Also: Stefan Ruzowitzky’s ORF co-financed historical thriller “Hinterland” with Murathan Muslu on December 4th as an ORF 1 premiere
Vienna (OTS) – With new feature films and documentaries, 2024 follows directly on from the brilliant cinema year 2023, which was marked by a high number of ticket sales and numerous successful festival participations. Stefan Ruzowitzky’s ORF co-financed historical thriller “Hinterland” about Murathan Muslu, who goes on a murder hunt in interwar Vienna, will celebrate its ORF 1 premiere on Monday, December 4, 2023, at 8:15 p.m. Film fans can also look forward to new things from Austria on the big screen in the future, as further projects are already being worked on behind the scenes. With the support of six other cinema film projects across genres – four of which are feature films and two documentaries – the fourth and final meeting of the joint commission this calendar year will highlight the colorful diversity of Austrian filmmaking with a significant financial contribution from ORF as part of the Film/ Television agreement worth 1.8 million euros was once again taken into account. In this way, the ORF will continue to fulfill its legal mandate to invest eight million euros in cinema productions in 2023.
In Christian Frosch’s drama “Übersee”, the affective action of his hapless protagonist triggers a chain of events that perhaps grant her a second chance. In his visually stunning new horror film “Welcome Home,” Andreas Prochaska lets a young woman encounter demonic forces while searching for her origins. In her feature-length debut “When you’re afraid, you put your heart in your mouth and smile,” Marie Luise Lehner sensitively tells of precarious circumstances and how one transforms the shame of one’s own origins into pride, solidarity and affection. The international co-production “Faraway Home” tells how two Jewish siblings from Vienna escape the Nazis on one of the last child transports and find shelter on an Irish farm. After “Die Streif”, Gerald Salmina dedicates his documentary “Downhillskiers – Ain’t no Mountain Steep Enough” to the best in downhill skiing and Anita Lackenberger examines the cultural community of the deaf from their perspective in “World Without Hearing”.
The projects co-financed by ORF at the 195th meeting of the Joint Commission of ORF and the Austrian Film Institute in detail:
Overseas
Drama
Book: Christian Frosch and Konstantin Bürger
Director: Christian Frosch
Production: Prisma Film
A young woman, Inia, pushes a man in front of the subway. An emotional act after years of powerlessness. Inia seems to be able to escape undetected. A little later she finally receives offers for a different, better life. It seems to be a chance to leave her past behind.
Welcome Home
Horror movie
Book: Constantin Lieb, Daniela Baumgärtl and Andreas Prochaska Director: Andreas Prochaska
Production: Lotus Film
Berlin emergency doctor Judith inherits a villa in Austria and ends up in a demonic community dominated by women. As she tries to solve the mystery of her origins, Judith unleashes demonic forces that challenge everything she has thought about her life, family and marriage.
When you’re scared, you put your heart in your mouth and smile
Written and directed by Marie Luise Lehner
Production: Geyrhalter Film
The coming-of-age drama about Anna and her single mother Isolde is about what it’s like to transform the shame of one’s own origins into pride, about affection, care and solidarity.
Faraway Home
Drama
Book: Claire Serra and Stephen Gibson, based on the novel of the same name by Marilyn Taylor
Director: Terry Loane
Production: KGP
The Jewish siblings Karl (12) and Rosa (8) escape from Nazi-occupied Vienna on one of the last children’s transports and find refuge on a Northern Irish farm with Jewish children from all over Europe. But they can’t leave the war behind them there either.
Downhillskiers – Ain’t no Mountain steep enough
Documentary film
Written and directed by Gerald Salmina
Produktion: Blue Bird Motion Pictures
The best downhill skiers in the world seem to love mastering difficult situations that others fear. If you want to win, you have to surpass yourself without being brutally thrown off. “Ain’t no Mountain steep enough” is a road movie that follows the charismatic women and men from the World Cup final in Saalbach 2024 to the climax of the World Cup in Saalbach 2025 over a season.
world without hearing
Documentary film
Written and directed by Anita Lackenberger
Production: Creative solution film production
A world without hearing? The life of deaf people is a long story of exclusion, persecution and survival. A lot has developed for the better in recent years, but there are still stumbling blocks and hurdles. The present and past of a cultural community are told from the perspective of those affected.