Editor

The Viennale 2008, which will come to an end with today’s screening of the closing film Waltz With Bashir, is proud to present a successful outcome.
With a total of 92,100 Viennale-goers the 2008 festival has scored a slight increase in the number of visitors.
Last year’s record was 91,700.

Due to a larger number of screenings, the capacity sank from 79.20% in 2007 to 76.80% at the Viennale 2008.
Out of a total of 332 film screenings, 116, i.e., approximately a third, were sold out.

The capacity of feature films and documentaries in this year’s program was more or less at the same level, a circumstance that has been a distinctive feature of the Viennale for years.
Among the tributes and special programs, the program dedicated to Franz Schwartz, featuring films of the
Stadtkino distribution from the last 27 years, was a surprise hit.
The Bob Dylan tribute presenting a series of great music films that were screened at Gartenbaukino partly did not quite meet our expectations.
The special evenings that the Viennale dedicated to its guest of honor, Werner Schroeter, can be considered one of the highlights of this year’s festival. These included the screening of Malina in the presence of leading actress
Isabelle Huppert, the gala evening at Gartenbaukino presenting Schroeter’s latest film, Nuit de chien, and not least the sold-out Ingrid Caven concert at Akademietheater.

A fixed feature in the Viennale program is the annual retrospective, realized in collaboration with the Österreichisches Filmmuseum. This year’s retrospective, Los Angeles – A City in Film, was curated by American filmmaker and author Thom Andersen and was a big success with the audience: with about 4500 visitors it was one of the most successful film programs of recent years.
Another important feature of this year’s Viennale were two films commissioned especially for the festival: the
Viennale-Trailer Une catastrophe by Jean-Luc Godard and the video project Empires of Tin by Jem Cohen.
The Viennale would like to thank festival-goers, who through their curiosity, openness and joy of discovery, contributed in realizing and supporting the festival.

VIENNALE 2008 PRIZE WINNERS

VIENNA FILM PRIZE
Jury: Andrea Braidt, Dimitré Dinev, Michael Kerbler, Ernst Molden, Sylvie Rohrer
The Vienna Film Prize is chosen by a jury of five members: it is given to an Austrian feature film which has either had its official cinema release since the Viennale 2007 or was presented at the Viennale 2008. The award consists of a cash prize of euro 7000, donated by the Culture Department of the City of Vienna, a contribution in kind worth more than euro 5000, donated by the Synchro Film Video & Audio company, and film material worth euro 7000, sponsored by Kodak.
The VIENNA FILM PRIZE goes to:
Ein Augenblick Freiheit, Arash T. Riahi, Austria/France/Turkey 2008
Excerpt from the jury’s decision:
In an exciting juxtaposition of tragedy and humor, the film succeeds in conveying the reality of people while fleeing. We were impressed by the sovereign narrative style as well as the performances of the actors and actresses.

VIENNALE STANDARD READER’S JURY PRIZE
Jury: Adrian Ortner, Magdalena Pichler, Jörg Rainer, Maria Schimpf, Nadine Zielonke
The Standard Readers’ Prize goes to a film that does not yet have an Austrian film distributor and is particularly recommended to be screened in Austrian cinemas. If the award-winning film consequently finds a distributor, Der Standard supports its film start with free advertising space in its newspaper.
The STANDARD READERS’ JURY PRIZE goes to:
Momma’s Man, Azazel Jacobs, USA 2008
Excerpt from the jury’s decision:
Momma’s Man is a film that is both documentary and fictional, a pearl of American Independent Film, [...] an invaluable film that succeeds in being witty and sentimental at the same time.

FIPRESCI PRIZE (Prize of the International Federation of Film Critics)
Jury: Markus Keuschnigg (A), Diego Lerer (ARG), Norman Wilner (CDN), Neil Young (UK)
The jury of the International Federation of Film Critics gives away its renowned prize to honor a director’s first or second feature film.
The FIPRESCI PRIZE goes to:
Aquele querido mês de Agosto, Miguel Gomes, Portugal/France 2008
Excerpt from the jury’s decision:
Miguel Gomes’ Aquele querido mes de agosto brings to life a world of music, passion, romanticism and tragedy — a world both magical and mundane, populated by characters both real and fictional, which seems to be creating itself before our very eyes and, at the same time, seems to have existed forever.

GUESTS OF THE VIENNALE 2008
Festival guests, who personally present their works to audiences, have always contributed to shaping the special
character of the Viennale. At this year’s festival we were once again able to welcome many important and exciting personalities of world cinema.
A total of 129 directors and actors were present at the Viennale 2008. Among those who came to present their works and attend public talks and other festival events were: Khavn, Aysun Bademsoy, Jean-Claude Rousseau,
Jacques Doillon, Arnaud Desplechin, Christian Petzold, Kelly Reichardt, Luc Dardenne, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Joseph Strick and Murray Lerner.
Well-known musicians such as Garth Hudson and Vic Chesnutt were guests of the Viennale as well as the actresses Isabelle Huppert, Jeanne Balibar, Amira Casar and Arta Dobroshi.

The filmmakers John Gianvito and Miguel Gomes, to whom the Viennale dedicated a special program each, also accepted our invitation to come to Vienna for this occasion.