebt als Achtjähriger, wie binnen kürzester Zeit der Zusammenhalt in einer Stadt zerbricht und überlebt als einer der 131 Buben von Kaunas sechs Konzentrationslager, darunter Auschwitz. Christian Krönes und Florian Weigensamer haben mit A BOY’S LIFE ihre Gesprächsserie mit Zeitzeugen des Holocaust fortgesetzt.

«What remains is the sea.»

Julia Gutweniger, Florian Kofler

A view of the sea represents a longing – often to recuperate from a whole year of hard work and everyday stress. To provide some people with this brief break on the beach in the sun, others have to work hard all summer. In VISTA MARE, Julia Gutweniger and Florian Kofler have created an essay on visible relaxation and invisible activity, focusing on the landscape of Adriatic tourism, which is operated at full throttle for a few summer weeks every year without much regard for resources.

«There’s room for collaboration.»

Elad Samorzik is the artistic director of the Jerusalem Film Festival. When he was born in May 1984, the Jerusalem Film Festival was taking place for the first time. The upcoming 40th festival will be his tenth as artistic director. We talked to him about the program and the decision to focus on Austria at the 2023 anniversary edition JFF40.

«Immer auf Augenhöhe der Kinder»

Johannes Schmid

Die Sommerferien könnten für Franz kompliziert werden. Gabi und Eberhard, seine besten Freunde, sind übers Kreuz und er steht dazwischen. Irgendwann zieht Gabis detektivischer Enthusiasmus dennoch alle drei in ein urbanes Abenteuer, das Drehbuchautorin Sarah Wassermaier und Regisseur Johannes Schmid im Spirit der Erfinderin, Christine Nöstlinger, in die Jetztzeit geholt haben.

«Architecture is our structure.»

Jessica Hausner

In her class Miss Novak warns her students against eating without awareness. Every morsel on a fork should be examined closely, every bite considered carefully. At some point, her students reach the stage where they can regard intake of food as a dispensable ballast on their journey to a better world. In CLUB ZERO, Jessica Hausner observes how power creeps up silently, and how faith quietly eats away at reason.

«Alles ist durchdacht.»

2022 gehörte er zum Club der aufstrebenden Produzent:innen, die European Film Promotion einmal jährlich unter dem Label Producers on the Move miteinander vernetzt, 2023 war er als Teil des Teams von Jessica Hausners CLUB ZERO erneut in Cannes; diesmal, um den Film ins Rennen um die Goldene Palme zu begleiten. Johannes Schubert hat für coop99 filmproduktion mit CLUB ZERO seinen ersten langen Spielfilm als Produzent mitverantwortet und hat auch mit seiner eigenen Produktionsfirma Schubert ambitionierte Pläne.

«Wir begeistern uns nicht für ein Drehbuch allein.»

Die Projekte der Wiener Panama Film sind fiktional, dokumentarisch oder hybrid; die künstlerischen Handschriften individuell. Der Katalog der 2018 von David Bohun und Lixi Frank gegründeten Produktionsfirma ist (nicht zuletzt coronabedingt) klein, aber fein: Die ersten drei Filme eroberten internationale Startplätze in Berlin oder Nyon, für Nachschub ist gesorgt. 2023 verspricht zwischen Dreharbeiten in Wien, Drehvorbereitungen u.a. in Belarus und Verwertungsstrategien für eine fertiggestellte Koproduktioen ein dynamisches Jahr zu werden. David Bohun ist einer von 20 jungen europäischen PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE, die European Film Promotion wie jedes Jahr anlässlich des Festivals von Cannes zum grenzüberschreitenden Austausch einlädt.

«Es geht mir nicht darum, Privatheit per se zu erzählen.»

In seinen letzten drei Arbeiten hat Marko Doringer immer wieder Lebensentscheidungen – die eigenen oder die seiner Altersgenossen – verhandelt. Sein Blick richtete sich auf eine mögliche Zukunft und die Erwartungen an sich selbst. DEIN LEBEN – MEIN LEBEN schaut nun zurück auf die Lebensgeschichten der Eltern und Großeltern und sucht nach den Lasten aus der Vergangenheit, die – oft in Schweigen gehüllt – an die nächsten Generationen weitergegeben werden.

«Die zentrale Kraft war der Humor.»

Acht Mal trug die das Programm die Handschrift von Sebastian Höglinger und Peter Schernhuber, wenn in Graz das Fest der Vielfalt des österreichischen Films ausgerufen wurde. Nach der Diagonale 2023 geben die beiden Festivalleiter nun die Staffel weiter. Im Interview resümieren und reflektieren sie über die Besonderheit der österreichischen Filmlandschaft, die widersprüchlichen Erwartungen an ein Festival von nationalem Anspruch und die Lust, dieses Ding der Unmöglichkeit zu realisieren.

«For the next hundred years we’d be better off just listening»

Katharina Mückstein

Feminism is a young movement, and in that sense it has been fairly effective. But despite all the achievements and the urgent needs it addresses, the term itself somehow remains unpopular. Filmmaker Katharina Mückstein, who has experienced academic feminism as a formative school of thought, feels there is insufficient scientific expertise in a public debate that has become highly emotional. Her documentary FEMINISM WTF provides impulses for consideration – across a spectrum of shimmering colours – intended to move this urgent debate towards greater objectivity.

«Embrace darkness»

Achmed Abdel-Salam

Silence is a tactic often employed within families. As was the case with Michaela, who was an adult when she instigated a radical break with the village where she grew up. Only the death of her father brings her and her eight-year-old daughter back to the old house from buried times. Achmed Abdel-Salam's exciting directorial debut SMOTHER explores dilapidated rooms and overgrowth gone rampant, prompting memories to flare up which unravel a painful secret.

«Der Stoff der Geschichten vom Franz ist aktueller denn je»

GESCHICHTEN VOM FRANZ feierte seine internationale Premiere im letzten Frühling. Ein knappes Jahr später zählt die Christine Nöstlinger-Verfilmung nicht nur 95.000 Kinobesucher:innen in Österreich sowie Einladungen zu allen relevanten internationalen Festivals im Kinder-und Jugendgenre, es ist bereits das Sequel NEUE GESCHICHTEN VOM FRANZ startklar und auch eine animierte Version des Franz-Stoffes im Entstehen. Dass der legendäre Franz Fröstl auf der Leinwand lebt, geht auf Impuls und Input von Katharina Posch zurück. Sie ist Creative Producer in der NGF Geyrhalterfilm, wo sie nicht nur die beiden Kinderfilme realisiert hat, sondern auch an der Entwicklung neuer Serienformate arbeitet.

«On the edge of belonging»

Leandro Koch, Paloma Schachmann

She is a musician who has undertaken detailed research into the origin of European Klezmer music; he's a cameraman, which provided him with a good reason to stay in touch with her. In their debut film THE KLEZMER PROJECT, Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann have staged themselves in the fictional setting of a possible love story in order to explore a music in a constant state of flux. It’s a documentary voyage from Argentina to rural areas of Eastern Europe – and in the process they tell a story of slow fading, of brutal disappearance and of survival and further life.

Rigid routines and the pressure to perform.

Bernhard Braunstein

Its name has just five letters, the Austrian dream factory in the mountains of Tyrol. Every year, youngsters who are crazy about winter sports apply to the Stams Schigymnasium | Ski Academy to make their talent and technique fit enough to compete with the best in the world. In STAMS Bernhard Braunstein observes young people between the ages of 14 and 18 who are highly motivated in their endeavours to be among the very best, though this involves dedicating themselves to a ruthless performance principle.

«We just always imagine we are smarter in the present than the people before us.»

Edgar Honetschläger

Even King Midas reached the limits of greed when it dawned on him that his desire to turn everything to gold by touching it also meant the end of food and affection. In LE FORMICHE DI MIDA the inescapable turning point we have reached in humanity’s dealings with the planet led Edgar Honetschläger on a journey into mythology and the history of ideas to create a multi-layered collage, prompting reflection on how and when things got out of hand between nature and humans.

«Der einzige Antagonist ist das Schicksal.»

Alex ist am liebsten in den unterirdischen Gängen der Stadt. Caro hingegen zieht es eher in die Lüfte. Außerdem hat sich Alex schon als Bub geschworen, sich niemals zu verlieben. Es spricht also wenig dafür, dass sie einander je begegnen und doch lässt das Schicksal ihre Wege kreuzen. In seinem nostalgisch-romantischen Erstling STERNE UNTER DER STADT zieht Chris Raiber einen Zauber über die Wirklichkeit seiner Figuren und lässt es im Sommer Winter werden.

«Es fühlt sich wie eine Zeitreise an.»

Bianca Gleissinger

Der Wiener Wohnpark Alterlaa entstand in den siebziger Jahren. Architekt Harry Glücks Ambition war es, Wohnluxus wie Swimmingpool, Nahversorgung und Grünlage für alle leistbar zu machen und eine Vision von gemeinsamer Ressourcennutzung zu realisieren. Der Plan ging auf. Nun sind der Bau und viele seiner Bewohner:innen in die Jahre gekommen. Die Filmemacherin Bianca Gleissinger, selbst in Alterlaa aufgewachsen, begibt sich in 27 STOREYS an den Ort ihrer ersten Lebensjahre und stellt ihn einem Gegenwarts- und Generationentest.

«A little imagination and poetry.»

Alma Mahler is often reduced to being labelled "the wife of...". At some point, when Gustav Mahler was no longer alive and his widow was in the process of forging plans for the future with the architect Walter Gropius, Oskar Kokoschka appeared on the scene. He would have been only too happy to be united with her in matrimony. That never happened. But what did take place was an explosive affair. Dieter Berner and screenwriter Hilde Berger, in their depiction of ALMA & OSKAR, present the battle between the sexes as it begins to erupt at the turn of the century… along with a musician whose talent has received little attention.

«Wem würde es weh tun, wenn in Kärnten die Ortstafeln zweisprachig wären?»

Andrina Mračnikar

In Keutschach, dem Heimatort der Filmemacherin Andrina Mračnikar, sprach vor hundert Jahren die große Mehrheit Slowenisch, eine Minderheit Deutsch. Heute hat sich das Verhältnis umgekehrt. In VERSCHWINDEN/IZGINJANJE, ihrem sehr persönlichen Essay über das leise Entschwinden materieller wie immaterieller Gegebenheiten, zeichnet sie hundert Jahre, nachdem sich die slowenischsprachige Bevölkerung per Abstimmung für eine Zugehörigkeit zu Kärnten entschieden hat, nach, wie de Zeit und politischer (Un-)Wille die Präsenz einer Minderheit verblassen lassen.

«Die Fremdwahrnehmung ist falsch, aber so dominant.»

Die Geburt von Evelyne Fayes Tochter Emma-Lou war mit einer Diagnose verbunden. Ein Satz, ein Schnitt, der in diesen ersten Lebensstunden den freudigen Blick auf den neu angekommenen Menschen verstellte und ein Vorgeschmack darauf, dass die Diagnose Down-Syndrom immer mit Einordnungen, Ausgrenzungen und Schlussfolgerungen von außen verbunden ist. In ihrem Erstling LASS MICH FLIEGEN plädiert die Filmemacherin für einen Perspektivenwechsel und portraitiert junge Erwachsene mit Down-Syndom, indem sie ihnen Raum für die eigene Sicht auf sich selbst eröffnet.

«Wann fangen wir alle eigentlich zu leben an?»

Franziska Pflaum

Wenn Annika eine Auszeit braucht, schlüpft sie in ihre Mermaid-Flosse und taucht ins Blau des städtischen Schwimmbads ab. Dass es ihr immer wieder mal zuviel wird, ist nicht verwunderlich, denn Sich-Abgrenzen ist nicht gerade ihre Stärke. Freunde und Familie in Not wissen das zu nutzen. Franziska Pflaum widmet ihren heiter-satirischen Erstling MERMAIDS DON’T CRY einer jungen Frau in wachsender Bedrängnis und ihrem gelungenen Befreiungsschlag.

«Der ganze Film ist ein Gegenentwurf zur Kommunikationswelt von heute.»

Lukas Sturm, Lila Morgan

Ein filmisches Portrait über Karl Schwarzenberg stand zu Beginn des Projekts. Was für seine Tochter Lila in der Rolle als Interviewerin begann, stieß aber bald weitere unerwartete Türen auf. Im Dokumentarfilm MEIN VATER, DER FÜRST von Lila Schwarzenberg und Lukas Sturm entsteht über die Begegnung zwischen Vater und Tochter vor laufender Kamera ein Raum, in dem sich vor dem Hintergrund imposanter Lebensereignisse ein feines Beziehungsbild vom einander Fremd- und Verbunden-Sein entfaltet.

«Die Tiere sind einfach nur»

Andreas Horvath

Wenn niemand mehr die Freiheit hat, um die Tiere im Zoo in ihrer zur Schau gestellten Unfreiheit zu betrachten, kommt dem Zoo etwas von seinem Wesen abhanden. Covid und die Maßnahmen haben Andreas Horvath veranlasst, einen Tiergarten im Ausnahmezustand zu betrachten. Als alleiniger Besucher bewegt sich der Filmemacher in ZOO LOCK DOWN vor und hinter den Kulissen der Tiergehege wie durch ein Niemandsland und schärft den Blick auf ein Dasein im beschränkten Raum.

«You can't escape cinema in Rome.»

Tizza Covi, Rainer Frimmel

Vera's father Giuliano Gemma is an Italian screen legend. He bestowed upon his daughters a childhood of glitz and glamour – but also the burden of fame. In Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel's new film VERA the protagonist is involved in a minor car accident in a suburb of Rome, and this brings about a collision between two contrasting realities of the city. Good-natured, generous and unworldly, Vera navigates these two worlds full of ambushes and traps… and despite all her doubts, she remains unwaveringly at one with herself.

«Digging for truthfulness»

None of his colleagues in the Austrian Army could have even dreamt that Eismayer was concealing a double life behind his brutal rigour. The young soldiers under his command had nothing to laugh about. But when the recruit Mario Falak embarks upon his military service, Charles Eismayer's life – consisting of the military, an apparently ideal family and hidden homosexuality – begins to come apart. In his feature film debut EISMAYER David Wagner slowly lets the true and unusual love story take its course within the brittle structures of an army barracks.

«Garbage has never really disappeared.»

Nikolaus Geyrhalter

Garbage-free zones no longer exist on this planet. In MATTER OUT OF PLACE Nikolaus Geyrhalter makes this abundantly clear, also stressing that despite huge efforts to place it out of sight, garbage cannot be eliminated.

«Maybe God does exist after all?»

It is primarily the prestige of this elite establishment that prompts well-heeled parents to send their daughters to the 1980s Catholic boarding school which is the setting of Ruth Mader's thriller SERVIAM – I WILL SERVE. A deeper bond with God appears to be lacking among the parents and many members of the religious order as well. Except for one young nun. In her religious verve she sends a particularly sensitive girl on a dangerous path to God; they both become lost in the labyrinthine search for healing – but ultimately salvation from outside is their only hope.

«Es muss verstören.»

Für einen Neuanfang nach dem Krieg entscheiden sich Viktor und sein Vater, nach Wien zurückzugehen. Ihr von den Nazis arisiertes Unternehmen erobern sie zurück, doch die Gesellschaft, die die Täter ungestraft in gesicherte Existenzen zurückkehren lässt, grenzt sie weiterhin aus. Thomas Roth taucht in seinem Spielfilm SCHÄCHTEN ins Österreich der frühen sechziger Jahre, das eine juristische Aufarbeitung der Naziverbrechen verweigert und einen jungen, nach Gerechtigkeit hungrigen Mann in einen unerbittlichen Kampf um Wiedergutmachung drängt.

«We depict an extreme manifestation of Catholicism.»

A single location dominates Ruth Mader’s new film SERVIAM – I WILL SERVE: a Catholic girls’ boarding school for the daughters of wealthy families. The film is set in the 1980s, and money seems to count more than faith in this atmosphere, where girls-only schools were as natural a part of life as landline phones. One of the sisters takes her mission seriously and attempts to guide her pupils on a spiritual path – not necessarily to the benefit of their mental state. Ruth Mader filmed her thriller in association with epo-film during the 2021 summer vacation and has now begun postproduction work.

«We wanted to get to grips with heroism.»

Who should you save if you can’t be sure any longer what good it would do? The three crew members of the Rubikon space station know that the ecological disaster on Earth can’t be avoided. But when a tiny glimmer of hope emerges the three individuals, whose characters and motives for venturing into outer space could hardly be more different, find themselves in an impossible dilemma. Leni Laurisch has embarked upon a tricky mission with her sci-fi debut RUBIKON and staged a spacey chamber piece about survival.

«We were promised a future that will not exist.»

Being young could feel easier. From the family's winery and the forgetful grandfather to her role as captain of the ice hockey team, 20-year-old Mira has quite a lot of duty in her life. But there’s also the fear of not being equal to the expectations placed upon her, and grief for lost members of her family. In Clara Stern's debut BREAKING THE ICE it takes Mira a long time to see that although the ice is always hard when she slams against it despite her armour, it can thaw very quickly.

«A violation of a person's private sphere.»

When Simone arrives at the country cottage owned by her Aunt Claudia, the famous nutrition expert, she doesn’t exactly get a hearty welcome. The overweight teenager had been hoping to lose a few kilos over the Easter holidays, with Claudie’s expert guidance. But getting that sort of help from Claudia entails vows of renunciation and devotion, and there’s no escaping from the pact. Peter Hengl lets his debut horror feature film FAMILY DINNER simmer on a slow heat before serving up a truly gruesome banquet.

«She becomes increasingly furious with her own image.»

Some historical sources put the figure at 45 cm. Apparently a tape measure would only have to be that long to completely encompass the waist of the Habsburg Empress Elizabeth. However, if the legendary beauty had difficulty breathing at the imperial court in Vienna it was due not only to her extremely tight-laced corset but also to the attitudes and conventions which permitted the Emperor’s wife no other function than to be a beautiful appendage at his side. Marie Kreutzer focuses on Elisabeth’s 40th birthday as a turning point which prompts her to withdraw gradually from this suffocating confinement. In CORSAGE she creates a portrait of a woman whose potential goes far beyond the limitations of the period.

«She was an influencer of the late 19^th century.»

The demands placed upon the Costume Department of CORSAGE were twofold in nature. Alongside the task of creating the gowns worn by Elisabeth and her entourage they also faced the perhaps greater challenge of creating efficient and wearable corsets to go underneath the fine material, to reproduce the astonishing waist measurements of the Habsburg empress. Interesting insights provided by Costume Designer Monika Buttinger.

«Wir leben in einer pluralistischen Gesellschaft»

Thomas Fürhapter

Wer immer ZUSAMMENLEBEN ansieht, wird viele Untertitel lesen müssen, egal welcher Sprache er/sie mächtig ist. Thomas Fürhapters Konzept war es, die Pluralität der aktuellen österreichischen Gesellschaft über ihre Sprachenvielfalt abzubilden. Als Beobachter in den Startcoachings der Stadt Wien für ihre Zuwander:innen interessiert er sich für die vielen Individuen, die ein neues Leben beginnen und die Fragen, die das Miteinander in einer heterogenen Gesellschaft aufwirft.

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