Award ceremony on April 6th at the Diagonale in Graz
Vienna (OTS) – This year, for the seventh time since 2017, the Franz Grabner Prize for humanistic documentary filmmaking will be awarded in the TV and cinema categories as part of the Diagonale. In memory of the ORF journalist and long-time director of the ORF TV cultural documentary Franz Grabner (1955-2015) – initiated by the Grabner family, AAFP, Film Austria, ORF and the Styrian Film Festival – the award once again honors filmmakers for their ethical work and moral sense, responsible and credible use of the medium. The 2024 nominations – three television and three cinema productions – have now been confirmed.
TV: “A society without workers”, “Eugenie Schwarzwald – pioneer of modernity”, “Flash Wars – AI in war”
The following productions are nominated in the television documentary category: The ORF/3sat documentary “A Society Without Workers” (2023), designed by Heidi Neuburger-Dumancic, about the change in the world of work and ideas for the future, which is from ORF TV culture co-produced portrait “Eugenie Schwarzwald: Pioneer of Modernity” (2022) by Alex Wieser about the extraordinary Austrian educator, social reformer and women’s rights activist, as well as the German documentary “Flash Wars – AI in War” (2023) by Daniel Andrew Wunderer.
Cinema: “Standstill”, “…ned, tassot, yossot…”, “Who is afraid of Braunau?”
The three cinema documentaries nominated for the Franz Grabner Prize 2024 include two works co-financed by ORF as part of the film/television agreement: Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s documentary “Stillstand”, which documents the pandemic-related lockdown in Austria from 2020 and asks what the Post-Corona society is still struggling today, as well as with “…ned, tassot, yossot…” (2023) Brigitte Weich’s long-term observation of four (former) soccer players from the North Korean national team, which has yet to be released in local cinemas. Also nominated is Günter Schwaiger’s film “Who is afraid of Braunau?” (2023), with which the director followed the developments surrounding the reuse of Adolf Hitler’s birthplace for five years.
Prize money: 5,000 euros each for follow-up projects
The awarding of the Franz Grabner Prizes 2024 will take place on Saturday, April 6th, in Graz as part of a ceremony – supported by the Federal Ministry of Art, Culture, Public Service and Sport, the Austrian Television Fund, the Graz Film Commission and dok.at. The keynote speaker is journalist and author Solmaz Khorsand. The prize money of 5,000 euros each – donated by AAFP and ORF – is intended for the development of the prize winners’ follow-up project.
The three-member jury for the Franz Grabner Prize 2024 includes:
Karin Berghammer (author, director and producer), Olga Kosanović (director and author) and Martin Kowalczyk (editor, Bayerischer Rundfunk documentary film editor).