From December 17th with, among others, “Single Bells”, “O Palmenbaum”, “Schrille Nacht”, “Actually… Love”, “Kevin alone – at home” and “Love needs no holidays”
Vienna (OTS) – Sipping eggnog with Lilibet and Sissi, jetting to Mauritius with your lovely family, dancing through Downing Street with Hugh Grant, getting lost at home and in New York with Kevin or diving into a dreamy, wintry cottage with Cameron Diaz – ORF 1 shortened in the last week of Advent from Sunday, December 17, 2023, with popular Christmas classics such as “Schrille Nacht”, “Actually… Love”, “Single Bells”, “O Palmenbaum”, “Kevin – home alone”, “Kevin alone in New York” and “Love doesn’t need a vacation” the waiting time for the Christ child.
“Shrill Night” (Sunday, December 17th, 8:15 p.m., ORF 1)
Funny, grueling, forgiving, absurd, emotional, catastrophic, loving and unique – on December 24th, in the middle of what is supposed to be the quietest time of the year, everything is possible! And that’s exactly what the ORF episode film “Schrille Nacht” tells about. Sarah Wassermair, Aleksandar Petrovic, Faris Rahoma and Arman T. Riahi, Maria Hinterkörner, Mischa Zickler, Kathrin Resetarits and Pia Hierzegger are the top-class team of authors of the seven ten to 20 minute episodes that cover the festive palette of the Christmas tree disaster cover until the Christmas miracle. Mirjam Unger as well as Arash T. Riahi and Arman T. Riahi jointly directed this special project, which was joined by many audience favorites: in front of the camera were, among others, Faris Rahoma, Julia Edtmeier, Roland Düringer, Inge Maux, Simon Schwarz, Lukas Resetarits, Ferdinand Seebacher, Sonja Chan, Susi Stach, Dietrich Siegl, Maddalena Hirschal, Aleksandar Petrovic, Martin Leutgeb, Kathrin Resetarits, Martina Ebm, Damyan Andreev, Klaus Rott, Margarethe Tiesel, Helene Stupnicki, Sebastian Wendelin and Rafael Schuchter.
“Actually… Love” (Sunday, December 17th, 9:50 p.m., ORF 1)
Ten extraordinary stories that interweave into one on Christmas Eve: A prime minister falls in love with the young woman who serves the tea, a writer seeks peace and quiet in the south of France and finds a love without words there, a rock star experiences a private comeback with his manager – 20 years ago, acclaimed screenwriter Richard Curtis (“Notting Hill,” “Bridget Jones: Chocolate for Breakfast,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral”) created an X-Mas cult classic with his directorial debut “Love Actually.” , which has not lost its magic to this day. A well-known cast of actresses – from Hugh Grant and Emma Thompson to Colin Firth, Keira Knightley and Rowan Atkinson to Billy Bob Thornton, Heike Makatsch and Alan Rickman – appeared together in front of the camera in 2003 for the Christmas ensemble romantic comedy.
“Single Bells” (Monday, December 18th, 8:15 p.m., ORF 1)
“Cultural like ‘Dinner for One’ and wonderfully evil! This film should come back to the gift table every year.” This recommendation, which “Der Spiegel” once made for the bizarre Austrian Christmas satire “Single Bells”, is being honored again this year by the ORF when a dacapo of the popular film classic by Ulli and Xaver Schwarzenberger from 1997 is on the program. And so the audience can expect a reunion with the audience favorites Mona Seefried, Erwin Steinhauer, Martina Gedeck, Gregor Bloéb, Johanna von Koczian and the chamber actress Inge Konradi, who died in 2002, who play a family in the normal Christmas madness.
“CopStories: Silent Night” (Monday, December 18th, 10:40 p.m., ORF 1)
It should be a “Silent Night” when the “CopStories” are told in feature length. However, there is no trace of this in Ottakring on Christmas Eve: Santa Claus shot the Christ child – but with all the Santa Clauses roaming the streets shortly before the presents are handed out, finding clues is anything but easy. Directed by Barbara Eder, Johannes Zeiler, Serge Falck, Martin Zauner, Claudia Kottal, Murathan Muslu, Kristina Bangert, Martin Leutgeb, Holger Schober, Michael Steinocher, Barbara Kaudelka and David Miesmer were in front of the camera for the ORF Christmas special. The script was written by Karin Lomot and Mike Majzen.
“O Palmenbaum” (Tuesday, December 19th, 8:15 p.m., ORF 1)
In the spring of 2000 – as a sequel to the Christmas classic “Single Bells” by Ulli and Xaver Schwarzenberger, which was first broadcast in 1997 – the comedy “O Palmenbaum” was created in Vienna and Mauritius. In the sequel, which is on the ORF gift table, there is also no lack of biting and turbulent interludes: A year after the disastrous Christmas in the family, the film couple Kati (Martina Gedeck) and Jonas (Gregor Bloéb) decide to spend Christmas away this time to celebrate the relatives in the south – in Mauritius. There is also another special reason for this trip, on which they will also accompany Kati’s sister Luiserl (Mona Seefried) and brother-in-law Joe (Erwin Steinhauer). But no one expected the family spirit of the two headstrong grandmothers Omama and Lilibet (Inge Konradi and Johanna von Koczian). Elisabeth Orth, Proschat Madani and Stephan Paryla-Raky appeared in front of the camera in guest roles. As with “Single Bells”, the script for this comes from Ulli Schwarzenberger; Xaver Schwarzenberger was once again the director and camera.
“Kevin – Home Alone” (Wednesday, December 20th, 8:15 p.m., ORF 1)
The Christmas classic and at the same time the breakthrough for the then ten-year-old Macaulay Culkin: When he rushes off on his Christmas vacation, eight-year-old Kevin is forgotten at home by his parents. He soon makes the acquaintance of two strange crooks (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) who want to take advantage of the residents’ absence. Determined to defend the house, Kevin resorts to methods borrowed from television and comics.
“Kevin – Alone in New York” (Wednesday, December 20th, 10 p.m., ORF 1)
It’s Christmas again, Kevin is forgotten again: the parents lose their protégé in the crowd at the airport and fly to sunny Miami without him. Equipped with Daddy’s credit card, he ends up in New York. There, Kevin meets the same crooks he has already put behind bars. Director Chris Columbus directed part 2 of the comedy just two years after “Home Alone”.
“Love doesn’t need a vacation” (Sunday, December 24th, 8:15 p.m., ORF 1)
The American Amanda and the British Iris have one thing in common:
Lovesickness. And to get over it, the two decide to take a break and swap houses over the Christmas holidays. But “love doesn’t need a vacation” – and so the love of their lives soon awaits the two of them on their turbulent escape from relationships when Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jude Law and Jack Black give each other the door handle. Genre professional Nancy Meyers (“What Women Want”, “What the Heart Desires”) directed the enchanting romantic comedy and also provided the script.