The Vienna International Film Festival, or Viennale, is a

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

taking place every October since 1960 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The average number of visitors is about 75,000. Traditional cinema venues are ''Gartenbaukino'', ''Urania'', ''Metro-Kino'', ''Filmmuseum'' and ''Stadtkino''. At the end of the festival, the ''Vienna Film Prize'' is awarded.

History

The festival features a collection of new films from all over the world, as well as national and international

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

s. Apart from new feature films in various

film genre A film genre is a Genre, stylistic or thematic category for Film, motion pictures based on similarities either in the narrative , narrative elements, aesthetic approach, or the emotional response to the film. Drawing heavily from the theories ...

s, the festival focuses on

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

short film A short film is a film with a low running time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of not more than 40 minutes including all credits". Other film o ...

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that does not apply standard cinematic conventions, instead adopting Non-narrative film, non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many e ...

s and crossover productions. Together with the ''Austrian Film Museum'', a historical

retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...

is organized every year, as well as special programs, tributes and homages to international institutions and individuals. During the festival, the ''

Fipresci The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...

Prize'' is awarded by international

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...

s. Another prize is awarded by the readers of the Austrian

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

Der Standard ''Der Standard'' () is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first editio ...

''. The program of the festival includes galas, special events and celebrations, as well as discussions and meetings between international guests and local visitors. The Vienna International Film Festival is different from the ''Film Festival Rathausplatz'' in central Vienna, which exclusively shows music films daily throughout August.

Awards

* Vienna Film Award * FIPRESCI Prize * Standard Readers' Jury Award * Erste Bank Film Award

External links

Vienna International Film Festival

Film Festival Rathausplatz
Film festivals in Austria Festivals in Vienna Documentary film festivals in Austria Short film festivals in Europe Experimental film festivals Tourist attractions in Vienna Film festivals established in 1960 Autumn in Austria {{Europe-film-festival-stub