“Who is afraid of Braunau?” best cinema documentary – awards presented today at the Diagonale
Vienna (OTS) – Today, on Saturday, April 6, 2024, this year’s Franz Grabner Prize for humanistic documentary filmmaking in the fields of television and cinema was awarded at a ceremony at the Diagonale in Graz. This is the seventh time that the award, given in memory of the ORF journalist and long-time head of the ORF TV cultural documentary who died in 2015 – initiated by the Grabner family, AAFP, Film Austria, ORF and the Styrian Film Festival – recognizes filmmakers for their ethical and morally responsible and credible use of the respective medium. This year, the portrait “Eugenie Schwarzwald: Pioneer of Modernity” (2022) by Alex Wieser about the extraordinary Austrian educator, social reformer and women’s rights activist, co-produced by ORF-TV-Kultur, was honored with the Franz Grabner Prize in the television documentary category; The best cinema documentary is the production “Who is afraid of Braunau?” (2023), with which director Günter Schwaiger filmed the developments surrounding the re-use of Adolf Hitler’s birthplace for five years.
Journalist and author Solmaz Khorsand gave the keynote speech at the award ceremony, which was supported by the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Public Service and Sport, the Austrian Television Fund, the Graz Film Commission and dok.at. The prize money of 5,000 euros each – donated by AAFP and ORF – is intended for the development of the award winner’s follow-up project.
ORF-TV cultural documentary director Nuni: “Fascinating mosaic of images and impressions of our world”
“The Franz Grabner Prize has been a fixture in the domestic film landscape for several years. Humanistic values, social responsibility and a clear commitment to quality films shaped the work of our late colleague Franz Grabner and are also largely relevant to the award. The international jury, which changes every year, guarantees diversity and objectivity. This year too: Very different films were selected and together they form a fascinating mosaic of images and impressions of our world. I am particularly pleased that our co-production with Alex Wieser ‘Eugenie Schwarzwald: Pioneer of Modernism’ received the coveted award: a film about a courageous, visionary woman who was not deterred by external circumstances and fought for a better world . I warmly congratulate both award winners,” says Sharon Nuni, head of the ORF TV cultural documentaries department and Franz Grabner’s successor in this position.
Diagonale directors Slanar and Kamalzadeh: recognition for “artistic standards and critical, reflexive thinking”
“We are very pleased that the Franz Grabner Prize can continue to be awarded at Diagonale. The namesake guarantees quality journalism and politically independent public broadcasting. The idea behind the prize is to strengthen the status of Austrian cinema and television documentaries – and thus to honor artistic standards as well as critical, reflective thinking,” emphasize Diagonale directors Claudia Slanar and Dominik Kamalzadeh.
Excerpts from the jury’s statements
The three-member jury of the Franz Grabner Prize 2024 – Karin Berghammer (author, director and producer), Olga Kosanović (director and author) and Martin Kowalczyk (editor, Bayerischer Rundfunk documentary film department) – justified their decisions as follows:
“Eugenie Schwarzwald: Pioneer of Modernity” by Alex Wieser – Best TV Documentary – is the “lovingly crafted portrait of an extraordinary woman who was not only particularly clever, with integrity and visionary, but was inspired by the idea of making a difference. “The film is based on in-depth research into its protagonist, as well as the socio-political implications of her work, and is formally characterized by a technically sound and coherent implementation, with a great sense of detail on all levels,” the jury said in its statement. And further: “Smart interviews, archive material and reenactments create a coherent whole that drips with heart and soul. A film that gives courage to welcome the new and dare the unthinkable. A contemporary document that inspires people to question their own limits even under adverse circumstances and to support each other as a collective so that the fear of failure can be overcome and one’s own power of impact can be experienced.
“Who’s Afraid of Braunau?” by Günter Schwaiger – Best Cinema Documentary – is, according to the jury’s statement, “a film that takes a very personal look at what our homeland actually looks like. The milieu study of a special place allows many people to have their say, shows observations that sometimes seem like real satire, tells of repression and speechlessness, and of a lack of engagement with one’s own history. And the jury further stated: “The filmmaker reminds himself and us that his own family was part of all of this. And that the past as a legacy also affects descendants, whether they want it or not – until today. A particular strength of ‘Who’s Afraid of Braunau’ is that the film succeeds in making the urgent need to further come to terms with Austria’s National Socialist past tangible without pointing fingers.”
In addition to the two award-winning films, the following productions were also nominated for the Franz Grabner Prize 2024: in the television documentary category, the ORF/3sat documentary “A Society Without Workers” (2023), designed by Heidi Neuburger-Dumancic, and the German documentary “Flash Wars – AI in War” (2023) by Daniel Andrew Wunderer; in the cinema documentary category the two projects “Stillstand” by Nikolaus Geyrhalter and Brigitte Weichs “… ned, tassot, yossot…” co-financed by ORF as part of the film/television agreement.