Wolfgang Thaler

Sparta

Ewald moved to Romania years ago. Now in his 40s, he seeks a fresh start. Leaving his girlfriend, he moves to the hinterland. With young boys from the area, he transforms a decaying school into a fortress. The children enjoy a new, carefree existence. But the distrust of the villagers is soon awoken. And Ewald is forced to confront a truth he has long suppressed. Sparta is the brother film to Rimini (2022), and the conclusion of Ulrich Seidl's diptych about the inescapability of the past and the pain of finding yourself.

The Hawk

The long-lost bon vivant Mike Bittini learns that his brother has fallen into a coma. He returns to his family, sneaks in like a hawk in the chicken coop and mixes things up properly. The uncle comes to help, brings chaos and finds love.

Rimini

Richie Bravo, once upon a time a successful pop star, chases after his faded fame in wintry Rimini. Trapped between permanent intoxication and concerts for busloads of tourists, his world starts to collapse when his adult daughter breaks into his life.

Risks + Side Effects

A routine check-up reveals that the Pilates trainer Kathrin is suffering from kidney disease and needs a transplant. Her husband Arnold is a successful architect in the middle of a large project and is afraid of donating one of his kidneys. Götz, a friend of the couple's, would undergo the operation immediately if it means saving Kathrin's life - even though this causes problems with his partner Diana. Confronted by issues of life and death, the fragility of the relationships within and between the couples is laid bare. Eventually, the question can no longer be avoided: what is true love?

Toulouse

A sophisticated hotel somewhere on the French coast. Silvia and Gustav meet here, they have recently split up after 19 years of marriage. But they know each other well, and a fight begins in which Silvia always seems one step ahead. So she quickly realizes that Gustav's new, younger girlfriend is already expecting a child from him. The secret meeting between Silvia and Gustav takes a new turn when Gustav suddenly finds out that the conference center in Toulouse, where he is allegedly staying, was blown up in a terrorist attack.

Die Wunderübung

Joana and Valentin Dorek are a married couple going through a crisis. This prompts them to take a trial session with a couple’s therapist. In the therapist’s consulting room they start off with their standard programme: she won’t stop talking and he isn’t even listening. The broken communication between the couple is a real challenge for the therapist. He is almost at his wits’ end when his mobile rings and a surprising message brings chaos into their therapy session.

Safari

Africa. In the wild expanses, where bush-bucks, impalas, zebras, gnus and other creatures graze by the thousands, they are on holiday. German and Austrian hunting tourists drive through the bush, lie in wait, stalk their prey. They shoot, sob with excitement and pose before the animals they have bagged. A vacation movie about killing, a movie about human nature.

Hotel Rock'n'Roll

Mao inherits her uncle Waberl’s – a former icon of Sex, Drugs and Rock’n’Roll – hotel on the countryside. With the help of her friends Max (a wannabe entertainer with brilliant concepts but lacking structure) and Jerry (a skilled Guitarrero but less skilled chef) they try to put together a hotel band to save Rock’n’Roll as well as their bankrupt hotel.

Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe

Before Dawn charts the years of exile in the life of famous Jewish Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, his inner struggle for the "right attitude" towards the events in war torn Europe and his search for a new home.

Chucks

Mae quit school and ran away from home. After her brother’s death her family is broken. Only his red shoes (Chucks) remain. Mae has to start working in a social institution where she meets Paul. He is funny, sensitive, takes Mae as she is - and he is terminally ill. In a book named Chucks Mae writes down her own story about growing up between life and death: wild, tender and absolutely honest.

Theeb

In the Ottoman province of Hijaz during World War I, a young Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming of age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination.

Cathedrals of Culture

"If buildings could talk, what would they say about us?" CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE offers six startling responses. This 3D film project about the soul of buildings allows six iconic and very different buildings to speak for themselves, examining human life from the unblinking perspective of a manmade structure. Six acclaimed filmmakers bring their own visual style and artistic approach to the project. Buildings, they show us, are material manifestations of human thought and action: the Berlin Philharmonic, an icon of modernity; the National Library of Russia, a kingdom of thoughts; Halden Prison, the world's most humane prison; the Salk Institute, an institute for breakthrough science; the Oslo Opera House, a futuristic symbiosis of art and life; and the Centre Pompidou, a modern culture machine. CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE explores how each of these landmarks reflects our culture and guards our collective memory.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Paradise: Hope

Her mother in Kenya, 13-year-old Melanie spends her summer vacation at a strict diet camp set in the Austrian countryside. Between workouts and nutrition classes, pillow fights and first cigarettes, she falls in love with a doctor 40 years her senior.

Paradise: Faith

For Anna Maria, paradise lies with Jesus, and she devotes her time to door-to-door missionary work. One day after years of absence, her husband, an Egyptian Muslim confined to a wheelchair, comes home—and soon prayers are replaced by fighting.

Paradise: Love

On the beaches of Kenya they’re known as "Sugar Mamas" —European women who seek out African boys selling love to earn a living. Teresa, a 50-year-old Austrian and mother of a daughter entering puberty, travels to this vacation paradise, moving from beach to beach.

Termites: The Inner Sanctum

Termites are underrated. They build high rises without any technical devices that are, according to scale, 25 times higher than the the Empire State Building in New York. They are the only animals that have managed to build an air-conditioning system without electricity. How do they do it?

Whores' Glory

In Bangkok, Thailand, women punch a clock and wait for clients in a brightly lit glass box; in the red-light district of Faridpur, Bangladesh, a madam haggles over the price of a teenage girl; and in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico, crack-addicted women pray to a deity named Lady Death.

Contact High

Gangster boss Carlos orders the dodgy Viennese junkyard owner Harry to bring him a bag from Poland. Harry passes the order on to his "best man" Schorsch. Schorsch, not exactly the brightest, is currently without a driver's license and completely fixated on the 24-hour car race of Le Mans. So he gives the order to Mao and sends in their place the takeaway lessees Hans and Max to Poland. Their journey leads to a seemingly endless drug trip full of extraordinary phenomena.

Import/Export

A nurse from Ukraine searches for a better life in the West, while an unemployed security guard from Austria heads East for the same reason. Both are looking for work, a new beginning, an existence, struggling to believe in themselves, to find a meaning in life...

To the Limit

Daredevil mountain climbers on their attempt to break yet another speed climbing record.

Life in Loops (A Megacities RMX)

Timo Novotny labels his new project an experimental music documentary film, in a remix of the celebrated film Megacities (1997), a visually refined essay on the hidden faces of several world "megacities" by leading Austrian documentarist Michael Glawogger. Novotny complements 30 % of material taken straight from the film (and re-edited) with 70 % as yet unseen footage in which he blends original shots unused by Glawogger with his own sequences (shot by Megacities cameraman Wolfgang Thaler) from Tokyo. Alongside the Japanese metropolis, Life in Loops takes us right into the atmosphere of Mexico City, New York, Moscow and Bombay. This electrifying combination of fascinating film images and an equally compelling soundtrack from Sofa Surfers sets us off on a stunning audiovisual adventure across the continents. The film also makes an original contribution to the discussion on new trends in documentary filmmaking. Written by KARLOVY VARY IFF 2006

Workingman's Death

Is heavy manual labour disappearing or is it just becoming invisible? Where can we still find it in the 21st century? Workingman's Death follows the trail of the HEROES in the illegal mines of the Ukraine, sniffs out GHOST among the sulphur workers in Indonesia, finds itself face to face with LIONS at a slaughterhouse in Nigeria, mingles with BROTHERS as they cut a huge oil tanker into pieces in Pakistan, and joins Chinese steel workers in hoping for a glorious FUTURE.

Workingman's Death

Is heavy manual labour disappearing or is it just becoming invisible? Where can we still find it in the 21st century? Workingman's Death follows the trail of the HEROES in the illegal mines of the Ukraine, sniffs out GHOST among the sulphur workers in Indonesia, finds itself face to face with LIONS at a slaughterhouse in Nigeria, mingles with BROTHERS as they cut a huge oil tanker into pieces in Pakistan, and joins Chinese steel workers in hoping for a glorious FUTURE.

Hell on Wheels

Year after year hundreds of thousands of fans line the route of the Tour de France, cheering on their heroes and willing them to victory, while millions of viewers worldwide tune in on their televisions. Academy Award-winning director Pepe Danquart, fascinated by the spectacle of the three week race, chose to focus on the courage, the pain and the fear of the riders of the Tour. Training his lens on German superstar sprinter Eric Zabel and his loyal domestique Rolf Aldag, Danquart captures the thrill of the race and the teamwork behind the stars of the peleton. He also shines light on the Tour's supporting cast - the director sportifs, masseurs, and, of course, the wildly enthusiastic fans. Reveling in the stunning landscape - from the Alps to the Pyrenees to the Massif Central to Paris - and with a nice dollop of Le Tour's history, HELL ON WHEELS transcends the sport it celebrates to reveal an astonishing human endeavor.

Slugs

Three loser-type ex-students who earn too little money and don´t get laid as much as they want, try to change that by producing a home made porn movie starring themselves. They loan money from a pimp and begin casting the girls. When filming starts they find out that sex in front of the camera is hard work. Also you should know how to work a video camera. Frustration, relationship problems and cabin fever culminate in a dope induced garden orgy. But is it a film?

Hallstatt - Living Between Rock and Lake

The Austrian region of Hallstatt-Dachstein features breathtaking landscapes, crystal clear lakes and a deep historic relevance: During the Hallstatt era, 2500 years ago, the celtics built an empire on the ancient salt-mines of the region. Using the latest CGI techniques, dramatic reenactments and outstanding nature photography director Wolfgang Thaler lets this fascinating region come to life.

Blue Moon

After screwing up a money exchange a Viennese small-time crook accompanied by a Russian hostess hits the road to the East.

Dog Days

Vignettes of the lives of several residents of a Vienna suburb during a heat wave.

France, Here We Come!

FRANKREICH WIR KOMMEN is a highly enjoyable documentary, obviously intended for TV, but showing at film festivals. It shows us the highlights of the 1998 World Cup Championships in France through the eyes of several interesting and diverse fans of the Austrian national team. Entertaining, even for those not interested in football.

Automat Kalashnikov

Documentary about Mikhael T. Kalashnikov, inventior of the AK-47 assault rifle. The story of a tragic hero whose name will be synonymous with struggle and terrorism forever.

Megacities

Megacities is a documentary about the slums of five different metropolitan cities.

Fun Without Limits

An afternoon in the biggest fair of Germany.

Blut und Boden

A family has the death of a pregnant daughter on its conscience. Their hollow understanding of tradition leads them to insist on revenge by the sword, and so the girl's boyfriend must die.

An der Grenze

A film about ignorance, intolerance and the lack of responsibility in people. A political film about human kindness, which in many of the so-called "incidents on the border" has been sadly missing.

War in Vienna

A film about news, life and death. Before the media became so prevalent, we were concerned about our immediate neighborhood. At the end of the day, news was the subject of our conversations, but now it's possible to converse with someone at the other end of the globe. We do it all the time. It's simple. The world has become one big neighborhood. Now Headline News has replaced the back fence. That's the news service of the eigthies. It's a new idea and a new approach.

Das Hartmut-Wolf-System

The Hartmut-Wolf-System is a relationship between two people which adheres to strict internal and external rules. The Hartmut-Wolf-System leads to self-destruction. A face à la viennoise.

Bees - Tales from the Hive

Amazingly up-close footage filmed with specially developed lenses brings you the most intimate - and most spectacular - portrayal of a working bee colony ever filmed. It's not frightening - it's fascinating. See things you never imagined. Hear things only bees hear. Discover new-found facts about the strange and complex life of bees. Have you ever seen the high-speed mid-air "wedding flight" of a drone and his queen? Do you know how a bee colony defends itself from honey-loving bears? Did you know it takes nectar from 10 million flowers to create a single liter of honey? No wonder they're called worker bees! Bees: Tales from the Hive exposes a bee colony's secret world - detailing such rarely-seen events as the life-or-death battle between a pair of rival queens, a bee eater's attack on the hive, and a scout bee's mysterious dance that shares special "nectar directions" with the rest of the hive.

Die Stadt der Anderen

Two women in two different countries leading different lives. One lives in Austria, one in Yugoslavia, yet their lives become strangely entangled for a moment in time. What if you wake up in somebody else's head and the city around you isn't the one you used to know?