Discoveries from Austria World Cinema

A theater production.

Explores the mental state of Mozart during production of his final opera "Die Zauberflöte".

A murder case is drawing more attention to the family history of historian Adelgunde. In cooperation with a young Russian girl, who knows surprisingly much about her father, Adelgunde finds out about strictly guarded family secrets.

Documentary about the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Conchita Wurst – on the day before the live transmission of the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 from the Wiener Stadthalle.

A cinematic menage-a-trois between a photographer, a rentboy and a transsexual call girl.

An intimate portrait of the relationship between Karel Schwarzenberg, a key figure of the post-November 1989 era, and his daughter Lila Schwarzenberg. The fascinating discussions, filmed over a period of five years, also open up uncomfortable, controversial themes, such as the complex process of growing up in the shadow of a charismatic father, moreover, under the weight of aristocratic traditions and customs.

Metha performs his 4th New Year's Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic. Included are works by Johann Strauss II, Josef Strass, Joseph Hellmesberger, Johann Strauss I, and Eduard Strauss.

Intimate images of Schreiner's own family and friends' experiences, presenting them as seemingly unconnected scenes that resemble snapshots from a photo album.

A compilation film in which Puls juxtaposes pornographic material from the 1920s with footage by Michael Pilz.

John Parker mourns the loss of his brother Pete, while Jack the Madman, driven by anger, seeks revenge. Playing with time travel has consequences. Will time heal all wounds?

A guy passes by a Strawberry Stand, stops to buy a basket. His daydream starts when he immediately falls in love on first sight with the sales woman. Will his future- vison make him smarter?

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.

The film tells the story of three young men who land in an Austrian prison for various reasons. They have been sentenced for minor misdemeanors and are confronted by the prisons merciless subculture.

The lives of a Serb family are torn apart by the pressures of the not-too-distant war with the Croats. The film addresses the fundamental question "Can love survive between political enemies?"

The first Austrian feature film. Count Hubert Marischka has a passion for actress Marietta Weber, so when his wife goes to visit her mother, he invites the lady to join him at home and a masquerade. When his uncle comes to visit, he mistakes her for his nephew's wife and they all go to the costume party. Little does Marischka suspect that his wife has actually gone to a hotel and she, too, will show up in fancy dress.

Kain, a young rock musician, is on his way from an "insider tip" to an acknowledged newcomer. Even though he often has to work at night, he leads a more or less settled life until he meets Nina. Nina, who is blind from birth, works as a switchboard operator at the post office. Her life as well is settled, and more so than for Kain the order in her life is a system of security for her. They fall in love and as time passes Nina gets much more involved in Kain's life as a musician than she wanted to.

Chris Lang, a journalist from Vienna, can't believe the sinister thing he has uncovered: is a certain Schatz organizing large-scale arms trafficking and supplying components for a superweapon to Iraq? While Chris searches for answers to these questions, it turns out that his brother Thomas seems to be involved in the affair...

In Luther's beer-cellar, lusty singing extols the virtues of beer and wine. For this evening, the Muse decides to deflect the poet Hoffmann's attention from amorous escapades, so that he will devote himself entirely to his art. Hoffmann tells of the three unhappy loves of his life: Olympia, Antonia and Giulietta.

Two police officers, Roli and Ferdinand, control the road users on WIener Höhenstraße. You are literally on the border between town and country.

Having just arrived in Vienna, eight-year-old Tao is forced to watch as two men murder his relatives in their Chinese restaurant. The killers catch him too, but the boy manages to escape. When Ester, who has recently gone blind, crosses his path, he follows her into her apartment. Unfortunately, the strange woman doesn't understand his excitement. Meanwhile, LKA officers Decker and Kriesch take over the murder case. Not at all reassuring for the witness, because the two killers and the two officers are one and the same person...

In 1939, Hitler is at the height of his power and is steering Europe into a monstrous tragedy. The young Georg Elser recognizes the danger posed by the fascist system and decides to put an end to the Führer. To do so, he builds a bomb himself, which is supposed to explode during one of Hitler's events. Everything seems to be going well until Hitler ends his appearance earlier than planned...

Six big north faces of the Alps. The film consists of six films: "Die Wand der Wände" (Eger by Robert Jasper, Roger Schäli), "Das letzte Wort hat der Berg" (Matterhorn by Michael Lerjen, Jorge Ackermann), "Selig, wer in Träumen stirbt" (Grandes Jorasses by Felix Berg, Robert Steiner), "Licht und Schatten" (Piz badile by Hansjörg Auer), "Grenzen der Felskletterei" (Drei Zinnen by Alexander Huber) and "Der zerfallene Berg" (Petit Dru by Steve House, Andy Parkin).

Luis Trenker - South Tyrolean mountaineering legend, actor and director - traveled to the Venice Film Festival in the summer of 1948. He wants to offer Eva Braun's diaries to the American Hollywood agent Paul Kohner for filming. At the same time, the authenticity of these diaries is negotiated before the Munich district court. The director Leni Riefenstahl, ex-lover of Trenker, feels disgraced by the implication that she was Hitler's lover. The story is told in flashbacks of two opportunists who, possessed by the will for artistic success, instrumentalize themselves ...

Welcome to Los Angeless, hipsters, baddest of the bad cities, home of James Ellory, pre-eminent crime novelist of our generation. "All LA crime lives in me," says Ellroy, in this guided tour of the city that feeds his nightmares.

How do we live together in an age of conflict? How do you heal a divided and angry people? In their 2017 production of Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito, Peter Sellars and Teodor Currentzis examine these questions through the story of a warrior-emperor who brings peace to his divided land and pardons his own would-be assassins. Written under a time crunch (legend has it that it was written in only 18 days, although it is likely an exaggeration) during the last year of Mozart’s life, the opera is based on a libretto written more than half a century earlier by Pietro Metastasio. It was commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, and received its first public performance at the Estates Theatre in Prague on September 6, 1791.

On the first anniversary of James Horner's tragic death, we celebrate the legendary composer's greatest film scores with this Deluxe Blu-ray concert. James called this 2013 concert the 'most special moment' of his life. David Newman conducts an orchestra and choir in performances of suites from Titanic, Avatar, A Beautiful Mind, Braveheart and more! The Blu-ray also features a 75-minute symposium with James Horner discussing his creative process and some of his most loved scores.

It all begins with a mistake, an error with serious consequences: in a hospital the new-born babies of an Austrian couple and a Turkish family of immigrant workers are mixed up and go home with the wrong parents. By the time the mistake comes to light, it emerges that the Turkish family, including the baby, has been deported. The despairing Austrian couple begins a confusing odyssey through Turkey in order to track down the unsuspecting family to their native village. But they are not at all convinced that the babies have been mixed up. It is decided that the only way to know for sure is to have a blood test done. It is decided that the blood work is done in Vienna due to the better medical resources, but that will be far from simple. It will involve an illegal smuggling of the Turks across the Austrian border.

An art student takes revenge on a nasty financial shark for a prison sentence by "foisting" fake paintings on him

This may be the last journey of Domagali, Amina and Hanne and their Toubou women's caravan in the Sahara. Each fall, armed with daggers, they leave the men behind and cross the desert to sell dates in Agadez to bring back the means to survive in the village for another year. This economic responsibility gives them a special position in their society. Yet, the increasing market pressure endangers their 'business'. How will their social status change

Dutch composer Louis Andriessen collaborates with director Peter Greenaway on a commissioned short film to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the death of Mozart. Gods create Man, Music and Mozart.

Forensic psychologist Thomas Meiberger is celebrating his 30th high school reunion at a stately home. When his former schoolmate and world-famous magician Martin shows up, old conflicts resurface.

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.

Following the death of Manu (Resetarits) in a car accident, the film relates the interwoven stories of several people who become indirectly connected by the events and aftermath of the crash.

Elena Wolff submerges into the turbulent world of the young, up-and-coming art scene of Linz. In a series of episodes, Asche tells of three couples and an outsider, of alpha males and muses, of loneliness, and the urge for self-realization. In doing so, this pop satire of the art world exercises a high-volume criticism of both patriarchy and the cultural scene—including unexpected vendettas and bizarre encounters.

Klaus and Carla, two young people whose personalities are as different as night and day, are hired for a week-long trial period as salespersons for Telematic International, a computer company. They must conclude ten contracts before the company hires them permanently. This proves to be more difficult than they assumed, partly because Klaus and Carla despise each other.

The catastrophe is perfect: Gustav Klimt's world-famous "kiss" was stolen from the museum. What is a problem for some is a salvation for others. For the impoverished Count Leopold, the loss of the picture is an advantage, because now he can earn the sum insured for the family-owned work of art. For the fashion designer Isabella, theft is definitely a problem too much. Not only is her father Albert, who was supposed to guard the picture on the night of the crime, now with a heart attack in the hospital, he admits to her that the stolen Klimt made a self-made ...

Hanna loves Yann and the letters he sends her, short, poetic films recorded with an iPhone. Yann loves Hanna, but mistrusts her. He leaves her, but does not leave her alone.

The five guys of the band "Sunny Boys" go to Polynesia, where they are forced by external circumstances to throw themselves back into women clothes.

A documentary about the Innsbrucker Capellknaben, a boys' choir which was founded in 1991 to revive a musical tradition.

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.

Necessity is the mother of invention. After their stock portfolios slide into the cellar, the two friends Roderik and Fabian have set up another profitable business: the "Marriage Swindler Company". Roderik is the brilliant strategist who directs the amorous scams with a great deal of foresight. Fabian is the front man whose charm melts the hearts of the proudest women like butter in the Koh Samui sun. Fabian also tries to win the heart of Miriam Berger, the rich heiress of the famous "Siam Residence" resort, with his well-rehearsed charm charades. But then Roderik's ingenious strategy gets out of hand: Fabian actually falls in love with Miriam and stops thinking about business...

The film chronicles the story of how the Nazis and the IOC turned, to their mutual benefit, a small sports event into the modern Olympics. The grand themes and controversial issues from the 1936 Games have continued to this day: Monumentality, budget overruns, collusion with authoritarian regimes, corruption and sometimes even bribery.

Thriller about an accident victim with amnesia who may have been working as a hitman for his rescuer... After an accident, nurse Noah frees a stranger from his car. He steals the man's wallet, finds a room card inside, and drives to the hotel in the hope of finding more loot, where, to his amazement, he discovers a photo of himself and a gun. Noah feverishly searches for reasons why the man might have been targeting him. The stranger is of little help: since the accident, he can't remember anything.

Few personalities have shaped the political landscape in Austria in such a short time, polarized discussions and emotionalized people. Celebrated, criticized, admired, demonized. A portrait of a man whose name has become synonymous and a mystery.

In a valley in the Ukrainian Carpathian forest lies the small and forgotten town of Königsfeld. In 1775, the Habsburg Queen, Maria Theresa, sent a hundred foresters and their families here from the Austrian west of the kingdom. All that remains today of the now over two century-old timber industry are factory ruins, potholes in the valley road and an increasingly seldom heard German dialect. Only a few factories survived a flood that cut the village off from the rest of the world, and left it economically isolated. An atmosphere of farewell hangs heavy in the air.

Africa, Europe - Europe and Africa: Surfers live differently on each continent and Africa marks a special place - as surfing is in many places at its very beginnings. 'Beyond - An African Surf Documentary' follows locals along the coast of Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia into their homes, visits their home surf spots and takes a look into their surfing lives. Three months of shooting culminated in a 111 minute long episodic journey on a continent, that has the potential to be the next big thing in surfing.