Discoveries from Austria World Cinema

Several generations of Mullers go to war with each other over their family business, the main branch of which is about to go belly-up.

A study of a man's physical and mental limitations. In the 24 quite harsh and grueling fragments of the unfinished drama, a body and a mind are tested as far as they can be pushed before their owner goes over the edge. Is there just one thing that proves to be too much for Franz Woyzeck, or is it an accumulation of miseries and torments of a wretched existence? Woyzeck is perhaps not so much a bleak account of how miserable life can be as how much strength is required to deal with the daily vicissitudes of life and how delicate and fragile a balance the human psyche rests on.

In Hamburg, the general manager of Merkur Insurance is full of praise for his top-selling agent, Harry Weber. As a reward for his services, he grants him his heart's desire: a pilot's license. Naturally, the flight school is located in an idyllic small town that the insurance company hasn't yet developed. The head of the Bergen Gymnasium located there is Oskar Weber, Harry's twin brother, whom he lost touch with 20 years ago. Everyone now considers Harry the strict headmaster, and who would refuse him the good advice to sign a contract with Merkur? Until the two brothers finally come face to face, they trigger the most confusing situations, which culminate in a joyful happy ending with a lap of honor followed by a crash landing.

She is the toughest officer in the Vienna police force. He would be the smartest heir to the throne Austria has ever had. But this double murder pushes the unusual investigative duo to their limits and beyond. After the double murder of high-ranking civil servants Ehrlacher and März in the Vienna Woods, Lieutenant Colonel Nassau and Major Malzer are tasked with discreetly investigating whether the victims were involved in criminal activities. During a search of Ehrlacher's apartment, Nassau shoots one of the attackers. The attacker bears the tattoo of a mafia organization that has been considered dismantled for years. The same tattoos are also discovered during the autopsies of the victims.

Journalist Will Roczinsky is dead. He was investigating UFO sightings. A TV broadcast summarizes the events up to his death. When broadcast at the time, viewers believed to be watching a documentary instead of a teleplay.

In WWII Munich, Anna works for a Nazi family as a nanny but secretly steals food and cigarettes and bring those to a Jewish family, who hides from the Nazis. One day, the family is discovered and only by chance can Anna save the family's only daughter, Franziska. Together they escape to Anna's native village where Anna tells everybody that Franziska is her daughter...

Another one of those stories we hear almost every day: refugees are picked up on Austria's border after a dramatic chase. And then nothing more is heard of them. The problem is apparently resolved in the usual way, through incarceration and deportation. But it's different this time: the story continues in Ghana, where everything is suddenly turned upside down.

A road trip in the truest sense: shifts, irritations, motion at the levels of image and sound, in all directions. Like a distillate of a “best-of” road movie, Billy Roisz and Dieter Kovačič condense cinema to pure trip – moving past colorful image surfaces that fluctuate between abstraction and depiction.

Baker Katharina Achternhagen and pastry chef Alberto Puccini have been neighbors for almost 20 years. As their ideas about baked goods could not be more different, they have nothing but derision for each other. While Puccini offers real sugar bombs, Achternhagen is only interested in wholemeal products. Both have successful businesses with regular customers for years. The quality of their baked goods also speaks for itself. Puccini wins awards from the bakers' guild year after year and Achternhagen's Kraftmeier bread has also won several awards. Only this year, Achternhagen also won the cake competition with its diet cake. This is mainly due to the fact that the new chairman of the bakers' guild, Günter Zichorius, has secretly fallen in love with Achternhagen.

A movie theater in the suburbs of Vienna. At the end of the show, a corpse is suddenly sitting in the auditorium. The mysterious tie murderer has struck again. Together with her friend Schorsch - the head waiter of the "Nachtigall" - the cinema owner Hermine wants to get rid of the "business-damaging" corpse inconspicuously. Mutual suspicions begin among the patrons of the restaurant.

Consul Keyser, a factory owner, is vacationing with his daughter Marion on a Mediterranean island, hoping to bring her together with his assistant Dr. Thomas Steffen. On this island, however, the passionate fisherman Michael Lutz and his somewhat neglected admirer Barbara Holstein already spend their vacations.Michael asks the singer Bob Stuart, together with his band in their ghost costumes to drive away the annoying newcomers again. However, it no longer comes to this, because on behalf of Gina, the wife of the local police chief, real gangsters appear with the tourists and finally flee with their dinghy. So now the vacationers have to rely on each other willy-nilly, and the couples finally find each other.

In the village of Öd, a village with a population of just over a thousand, a stork is placed in the garden of Adam Möschl, a former host of the Schlagerparade (pop music parade), and his wife Dietlinde. However, she is not expecting a child. The stork may mean that Adam is having an affair, and that she is expecting a child. Soon after, he is found dead. After it appears to be an accident, station commander Magnus Tröger believes there is no murder case. Dietlinde, on the other hand, is convinced that her husband was driven to his death by the postwoman Liesl. Liesl doesn't believe it was an accident either; she has to prove that she had nothing to do with Adam's death.

With a certain degree of audacity, Girardi from Graz manages to gain a foothold at the Strampfertheater, a well-attended traditional theater in Vienna. However, his engagement as a new comedian leads to fierce competition with the theater's established star, Felix Schweighofer. Girardi's plans to entertain the audience at a high level are ultimately crowned with success, even though he is long underrated. He is hired by the Theater an der Wien, where, during rehearsals for a new operetta, he even persuades the strict Johann Strauss to compose an additional waltz for him. Girardi distills his special brand of comedy from events beyond the stage, from his own experiences. Confidently, the actor rises to become a favorite with the audience, against all odds. All of Vienna is enthusiastic about Girardi, singing his songs and applauding his shows.

The young veterinarian Christine from Vienna stands on the sunny side of life. She is in a relationship with the attractive management consultant Alexander, has just completed her doctorate and is looking forward to a dream job. And she is also unexpectedly pregnant. But after an altercation with Alexander, she loses the child. She desperately flees to her father Georg, a painter to whom she had no contact for many years. He lives on an inherited family estate in Saxony. But instead of rest there is new excitement. At the neighboring riding school she gets together with coach Markus. His rude methods of horse education do not suit her at all. After some difficulties, the two get together and she can also win the trust of a difficult, valuable horse.

Oskar has been working as a guardian angel for over 30 years and is increasingly weary of his task. It's a good thing he's about to retire, or rather, be sent to heaven. But due to a moment of carelessness, two of his clients die, including Mira, who is assigned to him from now on – as an angel in training. Because of his misconduct, Oskar will be denied eternal paradise.

The master of the house developed his culinary skills to such an extent that he poached 'the' chef and hired him for his household in New York. Lilli flies to New York with her private secretary William, where she cooks for her unknown boss using every trick in the book. During a walk she meets a young man with whom she ultimately falls in love.

A seriously injured man calls with his last strength for special investigator Alexander Haller. It's his friend and former colleague Scherf, who until recently was in prison for the murder of his wife. When Haller arrives at the hospital, the dying man can only offer him two enigmatic requests. A new case begins for Alexander, one that reawakens old doubts.

The experiences and adventures of three “thirty-something” buddies who involuntarily find themselves caught up in civil unrest. At first it is simply a jaunt in their boss ‘Porsche’ which their “borrow” without permission to drive to Triest, however, it becomes an adventure.

During his work as chief reporter for DDC-TV, a German-speaking television station in the USA, Dennis Mascarenas has met some pretty strange people and gotten into quite a few hairy situations. But when he is asked to make a film about the Germans' relationship to the moon, it is the beginning of the craziest and most unbelievable assignment of his career. 'The Moon Conspiracy' is like a glimpse into Pandora's Box: it takes Dennis and his audience on a surreal journey into hidden universes, only to end up at the frozen bottom of the German soul.

A number of horrific murders of women take place in a big city. The police follows a lead to a young man named Jesse. The evicence is overwhelming and Jesse desperately tries to prove his innocence. Suddenly his girlfriend is in mortal danger.

In the space of a short 65 minutes, a woman enters the luxury apartment of a wealthy man with an eccentric fascination for the female form and is paid both for her sexual favors and for lying there naked and letting him examine the aesthetics of her body. For most of the hour, as the concise narration of Marguerite Duras' novel on eroticism and aesthetics fills the aural gaps, actress Marie Colbin's form fills the visual gaps. But unless viewers consider the feminine eyeball or microscopic views of skin exotic and worth lingering over, the eroticism lies more in the imagination than on the screen. In fact, the female body lying on the bed, taken away from the spirit that animates it, is really just a corpse -- raising the question, exactly what is the "malady of death?"

The students of a Vienna High School participate in the games of a newly formed student's soccer league. After winning their first game, all they can think of is sport; they are encouraged by their gym teacher and school director who feel it's good for the school and its prestige. Coming of age film

A security guard working at an art museum in Vienna crosses paths with a Canadian woman in town to visit her ailing cousin.

In 1952, a train journey to Oslo becomes a battleground when a journalist and her husband confront a man who claims to have saved thousands during WWII. As questions arise about his true motives, the line between hero and opportunist blurs.

ORF chief director Michael Kögler met the legend again 30 years after his multi-award-winning documentary “Die Franz Klammer Story”. Never-before-broadcast material from the ORF archives provides deep insights into the career and life of the most successful downhill skier in alpine skiing history.

The story centers on tough police officer Alex Steiner, whose brother Tommi is shot in an assassination attempt and ends up in the emergency room of the sharp-tongued young doctor Rita. While Alex tangles with a cold-blooded underground organization in his hunt for those responsible, Rita discovers that the bullet in the young man's body isn't the only reason for his condition, which is deteriorating by the minute. Alex and Rita find themselves in a race against time, and with every new clue, they get closer not only to the diagnosis and the perpetrator, but also to each other.

Alois, Wendelin, Schani and Franz operate an auto repair shop in Vienna. One evening, Alois fishes the suicidal Hannerl out of the Danube and takes her to live with him. The timid and taciturn woman soon disappears however, and with her, a large amount of cash out of the shop's cash register. A disappointed Alois wishes to forget about her, but his three friends look for Hannerl and the money. As it turns out, she's married to the smuggler Kerrylis, who forces her to take part in his business; that's why she tried to kill herself. When Kerrylis is found dead, Alois is suspected of being the murderer.

Two twin brothers working in a Vienna fair and who are both gifted for singing meet different luck both in love and their careers.

Augustus is reputed to have been a violent, adventurous, power-hungry and unscrupulous warlord. Yet as founder of the Roman Empire, he ushered in a period of peace and prosperity. Drawing on the analysis of several historians, this documentary traces an extraordinary destiny: posthumously adopted by his great-uncle Julius Caesar, Octavian, the future Augustus, accepted an inheritance fraught with consequences. Having made his own empire prosper, he wrote his political will at the age of 76, without naming an heir. How was the succession of this childless strategist organized?

Facing the loss of her youthfulness, Matilda finds herself at a turning point in her life. Refreshing encounters and unexpected longings force her to face rigid self-understandings with new openness. A surprising and empathetic look at the lives of young adults.

When the body of a postman is found on Lake Neusiedl, the investigation shows that it is probably a robbery, and several of the villagers fall into the circle of suspects: Five young men now need an alibi. Walter was with Elisabeth on the night of the murder, but cannot rely on her support. She is not only the sister of Stephan, who is also suspected, but also the fiancée of the gendarme who is leading the investigation into the case.

A study of a man's physical and mental limitations. In the 24 quite harsh and grueling fragments of the unfinished drama, a body and a mind are tested as far as they can be pushed before their owner goes over the edge. Is there just one thing that proves to be too much for Franz Woyzeck, or is it an accumulation of miseries and torments of a wretched existence? Woyzeck is perhaps not so much a bleak account of how miserable life can be as how much strength is required to deal with the daily vicissitudes of life and how delicate and fragile a balance the human psyche rests on.

In 2001, twelve singing divas from all over the world gathered in Taormina, in the world-famous Greek amphitheater. Under the direction of André Heller, they let their unique voices ring out in the magically illuminated venue. This "festival of the last prima donnas" included, among others, the American star soprano Jessye Norman, the "Voice of Africa" ​​Ami Koita, the jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater, hailed as the "new Ella Fitzgerald," as well as the highly successful Israeli pop singer Noa and her Arab-Palestinian counterpart Amal Murkus, the "Piaf of the Gypsies" Esma Redzepova, and the reincarnation of Naples music, Lina Sastri.

The big revue star Marietta falls in love and gives up the stage career. The theatre stands before the bankruptcy. Only when her husband has convinced himself that she will remain loyal to him, Marietta may go on working. Revue film according to pattern: a lot of music, sturdy situation comic and popular stars.

Trixi Jancik leads a risky double life. At home, she is an obedient housewife. But when she puts on a disguise and goes to the racetrack to indulge in her secret passion, she catches a glimpse of a better life. Although she blows her grocery money, she has tasted the kind of luxury she can normally only dream about. A minor squabble at home brings the situation to a head and marks a turning point in her life: Trixi fixes her husband a lethal cocktail of pills.

In an epic tale of good versus evil, Faust sells his soul to the Devil and tries to save Marguerite from an eternity in Hell.

After a truck carrying a cargo of narcotics is held up by rival smugglers, the driver sets out to prove his innocence.

As times get tougher in the Arab world, people reminisce about the greatest diva of all time: Asmahan. Today, many Arabs go to Vienna in search of the dream that was whispered to them. But things are not that simple. Singer and actress Asmahan is a Syrian princess who emigrated to Egypt in the 1920s and where she enjoyed a career in show business, eventually becoming an Egyptian Diva.

After nearly two decades of wedded bliss, Rosemarie and Hubert Haller's marriage is a shambles. While Rosemarie begins an affair with Bernd, a self-proclaimed guru, adventuresome charmer Hubert finds refuge in the arms of Monica. At the last moment, Hubert and Rosemarie realize that they still have a chance for a future together.

For Neele and her life partner Steff, the dream of having one's own child finally seems to come true: Steff is pregnant. However, there was a confusion in the artificial insemination - instead of their carefully selected sperm donor, they caught a sperm donation from a gay couple: Kalle and Jens also want a baby and consider the confusion as a kind of coincidence. While the two men look forward to their time as active fathers, Neele and Steff see their harmonious trinity at risk.

Beautiful Vienna during the Austro-Hungarian era. Lixie, a court councilor's daughter raised in a middle-class family, has fallen in love with the piano teacher Toni. To make a good impression on Lixie's strict father, Toni urgently needs a job. Then chance comes to Lixie's aid. At the Hotel Sacher, she meets Archduke Peter Ferdinand, the very man who could help Toni. But the Archduke only has eyes for Lixie. An unsuitable love affair develops between the two, which quickly escalates into a political scandal in Vienna's high society.

A Belarusian model dreaming of a career in China finds herself drawn to a mysterious loner who works the night shift at a morgue. Their encounter unsettles her sense of body, beauty, and mortality. The fragile love story of two outsiders who turn each other’s worlds upside down and discover that they are not alone.

The film tells the story of a young Jewish woman who, during the Nazi era, is hidden by her friend, treated in a hospital using her identity papers, and dies there. As a result, her friend loses her official identity. For the first time, the question of the behavior of friends, neighbors, caretakers, and strangers during the persecution of Vienna's Jewish population is raised. Ostensibly, "The Other Life" is a gripping play on identity, but overall, it is an astonishing demonstration of the civil courage of Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1897-1976), who, shortly after the war, addressed the then-taboo subject of the persecution of the Jews in his literary work. The ambitious film studio of the Theater in der Josefstadt, which did not last long, took up the material and filmed it with the theater's actors.

Benjamin Levi (Bruno Cathomas) is a Bavarian cattle dealer traveling to pre-World War II Germany on his annual trip to a remote farming village. Levi hopes to do some business and, more importantly, win the hand of the lovely Lisbeth (Caroline Ebner). But Nazi propaganda has gripped the small community and poisoned it forever. Now, Levi and Lisbeth are targets of hate in this provocative and shocking drama.

Rita was always the richest, prettiest and most spoiled of the five friends. She always had everything under control. Even back then, at the time of the "incident." Now, years later, she's in charge once again. Her plan is to surprise her friends with a weekend in her family's remote and secluded hunting lodge. A spoiled and bitter young woman, she knows the power she wields. If she wants them to laugh, they laugh; if she wants them to forget the incident that is their dark and private secret, they must remain silent. With plentiful schnapps, uninvited guests and pent-up recriminations on the verge of explosion, the emotional turmoil inside the lodge is more violent than the storm brewing outdoors… Charlotte, the doubter, is no longer willing to ignore the past, and seeks atonement. Then Rita is found murdered. They know that one of them did it – and that they all had good reasons to do so.

Herbert lives a rather simple life, left to his own devices. He works as a projectionist in a shabby Viennese movie theater and lives alone with his red nameless cat in the free caretaker's apartment of a somewhat run-down apartment building. Now and then he visits his mother in a nursing home, meets with an old friend of his father, or comes to meetings of a savings club. Saving money is pretty much the center of his life because he has a dream. He wants to emigrate to the U.S. to buy his own movie theater and to reunite with his long-lost father. But when Rita, a young student, moves into the apartment building things in his life are changed completely.

The short film tells the story about three brothers who try to dive back into their childhood by re-enacting an old family picture.

Two directors shoot a documentary about the controversial director and pugnacious actor Peter Kern. But he cannot be easily rammed into the classical form of a documentary.

Something terrible happens at a Croatian wedding in the municipality of Stinatz: the bride disappears without a trace after “stealing the bride“. None of those present can explain what could have happened to her.

In the dark year 2204, the world has seen 73 years of continuous war. The face of conflict has changed. People kill people but they now rely on giant, intelligent battle machines to fight. Mankind has re-discovered Shamanism and the Generals on both sides use these well-trained spiritual warriors to face the threat of machines.

During a joint operation by Czech and Austrian police officers against an illegal rave party in the border forest, young Austrian policewoman Johanna tragically dies and a Czech drug dealer named Sicilian disappears mysteriously. A rookie cop refuses to let the killer of his colleague go unpunished.

Split into three episodes, this film examines extrasensory perception, reincarnation and telepathy.

Because they got into a fight with party animal and mayoral candidate Benny Jagschitz, Flo Kienzl was thrown out of the police and Eddi Kovac went to jail. Now Eddi is on probation, just about to start a new life, when Flo stands on the mat: worn out, clever and with a really good reason.