Austria
The images could be taken from a science fiction film set on planet Earth after it’s become uninhabitable. Abandoned buildings – housing estates, shops, cinemas, hospitals, offices, schools, a library, amusement parks and prisons. Places and areas being reclaimed by nature, such as a moss-covered bar with ferns growing between the stools, a still stocked soft drinks machine now covered with vegetation, an overgrown rubbish dump, or tanks in the forest. Tall grass sprouts from cracks in the asphalt. Birds circle in the dome of a decommissioned reactor, a gust of wind makes window blinds clatter or scraps of paper float around, the noise of the rain: sounds entirely without words, plenty of room for contemplation. All these locations carry the traces of erstwhile human existence and bear witness to a civilisation that brought forth architecture, art, the entertainment industry, technologies, ideologies, wars and environmental disasters.
A cold day in January 2006. The police make a horrible discovery in the Swedish town of Hudiksvall: In one night, 18 people have been brutally murdered in the small town. The police suspect a madman is behind the bestial act. But when judge Birgitta Roslin hears the news, she instantly knows that her grandparents August and Britta Andrén are among the victims. And even more: Almost everybody killed somehow relates to her. She realizes that the police are following a wrong track and starts to investigate on her own. Her search leads Brigitta to China where she finds out about the cruel scheming of the leading elite.
In an attempt to stem the heroin trade from Iran, a group of narcotics agents working for the UN inject a radioactive compound into a seized shipment of opium, in the hopes that it will lead them to the main heroin distributor in Europe. Along the way, they encounter a mysterious woman doing her own investigating of the smuggling operation.
Spans 300 years in the life of one famed musical instrument that winds up in present-day Montreal on the auction block. Crafted by the Italian master Bussotti (Cecchi) in 1681, the red violin derives its unusual color from the human blood mixed into the finish. With this legacy, the violin travels to Austria, England, China, and Canada, leaving both beauty and tragedy in its wake.
With dazzling nature photography, Academy Award®–nominated director Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full) takes a global examination of endangered honeybees — spanning California, Switzerland, China and Australia — more ambitious than any previous work on the topic.
A group of young bio-engineers discover they can use quantum physics to transfer motor-skills between human brains. Believing this to be a first step towards a new intellectual freedom, they freely distribute the technology. But as the mysterious past of one of their group is revealed, dark forces emerge that threaten to subvert this technology into a means of mass control. DxM takes the mind-bender thriller to the next level with an immersive narrative and breath-taking action.
You know the moment when your sorrow is so profound that you can’t help but imagine yourself somewhere far away… this is the story of someone who did more than just imagine.
New York designer Stefan Sagmeister lives in the city of his dreams, and creates work for the likes of the Rolling Stones and Jay-Z. Business is good, creative juices are flowing, and yet he suspects there must be more to life. Sagmeister takes on the daunting project of changing his personality by trying to figure out the causes of happiness. On the advice of a trusted psychologist Sagmeister experiments with three different approaches: meditation, therapy, and drugs. The Happy Film follows his pursuit, and all that he encounters along the way: joy, ecstasy, heartbreak, change, love, and death.
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
A Good American tells the story of the best code-breaker the USA ever had and how he and a small team within NSA created a surveillance tool that could pick up any electronic signal on earth, filter it for targets and render results in real-time while keeping the privacy as demanded by the US constitution.
Horror comedy film following vampire count Geza von Kösznöm who’s visiting groundbreaking neurologist Sigund Freud because he’s bored of his life and frustrated of the “eternally long” relationship with his wife Elsa.
Andreas and Stefan lead a happy and passionate life: Together with their beloved tomcat Moses, they live in a beautiful old house in Vienna’s vineyards. They work as a musician and as a scheduler in the same orchestra and they love their large circle of friends. An unexpected and inexplicable outburst of violence suddenly shakes up the relationship and calls everything into question – the blind spot that resides in all of us.
A look at the world of in vitro fertilization and the rapidly-advancing science of childbearing.
Two students, Sarah and Philip, after meeting online develop a tragic plan to end their lives. They decide to meet and hike into the mountains where they would jump off a cliff together. They share their thoughts and struggles, looking into enduring issues about family, depression and fulfillment, while also touching upon the unique issues of growing up in the modern world.
The insurance salesman Vincent Baumann, a cold-blooded careerist and minion of a merciless system, becomes a victim of the very corporations he is representing. Degraded to a henchman he grimly struggles to get back on the job market. He fights to climb the social ladder. In the process he realizes that there are other values than income and success. He decides against his previous ideology and for another human being, for Lisa Sokulowa. They don’t have a future. But they celebrate a small triumph against the dominance of the ruling system.
A peaceful summer day in the Moomin Valley is interrupted by a volcanic eruption. At the last minute the Moomin family finds refuge in a strange house. It turns out it’s not an ordinary house but a theatre stage where the Moomin Family begins to write a play.
The short film project “Regrets of the Past” was realized by a team of local filmmakers whose goal it was to create a high-quality sci-fi movie in Austria, based within the Star Wars universe. The crew diligently focused on the visual language of the film which tries to adhere as closely as possible to the original trilogy developed by George Lucas in the 1970s. The story is set after the events that led to the inception of the Galactic Empire (Star Wars – Episode III) and follows the fate of two fugitive Jedi knights. Pursued by a bounty hunter, Pash Sularen and his Padawan Kaila Dain crash on a remote plant and are confronted with their past. Principal photography took place in Austria from 2013 through 2015, followed by one year of post production. The crew of 150 consisted mainly of working professionals in the Austrian film industry who supported the project in their spare time.
Full-length documentary about the story of John Penton. An American icon and motorcycle pioneer who along with his family and a band of loyal followers, changed off-road motorcycling forever.
A strange family: 17-year-old Phil lives with his mother and twin sister in an old mansion on the outskirts of town. When he returns from summer camp, the mood in the mansion has soured somehow. Phil doesn’t worry about it, hanging out with his best friend Kat instead. When he starts to feel attracted to a mysterious new student at school, Phil is plunged into emotional turmoil only exacerbated by the trouble at home.
A boy returns home from the institution where he grew up, but finds he is not welcome there. He fights to win the love of his family but ends up murdering them.
A middle-class family living in Calais deal with a series of setbacks while paying little attention to the grim conditions in the refugee camps within a few miles of their home.
The lives of three strong-willed women and a young musician cross paths in Tehran’s schizophrenic society where sex, adultery, corruption, prostitution and drugs coexist with strict religious law. In this bustling modern metropolis, avoiding prohibition has become an everyday sport and breaking taboos can be a means of personal emancipation.
Puppets! Pixels! Anime! Live action! Stock footage!
Lumpennerd Johannes Grenzfurthner gives an ideotaining cinematic revue about important political concepts. Everyone is talking about freedom! Privacy! Identity! Resistance! The Market! The Left! But, yikes, Johannes can’t tolerate ignorant and topically abusive comments on the “Internet” anymore! Supported by writer Ishan Raval, in this film, Johannes explains, re-evaluates, and sometimes sacrifices political golden calves of discourse.
Not to be used with false consciousness or silicone-based lubricant.
Hope, the third film in the PARADISE TRILOGY, tells the story of the 13-year-old Melanie. While her mother (Teresa) travels to Kenya, Melanie spends her holiday in the Austrian countryside at a strict diet camp for overweight teenagers. Under the supervision of a tattooed trainer and a creepy doctor, the teenagers attempt to do sports during the day and secretly get drunk in the evening. Between physical education and nutrition counseling, pillow fights and her first cigarette, Melanie falls in love with the doctor who is 40 years her senior.
A group of German construction workers set out for a foreign construction site in the Bulgarian province. The strange country awakens adventure feelings among the men. At the same time, they are confronted with their prejudices and mistrust. For two of the men, a nearby village becomes the stage for a competition for the recognition and favor of the village.
The Ötztal Alps, more than 5300 years ago. A Neolithic clan has settled near a creek. It is their leader Kelab’s responsibility to be the keeper of the group’s holy shrine Tineka. While Kelab is hunting, the settlement is attacked. The members of the tribe are brutally murdered, amongst them Kelab’s wife and son, only one newborn survives – and Tineka is gone. Blinded by pain and fury, Kelab is out for one thing alone – vengeance.
18th century Vienna. Maria Theresia von Paradis, a gifted piano player and close friend of Mozart’s, lost her eye-sight as a child. Desperate to cure their talented daughter, the Paradis entrust Maria to Dr. Mesmer, a forward-thinking-physician who gives her the care and attention that she requires. With the doctor’s innovative techniques of magnetism, Maria slowly recovers her sight. But this miracle comes at a price as the woman progressively starts to lose her gift for music.
The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick is a 1972 German language drama film directed by Wim Wenders. It was adapted from a novella by Wenders’ long-time collaborator Peter Handke. A goalkeeper is sent off during a game for committing a foul. He spends the night with a cinema cashier, whom he afterwards kills. Although a type of detective film, it is more slow moving and contemplative than other films of the genre. It explores the monotony of the murderer’s existence and, like many of Wenders’ films, the overwhelming cultural influence of America in post-war West Germany.
A series of snapshots from the life of a fictional actress named Shirley serves to weave together thirteen paintings by Edward Hopper (e.g. “Office at Night”, “Western Motel”, “Usherette”, “A Woman in the Sun”) into a fascinating synthesis of painting and film, personal and political history. Each station in Shirley’s professional and private life from the 1930s to 1960s is precisely dated: It is always August 28/29 of the year in question, as the locations vary from Paris to New York to Cape Cod.
A murderous, flesh-eating undead young girl haunting the remote stretch of woods where she was murdered decades earlier, discovers a kidnapped and abused boy hiding in the trunk of one of her victim’s cars. Her decision to let the boy live throws her aggressively solitary existence into upheaval, and ultimately forces her to re-examine just how much of her humanity her murderer was able to destroy.
Africa, Europe – Europe and Africa: Surfers live differently on each continent and Africa marks a special place – as surfing is in many places at its very beginnings. ‘Beyond – An African Surf Documentary’ follows locals along the coast of Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia into their homes, visits their home surf spots and takes a look into their surfing lives. Three months of shooting culminated in a 111 minute long episodic journey on a continent, that has the potential to be the next big thing in surfing.
“If buildings could talk, what would they say about us?” CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE offers six startling responses. This 3D film project about the soul of buildings allows six iconic and very different buildings to speak for themselves, examining human life from the unblinking perspective of a manmade structure. Six acclaimed filmmakers bring their own visual style and artistic approach to the project. Buildings, they show us, are material manifestations of human thought and action: the Berlin Philharmonic, an icon of modernity; the National Library of Russia, a kingdom of thoughts; Halden Prison, the world’s most humane prison; the Salk Institute, an institute for breakthrough science; the Oslo Opera House, a futuristic symbiosis of art and life; and the Centre Pompidou, a modern culture machine. CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE explores how each of these landmarks reflects our culture and guards our collective memory.
This feature documentary portrays one of the most important museums in the world, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. It presents a unique look behind the scenes of this fascinating institution and encounters a number of charismatic protagonists and their working fields unfolding the museum’s special world – as an art institution as well a vehicle for state representation.
The hopelessly romantic Lisa takes desperate measures to win her former lover back, Alf. But the fact that Alf already has a new girl at his side and that Lisa needs to bring her alcoholic father to an antivaricose-campaign photo shooting without letting him know, is not particularly helping.
Inspired by a 1970’s science fiction novel entitled ALTERNATIVE 3, one man, armed with nothing but a camera and an open mind, sets forth on a journey to reveal the truth behind what may well be one of the most startling secrets: An elite group is said to be secretly building an exclusive off-world survival colony on planet Mars. Credible individuals have begun to emerge claiming to have been actual Mars recruits including the great granddaughter of a historically significant American president.
Before Dawn charts the years of exile in the life of famous Jewish Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, his inner struggle for the “right attitude” towards the events in war torn Europe and his search for a new home.
