My favourite Austrian filmmakers
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Michael Glawogger was born on 3 December 1959 in Graz, Austria. He was a writer and director, known for Workingman's Death (2005), Untitled (2017) and Whores' Glory (2011). He died on 23 April 2014 in Liberia.- Director
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Born in 1958 in Vienna. 1979 - 84 stay in Berlin. Filmmaker since 1979. Studied philosophy. Doctoral thesis: ^ÓFilm as Art. Towards a critical aesthetics of cinematography^Ô (1985/86). 1989 National Art Award for Film. Teaches filmmaking at the Academy of Art, Linz. Founding member of Sixpack Film. Organized several international avant-garde film festivals in Vienna and international film tours. Many publications and lectures on history and theory of avant-garde film. 1993-94 director of the Austrian National Film Festival (^ÓDiagonale^Ô).- Writer
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A true master of his craft, Michael Haneke is one of the greatest film artists working today and one who challenges his viewers each year and work goes by, with films that reflect real portions of life in realistic, disturbing and unforgettable ways. One of the most genuine filmmakers of the world cinema, Haneke wrote and directed films in several languages: French, German and English, working with a great variety of actors, such as Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Toby Jones, Ülrich Muhe, Arno Frisch and the list goes on.
This grand figure from Austrian cinema was born in Germany on 23 March 1942, from a German father and an Austrian mother, with both parents being from the artistic world working as actors, a career that Michael also tried but without much success. At the University of Vienna he studied drama, philosophy and psychology, and after graduation he went on to become a film critic and TV editor. His career behind camera started with After Liverpool (1974), which he wrote and directed. He went on to direct five more TV films and two episodes from the miniseries "Lemminge" (1979)_.
The years spent on television works prompted him to finally direct his first cinema feature, during his early 40's, which is somewhat unusual for film directors. But it was worth waiting. In The Seventh Continent (1989), Haneke establishes the foundation of what his future cinema would be about: a cinema that doesn't provides answers but one that dares to throw more and more questions, a cinema that reflects and analyses the human condition in its darkest and unexpected ways outside of any Hollywood formula. Films that exist to confront audiences and not comfort them. In it, Haneke deals with the duality of social values vs. internal values while exposing an apparent perfect family that runs into physical and material disintegration for reasons unknown. It was the first time a film of his was sent to the Cannes Film Festival (out of competition lineup) but he managed to cause some commotion in the audience with polemic scenes that were meant to extract all possible reactions from the crowd.
His next ventures at the decade's turn was in dealing with disturbed youth and the alienation they have in separating reality from fiction, trying to intersect both to drastic results. In Benny's Video (1992), it's the disturbing story of a teen boy who experiences killing for the first time capturing the murder on tape, impressed by the power of detachment that films and videos can cause to people; and later on the highly controversial Funny Games (1997), where two teens hold a family hostage to play sadistic games just for their own sick amusement. The film cemented Haneke's name as one of the greatest authors of his generation but sparkled a great debate with its themes of violence, sadism and the influence those things have in audiences. At the 1997's Cannes Film Festival, it was the film that had the most walk-out's by the audience. In between both films, he released 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994) and Kafka's The Castle (1997), the latter being one of the rare times when Haneke developed an adapted work.
In the 2000's, he strongly continued in producing more outstanding works prone to debate and reflection in what would become his most prolific decade with the following films: Code Unknown (2000), The Piano Teacher (2001), Time of the Wolf (2003), Caché (2005), an American remake shot-by shot of Funny Games (2007) and The White Ribbon (2009). His study about romance versus masochism in The Piano Teacher (2001) was an intense work, with powerful performances by Isabelle Huppert and Benoit Magimel, that the Cannes jury in the year were so impressed that Haneke managed to actually reverse their award rules where it was decided that film entries at the festival couldn't win more than one main award (the two lead actors won awards and Haneke got the Grand Prize of the Jury, just lost the Palme d'Or). With The White Ribbon (2009), an enigmatic black-and-white masterpiece following the inception of Nazism in this pre WWI and WWII story focusing on repressed children living in this small village where strange events happen all the time and without any possible reasoning, Haneke conquered the world and audiences with an artistic and daring work that won his first Palme d'Or a Golden Globe as Best Foreign Language Film and received an Oscar nomination for the same category plus the cinematography work of Christian Berger.
2012 was the year that marked his supremacy in the film world with the release of the bold and beautiful Amour (2012), a love story with powerful real drama and one where Haneke removed most of his usual dark characteristics to present more quiet and calm elements without losing input in creating controversy. The touching story of George and Anne provided one the greatest moments of that year and earned Haneke his second and consecutive Palme d'Or at Cannes and his first Oscar nominations for Best Direction and Best Original Screenplay - and it was one of the several nominees for Best Picture Oscar, winning as Best Foreign Language Film.
After abandoning a flash-mob film project, he returned to the screen with Happy End (2017), a film dealing with the refugee crisis in Europe and again he debuted his film at Cannes, receiving mildly positive reviews.
Besides his film work, Haneke also directs theatre productions, from drama to opera, from Così fan tutte to Don Giovanni.- Director
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Kurt Kren was born on 20 September 1929 in Vienna, Austria. He was a director and cinematographer, known for 8/64: Ana - Aktion Brus (1964), 16/67: 20. September (1967) and 10b/65: Silber - Aktion Brus (1965). He died on 23 June 1998 in Vienna, Austria.- Director
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Peter Kubelka was born on 23 March 1934 in Vienna, Austria. He is a director and editor, known for Mosaic in Trust (1955), Unsere Afrikareise (1966) and Pause! (1977).- Director
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Born 1959 in Vienna. Studied Psychology and History of Art at Vienna University. Free-lance film maker since 1987. Founding member of Sixpack Film. Organisor of several avant-garde film festivals in Vienna. Presentation of a selection of Austrian avant-garde films at American cinematheques in 1990. Since 1993 teaching at various American Universities (Milwaukee, San Francisco, ...)- Director
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Born Vienna 1952, Drawings since 1962, Music since 1964, Photography since 1967, Architecture since 1970, Videos since 1977, Films since 1981, Sounds since 1981, Performances since 1983 in Austria, France, Germany, Luxemburg, England, Marocco, Greece and Turkey- Director
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Virgil Widrich was born in Salzburg on 16th of May, 1967, the son of Gerheid and Hans Widrich. Started working with film at the age of 12, producing a number of Super 8 movies. In 1990, he became a director's assistant for John Bailey in Hollywood ("The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe" with Lily Tomlin). From 1993 to 1995, he was the organizational head for Salzburg's Diagonale Film Festival. He has worked on a number of multimedia and CD-ROM projects. He lectures on screenwriting technique and film software and owns a multimedia production company in Vienna, Austria.- Casting Director
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Markus Schleinzer was born on 8 November 1971 in Vienna, Austria. He is a casting director and actor, known for Angelo (2018), Michael (2011) and The White Ribbon (2009).- Director
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Wolfgang Murnberger was born on 13 November 1960 in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. He is a director and writer, known for Himmel oder Hölle (1990), Come Sweet Death (2000) and Ich gelobe (1994).- Director
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Stefan Ruzowitzky was born on 25 December 1961 in Vienna, Austria. He is a director and writer, known for The Counterfeiters (2007), The Inheritors (1998) and Hinterland (2021). He has been married to Birgit Sturm since 1999. They have two children.- Producer
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Ulrich Seidl was born on 24 November 1952 in Vienna, Austria. He is a producer and director, known for Rimini (2022), Paradise: Love (2012) and Goodnight Mommy (2014). He is married to Veronika Franz. They have two children.- Director
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Born in Vienna in 1970, Barbara Albert studied directing and screenwriting at the Vienna Film School since 1991. Her student film Nachtschwalben (1993) won 'Best Short' at the Max Ophüls-Preis Saarbrücken in 1994. Since then she has directed, written and produced many award-winning feature films, that premiered at A-festivals worldwide, making her one of the most acclaimed German-language filmmakers of her generation.- Director
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Jessica Hausner was born on 6 October 1972 in Vienna, Austria. She is a director and writer, known for Little Joe (2019), Lourdes (2009) and Amour Fou (2014).- Director
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Ruth Beckermann was born in 1952 in Vienna, Austria. She is a director and writer, known for The Dreamed Ones (2016), Mutzenbacher (2022) and Favoriten (2024).- Director
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Anja Salomonowitz was born on 12 November 1976 in Vienna, Austria. She is a director and writer, known for Kurz davor ist es passiert (2006), The 727 Days Without Karamo (2013) and Das wirst du nie verstehen (2003).- Director
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Franz Antel was born on 28 June 1913 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a director and writer, known for Der Bockerer 2 (1996), Der Bockerer (1981) and Solang' die Sterne glüh'n (1958). He was married to Sibylla Antel, Sibylla Thin, Elisabeth Freifrau von Ettingshausen, Hannelore Bollmann and Hilde Louise Wittke. He died on 11 August 2007 in Vienna, Austria.- Director
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Axel Corti was born on 7 May 1933 in Paris, France. He was a director and actor, known for Wohin und zurück - Teil 3: Welcome in Vienna (1986), Radetzkymarsch (1994) and The King's Whore (1990). He was married to Cecily Corti. He died on 29 December 1993 in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria.- Director
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Luise Fleck was born on 1 August 1873 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. She was a director and writer, known for Mir kommt keiner aus (1917), Eva, die Sünde (1920) and Die Ahnfrau (1919). She was married to Jacob Fleck and Anton Kolm. She died on 15 March 1950 in Vienna, Austria.- Director
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Walter Kolm-Veltée was born on 27 December 1910 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a director and writer, known for Eroica (1949), Panoptikum 59 (1959) and Don Juan (1955). He died on 8 March 1999 in Vienna, Austria.