For the first time in its 70-year history, the mdw’s Department of Film and Television – Film Academy Vienna can boast its own cinema. The Film Academy’s move into its new facilities in the Future Art Lab on the mdw’s main campus at Anton-von-Webern-Platz two years ago went hand in hand with the comprehensive expansion of its technical and spatial infrastructure both for teaching and for student film productions. And at the beginning of the 2022/23 winter semester, the Dolby-certified Arthouse Cinema on the Future Art Lab’s ground floor finally opened its doors to the general public for the first time.
“I’m delighted that the Film Academy now has the ability to realise every step of a film’s production in one location and thus simulate the entire reality of film for our students,” said Rector Ulrike Sych in her introductory remarks at the inaugural public screening. Department heads Danny Krausz and Oliver Kunz pointed out the improvements for students thanks to the diverse functionalities of this in-house movie theatre. Located within shouting distance of the film studios, the Arthouse Cinema will be used in teaching as well as for postproduction, colour grading, and sound mixing, and it will also give rise to a new, direct connection between the mdw’s film students and moviegoers in its capacity as a public event space.
