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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Austria

The Vienna Film Fund announces the recipients of its latest production and development grants

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- The institution has backed the new films by Benjamin Heisenberg, Adrian Goiginger and Kurdwin Ayub

The Vienna Film Fund announces the recipients of its latest production and development grants
Director Benjamin Heisenberg, who has received a subsidy of €40,000 for his comedy Das schwedische Modell

During the Vienna Film Fund’s fourth session of 2019, the five members of the committee (Gabor Greiner, Nicole Kellerhals, Philipp Kreuzer, Manfred Schmidt and Gerlinde Seitner) decided that 11 of the 22 projects submitted would be supported with a total sum of €3.15 million. Eight feature-film projects received production support, while three projects were aided with development grants.

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The highest grant for production (€700,000) went to Serviam – I Will Serve [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Ruth Mader
film profile
]
, the new film by Ruth Mader. The director, whose movie Struggle screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, is readying a thriller set in a Catholic boarding school for girls. Ruth Mader Filmproduktion is producing the film together with epo-film.

Furthermore, the sci-fi thriller Sojus, which will be the feature debut by Magdalena Lauritsch, was backed by the funding institution with a production grant to the tune of €650,000. The movie, which follows the crew of a spaceship as they witness the destruction of the Earth, caused by a natural disaster, is being staged by Graf Filmproduktion.

Also among the projects selected to receive production support is Adrian Goiginger’s period drama Der Fuchs, which received a production grant of €250,000. The Austrian filmmaker will follow up The Best of All Worlds [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
with a film that centres on a traumatised Austrian World War II soldier who, upon befriending a fox cub, regains his love of life. Austria’s Orbrock Filmproduktion and 2010 Entertainment are staging Der Fuchs together with German production outfits Geißendörfer Film- & Fernsehproduktion and Giganten Film.

A further production grant (of €579,000) went to Alles andere ist primär, the first feature by Tobias Dörr. The tragicomedy, which focuses on a 40-year-old man diagnosed with a brain tumour, is being produced by Film AG.

Meanwhile, Stefan Jäger’s Monte Verità [+see also:
film review
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interview: Stefan Jäger
film profile
]
 received €340,000 worth of production backing. The historical drama, which centres on a woman who joins a commune in Switzerland at the beginning of the 20th century, is being produced by KGP Kranzelbinder Gabriele Production. The same amount was allocated to the production of Kurdwin Ayub’s sophomore feature, the coming-of-age drama Sonne [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Kurdwin Ayub
film profile
]
. Staged by Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion, the film will focus on three girls who, after posting a video on YouTube, become highly popular in the Muslim community.

Produced by Navigator Film, Joerg Burger’s documentary Darwins Arche, which explores the Natural History Museum in Vienna, received a grant of €124,000. Another grant for production (of €37,500) went to Melanie Liebheit’s culinary documentary Wanderjahre, a film being produced by the Austrian and German branches of the company Horse & Fruits.

The Vienna Film Fund also handed out three grants for project development. A subsidy of €40,000 was allocated to Benjamin Heisenberg’s comedy Das schwedische Modell. The film’s title refers to a family’s strategy for handling a divorce. After their break-up, the parents allow their eight-year-old son to continue living in the flat while they take turns visiting him. Das schwedische Modell is being produced by Nikolaus Geyrhalter Film.

Development grants were also bestowed upon the TV adaptation of Christine Nöstlinger’s children's novels Geschichten vom Franz (€75,000), an animation series staged by Nikolaus Geyrhalter Film together with Arx Anima Animation Studio, and Paul Rosdy’s documentary Wien/Shanghai (€20,000). Produced by Rosdy Film, the latter will focus on three Austrian artists – filmmakers Jakob and Luise Fleck, and musician Ferdinand Adler – who fled to China to escape the Nazis.

The Austrian funding institution also announced the results of its third session of the year for television projects. In this funding slate, a total amount of €989,958 was split among 15 projects.

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