In a film industry somehow capable of rescuing itself from crisis to crisis, as part of which its magic is being systematically stripped away layer by layer, location sound has a smaller and smaller role to play. It has separated from filmmaking as such to become something like a peculiar accessory of the film industry.

Barbara Albert, Jessica Hausner and Karina Ressler are the protagonists oft the first three volumes of the book series Aus der Werkstatt [From the Workshop], based on an ongoing oral history project of the Media and Film Studies chair at Film Academy Vienna. In wide-ranging workshop conversations, the filmmakers discuss their artistic work and provide insights into their cinematic thinking and the methods by which they proceed.

Police officer Nancy is torn between her responsibility and her compassion for the family, who’ve been living in Austria for a long time and are blindsided when the police show up. For this stirring short film, Film Academy Vienna alumnus Mark Gerstorfer and his Film Academy team won a Student Academy Award in gold in the Narrative category.

The #MeToo movement and especially last year’s debates in Austria regarding abuses of power on film sets have shifted a new, previously little-known job description into focus: that of “intimacy coordinator” (IC), for which EU-recognised training now exists.

The twelfth edition of the Seoul International Extreme-Short Image & Film Festival (SESIFF) has sent out its invitations, and among their recipients is a six-person film delegation from Vienna. The reason is 130 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the festival’s “Austria Focus” in 2022. Several short films from Film Academy Vienna (including Bato Nebo, Echthaar, and Fische) are to be screened as their own block, a master class with director Magdalena Chmielewska (Lullaby) is scheduled, and The Best Orchestra in the World will be shown as part of the opening event.

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.

Since 2015, EFP – European Film Promotion has been introducing ten outstanding young directors along with their current films in the Future Frames section of each year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Several Film Academy Vienna students having been represented there over the past few years, and this year once again saw a film make it into the official selection: Magdalena Chmielewska presented her Max Ophüls Prize-winning film Lullaby at the festival, and she spoke with mdw Magazin about the significance of such a film festival invitation and why she’s always thinking about her next project.