OUTCOME OF THE VIENNALE 2017

The Viennale 2017 came to a successful close with the gala screening of the film LA VILLA by Robert Guédiguian. Despite fewer screenings in 2017 the total number of 91,700 visitors (as compared to 92,300 in 2016) has remained almost the same. The percentage of seats sold increased slightly to 82.6%. A bit more than a third of the screenings at the Viennale 2017 were sold out.

“Of course, I’m really happy about the absolute numbers and increased utilization, but what’s even more important to me is the audience’s enthusiastic response to the program. I’m convinced that this enthusiasm will have a positive effect on the next cinematic year,” says Franz Schwartz, the interim artistic director of the Viennale.

Among this year’s special programs the homage to Hans Hurch was a huge success. The program Napoli! Napoli!, devoted to new Neapolitan cinema, also clearly succeeded our expectations.

Highlights of this year’s festival included, in addition to the great premieres at Gartenbaukino of a series of new Austrian films, the opening film LUCKY, shown in the presence of director John Carroll Lynch, who, following the screening, also captivated the audience at a discussion in the Viennale festival center. As expected, the visit of the Austrian Hollywood star Christoph Waltz on the occasion of a tribute dedicated to him at the Viennale triggered enormous interest among the media and the public. In addition, the appearance of the iconic British actress Vanessa Redgrave and the great French actor and director Mathieu Amalric were real festival highlights.

The new Viennale Festival Center at Kunsthalle Wien im Museumsquartier proved to be a success among visitors. It absolutely won over the audiences, both as a place for in-depth talks and discussions as well as a location for concerts and parties.

Organized in collaboration with the Filmmuseum, the great retrospective UTOPIA AND CORRECTION: Soviet Cinema, 1926–1940 and 1956–1977, showing until November 30, will have an estimated total of 3,600 visitors.

Abel Ferrara: HANS 

In July of this year, Hans Hurch travelled to Rome to meet Abel Ferrara and discuss the terms and content for a potential Viennale trailer with him. Following Hurch’s unexpected death, Ferrara conceived the trailer as an obituary: We see a landscape at dusk and hear music and children crying in the distance. The face of the late Viennale director is superimposed, his first name pronounced by an electronically distorted voice that can hardly be understood. Captured in an extremely aesthetic manner, a photo of Bob Dylan in his youth and an emblematic image of John Ford with a black patch over his eye are rolling past.

Abel Ferrara’s trailer is a phantasmagoria, a visual game of deception, combining some of the things that were important to Hans Hurch with dream-like sequences and celebrating a moment of utmost existential compression.

In his accompanying note, Ferrara wrote: “A small thank you to someone who constantly and consistently maintained the dream of the eternal cinema.”

HANS
Abel Ferrara (A/I 2017, 1'27")

Concept & realisation: Rainer Dempf
© Viennale

International media representatives who covered the Viennale 2017 included journalists from Le Monde, Libération, France24 TV (France), Süddeutsche Zeitung, Deutschlandradio Kultur (Germany), Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Switzerland), Expresso (Portugal), Il Messaggero (Italy), Ethnos, Ta Nea (Greece), Politika (Serbia), Monitor (Croatia), BBC World (UK). In addition, a large number of representatives from international specialist and industry publications attended the festival, including Cahiers du cinéma, Sight & Sound, Film Comment, Cinemascope, De Filmkrant, 4:3, Cineuropa, Cinepur, mubi.com, theartsdesk.com, kinozeit.de, critic.de, artechock.de, mediacritica.it, Filmögon, Ekran, Film International, Cinephilia, Altyazi, and twitchfilm.com. Furthermore, we welcomed representatives of the Berlinale and the film festivals in Locarno, Lisbon, Rotterdam, Toronto, Mar del Plata, Mexico City, Oberhausen, Munich, Prague, Warsaw, Seoul, Jeonju City, and Pingyao, among many others.

A total of about 650 media and industry representatives were accredited at the Viennale 2017.

We’re looking forward to seeing you again at the 2018 festival.

2017 the VIENNA FILM AWARD was awarded to:

Feature
DIE LIEBHABERIN, Lukas Valenta Rinner, A/Südkorea/Argentinien 2016

Documentary
UNTITLED, Michael Glawogger, Monika Willi, A/D 2017

Jury: Gregor Eichinger, Till Fellner, Olga Flor, Bettina Hering, Voodoo Jürgens.

In 2017 the Erste Bank ExtraVALUE Film Award  was awarded to:

GWENDOLYN, Ruth Kaaserer, A 2017

Jury: Silvia Bohrn, Nicolas Mahler, Boris Manner.

2017 the FIPRESCI-PRIZE was awarded to:

Jury: Robenson Eksiel (Flix.gr), Iryna Marholina (Seance.ru), Michael Omasta (FALTER)

In 2017 the STANDARD READERS JURY AWARD was awarded to:

Jury: Robert Jolly, Gabriele Keller, Michael Schober, Selina Ströbele, Julia Tanzer.

A selection of the best photos of the Viennale 2017:

After five years in the "Old Post", which was no more available due to construction works, the Viennale festival center moved into the KUNSTHALLE WIEN at the Museumsquartier. This great location hosted the festival guests and has been a perfect place for parties, concerts and interesting discussions.

«Palm Spring's Finest» DJ Day opened this year's Viennale party. It was followed by evenings with live concerts by Amp Fiddler, Mirac, Photay aka Evan Shornstein and drummer Daniel Schreiber. The list of DJs: Drehli Robnik, Booty Carrell, DJ Coolman, DJ Zuzee and Mrs. Zee.