VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in July in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, capital of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. The festival focuses on independent cinema.

History

The Vienna Independent Film Festival was held for the first time on 4–7 July 2016 in the cinemas UCI Kinowelt Millenium City and CineCenter. The festival program consisted of 38 films from 14 countries in international competition. Opening film of the festival was '' God of Happiness'' by

Dito Tsintsadze Dito Tsintsadze ( ka, დიტო ცინცაძე; born 2 March 1957) is a Georgian film director and screenwriter. He has directed thirteen films since 1988. His film '' Lost Killers'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the ...

who won the Best Director award. Grand Prix of the festival – The Golden Sphinx – was awarded to the Konkani film '' Let's dance to the rhythm'' directed by Bardroy Barretto. Graham Streeter received the Best Feature Film award for his film '' Imperfect Sky''. The award for Best Documentary Film was awarded to ''Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust'' narrated by

Adrien Brody Adrien Nicholas Brody (born April 14, 1973) is an American actor. He received widespread recognition and acclaim after starring as Władysław Szpilman in Roman Polanski's '' The Pianist'' (2002), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Acto ...

and directed by Lance Shultz.

Winners

2022

Grand Prix *''Playing Through'' – directed by Balbinka Korzeniowska Best Feature Film *''Playing Through'' – directed by Balbinka Korzeniowska Best Director *Balbinka Korzeniowska – ''Playing Through'' Best Short Film *''Živa'' (The Death of the Goddess Živa) – directed by Nataša Stearns Best Music video *''Frozen Heart'' – directed by Nina Guseva Best Documentary Film *''Ballymanus'' – directed by Patrick Sharkey, Séan Doupe Best Experimental Film *''Blue Delusion'' – directed by Guan Fang Best Musical Film *''Big Boss'' – directed by

Keke Palmer Lauren Keyana "Keke" Palmer (born August 26, 1993) ( ) is an American actress, singer and television personality. Known for playing leading and character roles in comedy and drama productions, she has received a Primetime Emmy Award, five NAACP I ...

Best Comedy Film *''Hot Mess'' by Evelyne Tollman Best Animated Film *''Me and My Winter Games-Perfect Holiday'' – directed by Haoling Lee, Ming Zhong, Zhe Zhang, Liwen Wang Best Actress *Julia Rae – ''Playing Through'' Best Actor * Brandon Sklenar – ''Futra Days'' Best Supporting Actress *

Rosanna Arquette Rosanna Lisa Arquette (; born August 10, 1959) is an American actress. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film ''The Executioner's Song'' (1982), and won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for th ...

– ''Futra Days'' Best Film Score *''Long Flat Balls “Broken Promises”'' – music by Zach Robinson Best Song *''Molly’s Rainbow'' – by Katie Hardyman Best Cinematography *''Other Side of the Mountain'' – directed by Markus Otz Best Screenplay *''JIZO-Evangelist'' – written and directed by Tokoroten Nakamura Best Art Direction *''The Violin and its Shadow'' – directed by Greg Babalas Best Unproduced Script *''The Faerie Rings'' – written by Zina Brown Honorary Mention for Social Impact *''Change of Course'' – directed by Andreas Ortner

2020

Grand Prix *'' Grand Cancan'' — Directed by Mikhail Kosyrev-Nesterov Best Feature Film *' — Directed by Toma Enache Best Director *''Great Poetry'' (Aleksandr Lungin) Best Original Screenplay *'' Laugh or Die'' — Original Screenplay by Heikki Kujanpää Best Short Film *''To Her'' — Directed by Jacopo Ardolino Best Documentary Film *''Armenia(s), Time for Artists'' — Directed by Anahit Dasseux Ter Mesropian and David Vital-Durand Best Experimental Film *''Our Turn'' — Directed by Martiros Vartanov Best Music Video *''Champagne Drag Queen'' — Directed by Anna Haslehner Best Actor *

Martti Suosalo Martti Juhani Suosalo (born 19 July 1962) is a Finnish actor and singer. Suosalo was born in Oulu, and began his career in 1986 with an appearance in a TV series. He began to work as a regular actor on Finnish television but also appeared in s ...

(''Laugh or Die'') Best Supporting Actor *

Jon Voight Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. He came to prominence in the late 1960s with his Academy Award–nominated performance as Joe Buck, a would-be gigolo, in ''Midnight Cowboy'' (1969). During the 1970s, h ...

(''

Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and s ...

'') Best Cinematography *''Grand Cancan'' — Cinematography by Dmitriy Ulyukaev

2019

Grand Prix *'' Doing Money'' — Directed by Lynsey Miller Best Feature Film *'' M'' — Directed by

Anna Eriksson Anna Sofia Eriksson (born 22 April 1977) is a Finnish artist, filmmaker, composer, and singer. In September 2018, avantgarde film '' M'' directed and produced by Eriksson was having the world premiere at the Venice International Film Critics Wee ...

Best Director *''Doing Money'' (Lynsey Miller) Best Original Screenplay *''Murder on the Road to Kathmandu'' — Original Screenplay by Rupalee Verma Best Short Film *'' Dark like the Night. Karenina-2019'' — Directed by Radda Novikova Best Documentary Film *''Three Scenes of a Wedding'' — Directed by Jason Tovey Best Experimental Film *''Fragmented Dreams'' — Directed by Tonatiuh Garcia Best Music Video *''Theresa's Groove'' — Directed by

Aleksey Igudesman Aleksey Mikhailovich Igudesman (russian: Алексей Михайлович Игу́десман, link=no; born 22 February 1973) is a Russian-German violinist, composer, conductor, comedian and actor. He performs in the comedy-musical duo Igude ...

Best Actor *

Atul Kulkarni Atul Kulkarni (born 10 September 1965) is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter who works in Hindi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, English, Odia and Telugu language films. Kulkarni won the National Award for the Best Supporting A ...

(''Murder on the Road to Kathmandu'') Best Supporting Actor *

Konstantin Khabensky Konstantin Yurievich Khabensky, PAR (russian: link=no, Константин Юрьевич Хабенский; born 11 January 1972) is a Russian actor of stage and film, director and philanthropist. From 1997 he was part of the Saint Petersbur ...

(''Dark like the Night. Karenina-2019'') Best Art Direction *''The Lossen'' — Directed Colin Skevington Best Cinematography *''M'' — Cinematography by Matti Pyykkö Best Film Score *''Hinge'' — Film score by

Diana Ringo Diana Ringo (born 8 March 1992) is a Finnish film director, composer and visual artist. Her director debut is dystopian feature film drama ''Quarantine'' (2021) which was shortlisted for the 2022 Golden Globes as a foreign entry. She was also c ...

2018

Grand Prix *''I May Regret'' — Directed by Graham Streeter Best Feature Film *'' NO-ONE'' — Directed by Lev Prudkin, Vladimir Prudkin Best Director *''I May Regret'' (Graham Streeter) Best Original Screenplay *''Rosemarie'' — Original Screenplay by Adonis Floridis Best Short Film *''Father of the Man'' — Directed by Tommy Creagh Best Documentary Film *''Ballad of a Righteous Merchant'' — Directed by Herbert Golder Best Experimental Film *''Ghosts on the Road to Camalt'' — Directed by Jason Tovey Best Music Video *''The Sea'' — Directed by Hisanori Tsukuda Best Actor * Danny Glover (''Buckout Road'') Best Cinematography *''NO-ONE'' — Cinematography by Ziv Berkovich, David Stragmeister Special Jury Prize *''Krieg'' — Directed by Jeff Fry

2017

Grand Prix (The Golden Sphinx) *''

Million Loves In Me ''Million Loves in Me'' () is a 2018 Hong Kong-Malaysian drama film directed by Sampson Yuen. The film was inspired by a real court case in Hong Kong. Synopsis The film is about a mother and daughter couple suffering from obsessive–compulsi ...

'' — Directed by

Sampson Yuen Sampson Yuen Choi-Hin ( zh, 袁再显; born 1958) is a Hong-Kong producer and director who has worked in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia. He is best known for directing ''Who is the Winner'' (1993), ''Petaling Street Warriors'' (2011), '' Million ...

Best Feature Film *''Platonov'' — Directed by Andreas Morell Best Director *

Ebrahim Hatamikia Ibrahim (also spelled Ibraheem) ( ar, إبراهيم, ) is the Arabic name of the prophet and patriarch Abraham and one of Allah's messengers in the Quran. It is a common first name and surname among Muslims and Arab Christians, a cognate of t ...

('' Bodyguard'') Best Original Screenplay *''Million Loves in Me'' — Original Screenplay by John Yiu, Tiong Wooi LIM, Jeremy Tan Best Short Film *''Forgiveness'' — Directed by Rima Irani Best Documentary Film *''Chasing Stars'' — Directed by Markus Eichenberger *'' The Writer with No Hands'' — Directed by William Westaway Best Experimental Film *''Je Suis Le Ténébreux'' — Directed by Rank Amateur, Christopher Chaplin Best Music Video *''Nara - alt-J'' — Directed by Jasmin Selen Heinz Best Actor *John Yiu (''Million Loves in Me'') Best Supporting Actor *

Babak Hamidian Babak Hamidian ( fa, بابک حمیدیان; born 1981) is an Iranian actor. He has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh The Crystal Simorgh ( fa, ‌سیمرغ بلورین) is an award given by Fajr International Film Fest ...

(''Bodyguard'') Best Art Direction *''Bodyguard'' — Directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia Best Cinematography *''Platonov'' — Cinematography by Felix Cramer

2016

Grand Prix (The Golden Sphinx) * '' Let's dance to the rhythm'' Best Feature Film * ''Imperfect Sky'' — Directed by Graham Streeter Best Director *

('' God of Happiness'') Best Original Screenplay * ''The Closer'' — Original Screenplay by Eli Hershko & Isaac Broyn Best Short Film * ''After Truth'' — Directed by Nicolas Ehret Best Animated Film * ''“Parade” de Satie'' — Directed by

Kōji Yamamura is a Japanese independent animator who, after leaving a career as a background artist at an animation studio, directs, writes, edits, animates, creates the model sheets and background art for and sometimes produces his own short films and ha ...

Best Documentary Film * ''Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust'' — Directed by Lance Shultz Best Experimental Film * ''The Calling'' — Directed by Chris Boyd Best Music Film * '' Let's dance to the rhythm'' — Directed by Bardroy Barretto Best Music Video * ''

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was v ...

'' / '' The Chainsmokers'' - Split — Directed by Joe Zohar Best Actor * Blake Lewis (''Imperfect Sky'') Best Supporting Actor * Robert Berlin (''The Closer'') Best Art Direction * ''After Truth'' — Directed by Nicolas Ehret * ''Let's Dance to the Rhythm'' — Directed by Bardroy Barretto Best Cinematography * ''God of Happiness'' — Cinematography by Ralf M. Mendle Graham Streeter and Alex Lebosq at the VIFF 2016 Vienna Independent Film Festival.jpg, Director Graham Streeter and producer Alex Lebosq presenting their film "Imperfect Sky" at the VIFF 2016 Bardroy Barretto at the VIFF 2016 – Vienna Independent Film Festival.jpg, Director Bardroy Barretto receiving his Grand Prix for the film "Let's dance to the Rhythm" at the VIFF 2016 La Hong Nhut and Rima Irani at the VIFF 2017 Vienna Independent Film Festival.jpg, Fashion designer La Hong Nhut and director Rima Irani at the VIFF 2017 Sarah Scherer at the VIFF 2017 Vienna Independent Film Festival.jpg, Director Sarah Scherer presenting her film "Golden Shot" at the VIFF 2017 John Yiu and Kenny Chan at the VIFF 2017 Vienna Independent Film Festival.jpg, Actor John Yiu and producer Kenny Chan presenting their film "Million Loves in Me" at the VIFF 2017 Andreas Morell and Felix Cramer at the VIFF 2017 Vienna Independent Film Festival.jpg, Director Andreas Morell and cinematographer Felix Cramer presenting their film "Platonov" at the VIFF 2017

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website of VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival

VIFF 2016 Festival Trailer

Article about VIFF 2016

wien.at (German)

Film festivals in Austria Festivals in Vienna Summer events in Austria