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    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.
    INTERVIEW

    «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.
    INTERVIEW

    «Die Fremdwahrnehmung ist falsch, aber so dominant.»

    Evelyne Faye
    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.
    INTERVIEW

    «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.
    INTERVIEW

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

    Lukas Sturm, Lila Schwarzenberg
    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.
    INTERVIEW

    «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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Digging for truthfulness»

    David Wagner
    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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Maybe God does exist after all?»

    Ruth Mader
    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.
    INTERVIEW

    «Es muss verstören.»

    Thomas Roth
    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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «We wanted to get to grips with heroism.»

    Leni Lauritsch
    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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

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

    Clara Stern
    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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

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

    Peter Hengl
    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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «She becomes increasingly furious with her own image.»

    Marie Kreutzer
    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.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «She was an influencer of the late 19th 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.
    INTERVIEW

    «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.
    INTERVIEW

    «Wir leben in einer Zeit, wo wir alle unfehlbar sein sollten.»

    Sabine Derflinger
    Ist in den Medien von Alice Schwarzer die Rede, wird sie selten über ihren Beruf als Autorin und Journalistin näher bezeichnet, sondern vielmehr über ihre Haltung – die der Feministin, die man gerne mit dem Attribut „streitbar“ ergänzt. Sabine Derflinger hat in ihrem filmischen Portrait ALICE SCHWARZER einen heiteren und scharfsinnigen Geist ins Licht gerückt und fünf Jahrzehnte engagierter Auseinandersetzung mit dem kleinen großen Unterschied in unserer Gesellschaft nachgezeichnet.
     
    INTERVIEW

    «Eine Art Wettrüsten»

    Robert Schabus
    Stille, unberührte Natur, majestätische Gipfel dominieren immer noch das gängige Bild, das man v.a. auf Plakaten und Postern mit dem Alpenraum assoziiert. Die Realität sieht in vielen Gebirgstälern etwas anders aus: Kapitalismus und Tourismus haben winzige Bergdörfer zu hippen „places to be“ gemacht, für Einheimische ist das Leben im eigenen Ort unleistbar geworden. Robert Schabus hat für ALPENLAND den vielfältigen Kulturraum von Österreich bis Frankreich bereist und die Frage gestellt, was der rasante Wandel mit den Menschen gemacht hat.
    INTERVIEW

    «Ich kann jeden verstehen, der ausbrechen will.»

    Adrian Goiginger
    Alle haben ihn beneidet: als einziger Sohn eines Großbauern galt Elias als die beste Partie des Tales, seine Zukunft schien so vorgezeichnet wie vielversprechend. Dafür hatten seine Eltern wachsam gesorgt. Zwänge waren jedoch nicht Elias‘ Sache: Als junger Mann kehrt er seiner Familie und den Erwartungen an ihn den Rücken, um in aller Konsequenz sein Leben allein am Berg zu führen. Die wahre Geschichte eines Zillertaler Bauernsohns hatte bereits den Dramatiker Felix Mitterers zu seinem Stück MÄRZENGRUND inspiriert, Adrian Goiginger hat die Facetten eines radikalen Ausstiegs für die Leinwand adaptiert.  
     
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «A deserted place like that has a special power.»

    Ulrich Seidl
    Richie Bravo has certainly enjoyed more glamorous times. Today he appears in small venues in the Italian seaside resort of Rimini during the winter, attempting to preserve something from the best days of his life as a singer of schlager, German easy-listening, sentimental pop songs. He is a restless spirit, constantly in motion, always a few steps ahead of himself, until suddenly the daughter he had almost forgotten appears in front of him. In RIMINI Ulrich Seidl presents a loose family group through three generations, evoking a sensation of time passing and transformations to the beat of middle-of-the-road sentimentality.
     
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «It’s high time that women took a close look at men.»

    Ruth Beckermann
    The novel Josefine Mutzenbacher[i], ostensibly a female perspective but in fact most probably a male fantasy from a less radiant fin de siècle Vienna, was first published anonymously in 1906 and banned until the 1960s. Today it has lost none of its ambivalent nature. In her film essay MUTZENBACHER Ruth Beckermann takes the opportunity to invite men of various ages to perch on a pink casting couch and engage in an exchange of ideas on sexuality and taboo, inspired by passages in the outlawed classic dating back over a century.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Getting right away from the cliché of the girl in a headscarf»

    Kurdwin Ayub
    How are you supposed to belong anywhere if you are born in one country and grow up in another, if one culture is dominant in the family and another at school? If a particular look is all the rage on digital channels this week but a different one next week, and if you record a video with girlfriends that goes viral only to discover that this suddenly drives a wedge between you? In her feature film debut SUN Kurdwin Ayub follows three 17-year-olds through the chaos of our time.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «A confrontation with reality»

    Constantin Wulff
    The Chamber of Labour is a unique feature of Austrian life. Financed by contributions from the workforce, this independent institution has been representing workers’ rights and interests for the last 100 years. Constantin Wulff has dedicated his new documentary film FOR THE MANY to the Viennese headquarters of this organisation.
    INTERVIEW

    «It is like Cinecittà.»

    Gastón Solnicki
    Gastón Solnicki has a particular faible for Vienna, its sounds and its layers. In the first images of A LITTLE LOVE PACKAGE he has captured for posterity the last hours when it was still permitted to enjoy a cigarette with one’s melange in a Viennese café. And in a city where the vanished past never entirely dissolves, the Argentinian filmmaker begins his story together with two women, one of whom intends to settle in Vienna. Just as the search for an apartment in Vienna develops into an associative voyage, A LITTLE LOVE PACKAGE becomes an essay on remaining and passing by.
     
    INTERVIEW

    «Es ist ja fast ein Moment der Auferstehung.»

    Warum unser Franz gewinnen wird., titelte die Kronenzeitung schon längst, bevor das österreichische Schiidol Franz Klammer 1976 seine legendäre Olympiafahrt hinlegte. Wieviel Druck er seitens der Öffentlichkeit und vor allem der Medien dabei wegstecken musste, kann man nur ahnen oder jetzt auf der Leinwand miterleben. Andreas Schmied fokussiert sein Biopic KLAMMER – CHASING THE LINE auf die wenigen Tage vor dem Wettkampf und lässt trotz der Spannung erfrischende Unbeschwertheit und ein sportliches Großereignis in vordigitalen Zeiten aufleben.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «There’s radical change in the air.»

    In 2003 Christine Dollhofer devised the Crossing Europe festival, and she spent the next 18 years searching the continent in all directions to compile a hand-picked programme which would bring home to audiences all the facets of European identity. Maintaining an overview – right across Europe, right through all the positions in the processes of creation and distribution, with reference to urgent social themes as well as constantly changing visual habits – will also characterise her new task as head of the Vienna Film Fund. A conversation with Christine Dollhofer about ideas, priorities and challenges.
    INTERVIEW

    «Abschied-Nehmen und nicht wissen wie»

    In den Tag leben, über Musik reden, keiner festen Arbeit nachgehen, mit Chemie die Seele ein bisschen leichter machen. Es läuft recht rund im Leben von Anna, Niko und den anderen, aber ehrlich betrachtet, dreht es sich ohne Unterlass im Kreis. Irgendwann dringt es Anna ins Bewusstsein, dass sie aus der Zeit geraten ist und – als Niko verschwindet – , was sie unwiederbringlich versäumt hat. Hannes Starz ist für ANOTHER COIN FOR THE MERRY-GO-ROUND mit einer coolen Clique aus Valerie Pachner, Vodoo Jürgens, Tinka Fürst und Max Bogner durch Clubs und Parks gezogen, um dem Charme eines Lebensgefühls und der Schwierigkeit, es loszulassen nachzuspüren.
    INTERVIEW

    «Das Tolle an Stefanie ist, dass sie niemanden gleichgültig lässt.»

    Sabine Hiebler, Gerhard Ertl
    SARGNAGEL – DER FILM hat eine längere Geschichte. Sie begann mit dem Wunsch des Regieduos Hiebler/Ertl, eine Komödie zu schreiben und der Entdeckung von Stefanie Sargnagels Roman Fitness. Auf die Adaptierung dieses ersten Romans folgte auch die des nächsten, dazu kamen Finanzierungsabsagen, Überarbeitungen, Neuanfänge. Irgendwann Stoff genug, um aus der Entstehung eines Films einen Film zu machen mit Schauspieler:innen, die andere oder sich selbst verkörpern, Laien, die eine Rolle spielen und Stefanie Sargnagel, die mehr oder weniger fiktional eine Version von sich selbst darstellt. 
    INTERVIEW

    «Mutterschaft stand für sie nie in Frage»

    Lukas Ladner
    Schon mit 20 war er da, dieser starke Wunsch Mutter zu werden. Mit Anfang 30 beschließt Eva-Maria, die seit ihrer Kindheit auf einen Rollstuhl angewiesen ist, mithilfe einer Samenspende ihr Glück zu versuchen. Der Filmemacher Lukas Ladner war zu diesem Zeitpunkt ihr persönlicher Assistent und brachte seine Kamera ein, um in seinem Dokumentarfilm EVA-MARIA einen intimen Schritt in seiner gesellschaftlichen Bedeutung festzuhalten und dabei das Portrait einer hellsichtigen und lebensfrohen Persönlichkeit zu zeichnen.
    INTERVIEW

    «Wir sind an einem Punkt, wo alles neu gedacht werden muss.»

    Michaela hat dem Haus ihrer Kindheit seit langem den Rücken gekehrt und eine eigene Familie gegründet. Nach dem Tod ihres Vaters hat sie aber keine Wahl. Sie muss zurück an den Ort unliebsamer Erlebnisse. Begleitet wird sie von ihrer achtjährigen Tochter Hanna, die wie ein Spiegel verdrängte Erinnerungen an die Oberfläche holt und ihre Mutter dazu bringt, sich endlich einem blinden Fleck in ihrer Geschichte zu stellen. HEIMSUCHUNG ist Achmed Abdel-Salams Regiedebüt sowie für Produzentin Lena Weiss und ihre Produktionsfirma Glitter & Doom der erste abendfüllende Spielfilm, der zugleich als Pilotprojet für Green Producing neues und nachhaltiges Denken im Filmschaffen einleiten soll.
    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

    «It’s the film of a life, with an open ending.»

    Marko Doringer
    Marko Doringer is a doubter. The title of his latest film, SECOND THOUGHTS FIRST, could hardly make that more explicit. Artistic career, relationship, fatherhood: he likes to weigh up the pros and cons about the really big issues for a long time, and that generates a film. What he began as a 30-year-old filmmaker with Half the Time of my Life he continues now that he is in his mid-40s, interweaving his own vacillations with the lifestyle adopted by some of his contemporaries. SECOND THOUGHTS FIRST takes a close look at the balancing act between work and family.
    INTERVIEW
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    «He is the last and the first who speaks his language.»

    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 Rogowski and Susanne Jensen in the main roles, has been made by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion.
    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
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    «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.
    INTERVIEW
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    «He was a memory worker. Day and night.»

    Marko Feingold (1913 – 2019) was arrested soon after the Nazis seized power and survived six years during the reign of terror in various concentration camps. After the liberation he built up a new existence for himself in Austria, and throughout his long life he never tired of raising his voice to warn against forgetting or denying that period. At the age of 105 he gave an exclusive interview to the filmmakers Christian Krönes, Florian Weigensamer, Christian Kermer and Roland Schrotthofer; in the documentary film A JEWISH LIFE his fearless determination to fight on and survive refuses to be silenced.
    INTERVIEW
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    «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.
    INTERVIEW

    «In vielerlei Hinsicht zwsichen den Welten.»

    Wenn sie arbeitet, tut Mira das in den Weinbergen ihrer Familie. Wenn sie frei hat, dann gehört ihre Zeit dem Eishockeysport, für den sie intensiv trainiert und sich als Kapitänin ihres Teams voll einsetzt. Mira, die Protagonistin von WENN WIR DIE REGELN BRECHEN, ist eine eigenwillige junge Frau, die wie am Eis zwischen ihren Welten gleitet, sich verliert und wiederfindet. Clara Sterns Spielfilmdebüt wurde im Frühling 2021 abgedreht.
    INTERVIEW

    «Schau, ein Deix.»

    Es war ein Sprung ins kalte Wasser. Ein Animationsfilm in der Länge eines Kinofilms war zuvor noch keiner in Österreich entstanden. Ästhetik und Spirit der Karikaturen des österreichischen Unikums Manfred Deix einer filmischen Erzählung zugrunde zu legen, war eine gewagte Idee. Der Mut zum Pioniergeist hat sich gelohnt. Produzent Josef Aichholzer über eine lange Reise mit dem österreichischen Animationserstling ROTZBUB, der mit der Weltpremiere beim renommierten Festival von Annecy seine ersten Lorbeeren erntet.
    INTERVIEW

    «Jede Generation wird ihre eigene Erzählung brauchen.»

    Österreich galt nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg als Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Aggression und verfügt daher auch über einen nationalen Gedenkpavillon in Auschwitz. Seine aktuelle Neugestaltung wirft Fragen zur Ambivalenz zwischen kollektiver und individueller Geschichtsdarstellung auf: Fabian Eder geht in seinem Dokumentarfilm DER SCHÖNSTE TAG Konzepten der Erinnerungsarbeit auf die Spur und erzeugt mit Dialogen zwischen Zeitzeug*innen und ihrer Enkelgeneration ein interessantes Spannungsfeld zwischen offiziellem Gedenken und privatem Erleben.
    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.
    INTERVIEW
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    «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
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    «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.


    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.
    INTERVIEW

    «Ich würde mir für die Zukunft hybride Lösungen wünschen.»

    Es sind nicht mehr als fünf bis acht Filme, um die der Katalog des kleinen, feinen Verleih & Vertriebs filmdelights jährlich wächst und die Sorgfalt in der Auswahl hat sich gelohnt. 2020, im zehnten Jahr des Bestehens von filmdelights feierten nicht nur sieben österreichische Produktionen von Filmemacherinnen ihre Premieren, es gingen die Hauptpreise der Diagonale für den jeweils besten österreichischen Spiel- und Dokumentarfilm an Arbeiten aus dem Verleih, Sabine Derflingers Portrait Die Dohnal war im schwierigen Corona-Jahr auch der erfolgreichste Dokumentarfilm an Österreichs Kinokassen. Ein Gespräch mit der Geschäftsführerin Christa Auderlitzky.
    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.
    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.
    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.
    INTERVIEW

    «Vive le cinéma!»

    Geplant war es nicht, umso geglückter die Fügung: im Dezember 2020 feierte seine gemeinsam mit Bady Minck gegründete Produktionsfirma Amour Fou ihr 25-jähriges Jubiläum, quasi zeitgleich übernahm Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu seine Funktion als Obmann des Fachverbands der Film- und Musikwirtschaft in der WKO. Die lange Erfahrung aus der Filmproduktion ebenso wie der Schock und die Schäden, die die Covid-Krise in der Kulturbranche hinterlassen hat, werden die Strategien bestimmen, die den kommenden Jahren für ein Produktionsvolumen sorgen sollen, das deutlich größer, grüner und weiblicher, jung und inklusiv sein soll.
    :
    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.
    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.
    INTERVIEW

    «Auf Kino verlassen wir uns bis zum Sommer 2021 jetzt mal nicht.»

    CPH:DOX war nicht nur eines der ersten Festivals, das im März 2020 spontan auf den Lockdown reagieren musste, es war auch der Pionier unter den Online-Festivals. „Back to normal“ galt damals noch als eine Frage von wenigen Monaten. Daran hat sich ebenso viel geändert wie an Online-Märkten und -Festivals, die ihr Angebot von Event zu Event verbessern und verfeinern. Mit IDFA Amsterdam schließt eine der wichtigsten Dok-Plattformen einen Jahreszyklus der Ungewissheiten, Absagen und Verschiebungen. Salma Abdalla von autlook Filmsales war wie auf allen anderen großen Dokumentarfilm-Märkten digital dabei und zieht mit uns Bilanz über ein Jahr Business im virtuellen Raum.
    INTERVIEW

    «Die Komplexität unserer Gesellschaft hoffnungsvoll widerspiegeln»

    Inspiriert von einer außergewöhnlichen Lehrerpersönlichkeit in einem Wiener Jugendgefängnis, hat Arman T. Riahi das Buch für seinen neuen Spielfilm FUCHS IM BAU geschrieben, der das Bewusstsein über Haft-und Arbeitsbedingungen im österreichischen Jugendstrafvollzug schärfen wird. Die Dreharbeiten sind im September 2019 abgeschlossen. Ein Gespräch mit den ProduzentInnen der Golden Girls Filmproduktion Arash T. Riahi und Karin C. Berger.
    INTERVIEW

    «Wir sind Festivals, die physisch stattfinden müssen.»

    Obwohl zu Beginn des Lockdowns noch sieben Monate Spielraum waren, entschied die Viennale schnell, ihre 58. Festivalausgabe anders zu konzipieren und setzte auf weniger Tage, mehr Kinosäle, vor allem aber auf das Kinoerlebnis auf der großen Leinwand. Ein Gespräch mit Viennale-Direktorin EVA SANGIORGI über das Planen und den Start in ein Festival, das trotz aller Ungewissheiten an seiner Rolle als anspruchsvolles Publikumsfest festhält.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Isolation is not a good solution.»

    Arman T. Riahi
    Inspired by an extraordinary teacher in a Vienna prison, in FOX IN A HOLE Arman T. Riahi tells the story of young people who have come into conflict with the law, a system that locks them up in order to rehabilitate them, and people who want to keep the teenager’s future open for them.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Ambiguity is the most important language in a village.»

    Evi Romen
    Mario and Lenz have known each other since they were small. Now they are both 20 and determined to escape the confines of this mountain village. Lenz, son of the local vintner, has clearly been dealt a better hand in this respect than the self-destructive dreamer Mario. However, a tragic turn of events shatters the status quo. Evi Romen’s feature film debut WHY NOT YOU features a village in the 21st-century where the old order is collapsing and yet still dominant, depicting the rollercoaster ride of a young man who is completely disoriented and yet senses there must be a place for him too, somewhere.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «What the earth provides us with»

    For Elias, a farmer’s son in the Zillertal valley, the future seemed mapped out from early childhood. But when he comes of age and is due to inherit his father’s extensive property, he simply runs away: from the valley, from the expectations, from the money and from the greed. And he does find fulfilment – in total solitude, with a frugal existence above the tree line. Until 40 years later, when he turns his back on the life of a hermit as radically as he once embraced it. Initially a play by Felix Mitterer, MÄRZENGRUND inspired producer Michael Cencig (Metafilm) to produce his first work of fiction for the cinema and prompted filmmaker Adrian Goiginger to base his eagerly-awaited second feature film on the haunting character of this loner.

    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «Don’t argue, listen!»

    Susanne Brandstätter
    Susanne Brandstätter was among the many people for whom 9 November 2016 brought a rude awakening. She too had been planning to watch Hillary Clinton's acceptance address early that morning, only to discover that the country of her birth had chosen Donald Trump as the 58th President of the USA. On the day of his inauguration two months later the filmmaker was already in the swing state of Ohio, to capture the euphoria among Trump voters and ask them about their motives. THIS LAND IS MY LAND is a film that listens.
    :
    VIDEO INTERVIEW

    «If you're in silence, you don't exist in a way.»

    Pavel Cuzuioc in a video conversation on PLEASE HOLD THE LINE.
    INTERVIEW
    DE – EN

    «My way was simply different.»

    From law reporter to film journalist to assistant director to screenwriter to Ulrich Seidl’s artistic associate to feature film director and, together with Severin Fiala, to half a genre film writing duo popular on both sides of the Atlantic. Veronika Franz describes the course of her career as a process of constantly daring herself to do more, and since her breakthrough with Goodnight Mommy she appears to have overcome at least two hurdles with every step she takes. Preparations are underway to shoot the next Austrian Franz/Fiala project, The Devil‘s Bath, and the American remake of her debut will start filming soon. The 77th Venice Film Festival has invited Veronika Franz to serve on the jury, which is headed by Cate Blanchett, to decide who wins the coveted 2020 Golden Lion.
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    VIDEO INTERVIEW

    «I do understand that for my mother's family communism was a form of religion.»

    Weina Zhao and Judith Benedikt in a video conversation on WEIYENA – THE LONG WAY HOME.

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