It was our pleasure to accompany around 70 Austrian long feature films in 2025 throughout this year. 21 brand-new productions celebrated their world or international premieres, 12 of them at the most prestigious festivals for global promotion.
We’re about to close this film year with a total of appr. 500 festival participations and 60 international awards. We are particularly pleased that six awards went to projects currently in development or post-production – their potential on the international market is already apparent at this early stage.
FILMS WITH APPEARANCE AT INTERNATIONAL KEY FESTIVALS (in total: 18)
PERLA by Alexandra Makarová (Rotterdam | Tiger Competition, Karlovy Vary Horizons)
WELCOME HOME by Andreas Prochaska (Berlin | Panorama Opening Film)
HOW TO BE NORMAL AND THE ODDNESS OF THE OTHER WORLD by Florian Pochlatko (Berlin | Perspectives)
MOTHER’S BABY by Johanna Moder (Berlinale | Golden Bear Competition)
SCARS OF A PUTSCH by Nathalie Borgers (Berlinale | Forum Special, CPH:DOX | Backstory)
IF YOU ARE AFRAID YOU PUT YOUR HEART INTO YOUR MOUTH AND SMILE by Marie Luise Lehner (Berlinale | Forum)
THE LAST AMBASSADOR by Natalie Halla (CPH:DOX | F:act Award Competition) GIRLS & GODS by Arash T. Riahi & Verena Soltitz (CPH:DOX | Human:Rights Award Competition)
BLUISH by Lilith Kraxner & Milena Czernovsky (CPH:DOX | Para:Fiction, Karlovy Vary |Imagina)
ON THE BORDER by Gerald Igor Hauzenberger & Marlies Schild (CPH:DOX | Urgent Matters)
MILITANTROPOS by Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Moskovyi (Cannes | Quinzaine des Cinéastes, IDFA Amsterdam | Best of Fests)
WHITE SNAIL by Elsa Kremser & Levin Peter (Locarno | Pardo Competition)
GREEN LIGHT by Pavel Cuzuioc (Locarno | Semaine de la Critique)
THE SOUFFLEUR by Gastón Solnicki (Venice |Orizzonti Competition)
MELT by Nikolaus Geyrhalter (IDFA Amsterdam | Signed)
Also note the minority co-productions with two world premieres at the Locarno Pardo Competition, one at IDFA Amsterdam and most recently the Oscar shortlist announcement of YANANUNI for Best Documentary:
- YANANUNI by Richard Ladkani, coproduced by Malaika Films
- DRACULA by Radu Jude, coproduced by Nabis Filmgroup
- THE SEASONS by Maureen Fazendeiro, coproduced by Nabis Filmgroup
- ALL MY SISTERS by Massoud Bakhshi, coproduced by AMOUR FOU Vienna
AUSTRIAN ARTISTS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
- MARIE LUISE LEHNER: Teddy Jury Award | Berlinale for IF YOU ARE AFRAID YOU PUT YOUR HEART INTO YOUR MOUTH AND SMILE
- ELSA KREMSER & LEVIN PETER: WHITE SNAIL wins Special Jury Prize + 2 Pardi for Best Performance | Locarno
- JESSICA HAUSNER: Honorary Award + Guest of Honor at PÖFF Tallinn
- BERNHARD WENGER: PEACOCK is Austria’s Oscar entry in the Best International Feature category and took 10 international awards, including 3 Audience Awards since its Venice world premiere
AUSTRIAN INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHTS
In our promotional strategy, we are increasingly focusing on the international networking of the Austrian film industry in parallel to our festival presence. By organizing four Austrian Spotlights at carefully selected industry events, we were able to set an impulse on a quarterly basis.
Austrian Spotlights
- Filmfest MUNICH: June 2025
- JI.HLAVA International Doc FF: October 2025
- Black Nights TALLINN: November 2025
Austrian Industry Delegation
- CPH:DOX: March 2025
- Les Arcs: December 2025
Berlin, Rotterdam and Saarbrücken have confirmed the FIRST WORLD PREMIERES 2026:
- LONDON by Sebastian Brameshuber (Berlinale | Panorama)
- DAYS YET UNKNOWN by Jola Wieczorek (Saarbrücken | Documentary Competition)
- HUNGRY by Susanne Brandstätter (Rotterdam | Harbour)
as of December 23, 2025 ... and there’s a lot more to come ...
