The Viennale Film Festival of Austria appointed the German filmmaker Christian Petzold as a new president. The role has been vacant for four years, after the 2019 death of Eric Pleskow, who was president of 1998.
As president of the Viennale, Petzold holds his highest position.
Petzold has been “closely linked to the festival for many years as a director and friend,” said the festival. Many of her films had their first Austrians there.
Eva Sangiorgi, director of Viennale, said: “Viennale has had a long -standing relationship with Christian Petzold and his cinema, and I personally feel a deep connection with her cinema. For this reason, it is a great honor that he took over the presidency of the party. so complex.
Petzold said: “Viennale is always the most beautiful story of a year of cinema. And it may be the best organized festival – but I’m not supposed to say that. He said Billy Wilder called Barbara Stanwyck the best actress ”, and when he sent a script to Joan Crawford, he received it without talking about the note. really impatiently.
He mentioned the retrospectives of the festival on John Ford, the essayist film “Der Weg der Termitit” and “Los Angeles: A City on Film” as salient of his work.
The new film by Petzold “Mirrors No. 3” was presented this week at the Cannes Film Festival in the Directors’ Fortnight. He won the Silver Berlin Bear 2012 for the best director of “Barbara” and the Prix du Grand Jury de Berlin 2023 for “AFIRE”. In 2020, he won the Fipresci Prize in Berlin for the competition film “Undine”, and actor Paula Beer won the Berlin Silver Bear for his performance in the film.
In other news, the Viennale has announced that the Sangiorgi contract has been extended for three years. The decision was made by the Board of Directors of Viennale. Sangiori has won the artistic responsibility of the festival until March 2029. Sangiorgi has been director of the Viennale since March 2018.
“I am really grateful for this vote of trust – it brings renewed energy to the festival,” said Sangiorgi. “Viennale is deeply rooted in the social and cultural fabric of the city, as the extraordinary audience figures we have seen in recent years, despite the many challenges we have encountered. Great long -standing tradition.
