Karl Markovics
On a beautiful spring day, a small village full of eccentric characters wake up to hear Selma has had a premonition: she dreamt of a rare animal again – an okapi. All the village knows this means someone is about to die. Selma’s granddaughter, 11-year-old Luise, and her best friend Martin look on as fears of being the victim of the prophecy throw the village into a frenzy of confusion. But when the premonition comes true, it is young Luise’s world that is suddenly turned upside down. Ten years on from the event that changed her life, Luise lives a quiet life working in a bookstore, until the arrival of an unexpected guest enables her to rediscover how powerful and life-giving love can be.
The story of a group of Jewish Boy Scouts who worked with the French Resistance to save the lives of ten thousand orphans during World War II.
A snowed-in holiday hotel. A dead body in a room locked from the inside. The hotel manager wants to cover it up, but in the blink of an eye the whole hotel knows about it. Among the guests is an inspector - or at least he convincingly claims to be - who, together with his assistant who has travelled with him, undertakes extensive investigations. Then a second murder takes place. Although the inspector seems to be close to solving the case, the evidence is missing. Then, on snowshoes, the village policeman joins in, and immediately gets into trouble with the arrogant city dweller.
Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter faces the threat of execution for refusing to fight for the Nazis during World War II.
Paul Silberstein, youngest son of an urbane but deeply strange old Austrian dynasty of confectionery millionaires, discovers the power of love and humor - and also his own extraordinary ability to shape his realities. Based on the motives of the short story with the same name by André Heller.
Franz Murer, the Butcher of Vilnius, a former Austrian SS officer, established, organized, and ruled the Vilnius ghetto in Lithuania during the World War II. Different survivors of the Shoah testify when he is judged in 1963, hoping to do justice, but, although the evidence is overwhelming, the desire to close this obscure chapter of history seems to surpass the desire for justice.
A murderous, flesh-eating undead young girl haunting the remote stretch of woods where she was murdered decades earlier, discovers a kidnapped and abused boy hiding in the trunk of one of her victim’s cars. Her decision to let the boy live throws her aggressively solitary existence into upheaval, and ultimately forces her to re-examine just how much of her humanity her murderer was able to destroy.
Tyrol, 1932: The world economic crisis is at its peak, radical political movements emerge. In a small Austrian community, the engine driver Michael Unterguggenberger accepts the mayor's office against better knowledge. But how is he supposed to save Wörgl? The power of despair and the support of his wife Rosa form the breeding ground for a daring experiment: Unterguggenberger wants to print his own money without further ado - so-called work confirmation notes. For this he not only has to convince the community of his city, but above all to rebel against the mighty banking.
The young Maria Theresia sees her life clearly in front of her: she will marry Franz Stephan of Lorraine and start a family of many with him. Even if Franz Stephan is not quite sure of his luck and her father, Emperor Charles VI, and his powerful advisor Prince Eugene of Savoy forge quite different plans for them. It looks quite as if the young archduchess must sacrifice her happiness to the cause of the state
Colognian commissioner Gereon Rath moves to Berlin, the epicenter of political and social changes in the Golden Twenties.
Becker is a German ex-con trying to hold down a job as a night watchman, but a chance encounter with the man whose family Becker killed 18 years earlier sends his new life spiraling out of control.
A Roma boy is placed in a mental hospital and experiences the Nazi euthanasia program. Aware of what was happening and attached to friends, the lad attempts to sabotage the program. The film addresses the complexities of the program director, the lives of the child victims, and the struggles of the child protagonist. More than five thousand children died in the Nazi euthanasia program.
A film about the black-and-white era actress Lída Baarová and her doomed love affair.
On 9 April 1940, German soldiers arrive in the city of Oslo. The King of Norway faces a choice that will change his country forever. The King's Choice is a story about the three most dramatic days in Norway's history, the royal family's escape and King Haakon's difficult choice after Nazi Germany's invasion of Norway.
SUPERWORLD is a story about God and the world: a world whose heroine WORKS the till and a God we never see nor hear, but whose presence we feel throughout the film. Lead actress Ulrike Beimpold delivers a remarkable, moving performance as a woman under divine influence, a woman in crisis who sends shock waves through her whole family. While director Karl Markovics consistently works in a realistic mode, his narrative approach is often operatic, with elaborate bird’s eye shots and strikingly composed images of biblical proportions that make God’s presence manifest. Until, that is, the twilight of the gods descends and the heavens come crashing down on the plot. All good things come from above, after all. SUPERWORLD is like a small miracle. A super good one.
Young journalist Sebastian Zöllner is writing an article on artist Manuel Kaminski. Zöllner hopes that Kaminski dies soon, so that he can cash in on his article.
A new interpretation of the most known and beloved fairy tale of Hans Christian Andersen - "Snow Queen"
The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars and his friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting, the battle for an enormous family fortune and the slow and then sudden upheavals that transformed Europe during the first half of the 20th century.
When Ruslana floods her Munich flat, Vladan, a former Boxer from Serbia, comes to her rescue. It is the night when Ruslana's son Bogdan should finally come from Kiev. He rather falls in love with the spoiled pop-starlet Maria, for whom he is working. Both, however, are depending on Maria's rich patron Jora. The same night in Belgrade Vladan's son Zoran meets Jelena. But she intends to leave her homeland the next day, forever. Three cities. Three Love-Stories. One night in Europe.
Germany in the early 19th century. "Die Vermessung der Welt" follows the two brilliant and eccentric scientists Alexander von Humboldt and Carl Friedrich Gauss on their life paths.
Alma Mahler's affair with the young architect Walter Gropius sets in motion a marital drama that forces her husband Gustav Mahler to seek advice from Sigmund Freud.
A young Swedish freelance investigative journalist dies under mysterious circumstances in South Africa, and his mother sets off in a relentless pursuit of the truth behind his death.
A wide-ranging, energetic period piece tracing the rise of the Protestant Henry of Navarre as he goes from battlefield warrior to France's beloved King Henri IV. Director Jo Baier's epic is a classically entertaining adventure, albeit one with more than a little bloodshed and frequent bawdy sexual interludes. In late 16th-century France, Catholics and Protestant Huguenots were at war. Seemingly seeking peace, the French dowager queen, Catherine de Medici summons Henry to her court to have him marry her daughter, uniting the two warring factions. However, the Catholics slaughter the Protestant wedding guests in what became known as the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre and Henry-now married-must use all his guile to both stay alive and maneuver for the throne. [Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival]
Drama about the tragic Nanga Parbat expedition by the two Messner brothers in 1970, on which Reinhold Messners younger brother Günther died.
Can you honestly swear that at least once in your life you have not thought that robbing a bank is a good idea? Especially, if you're five years old and that bank has just thrown your parents out of a brand new apartment, because your father has lost his job. Five year old Robby is no Zorro, but he'd like to be. His seven year old sister Louise thinks he's too childish, but can't resist the game of robbing a bank. Together they can pull off just about anything. Getting away with it is the hard part.
Thirteen German directors present short films exploring the state of their country.
Lilly was a normal girl with a healthy sense of adventure. That is, until she finds a magical book, complete with a funny little dragon, "Hector". With the help of her new friend and the book, Lilly has the ability to time-travel and truly satisfy her adventure- lust!.
Joseph Vilsmaier Two-part TV movie focuses on the tragic events surrounding the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff, a German passenger ship, at the end of World War II. On 30 January 1945, Captain Hellmuth Kehding was in charge of the ship, evacuating wounded soldiers and civilians trapped by the Red Army. Soon after leaving the harbor of Danzig, it was hit by three torpedoes from the Soviet submarine and sank in less than an hour.
The story Jewish counterfeiter, Salomon Sorowitsch, coerced into assisting the Nazi operation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.
A great Empire, once famous for its enlightened traditions, is taken over by a ruthless political establishment. Religious fundamentalists and national separatists are tearing at the fabric of its liberal society. Under the influence of his conservative advisors, the Emperor fails to initiate the reforms that could save the Empire from annihilation. One man alone can avert the cataclysm to come. The year is 1888 and the 600-year-old Empire of Austria-Hungary is at a cross-road of history. Crown-Prince Rudolf, son of fabled Empress Sisi, the most beautiful woman of her time, is the man with the vision and the ability to lead his Empire into the 20th century. Yet his enemies, the all-powerful Prime Minister first and foremost, scheme to isolate Rudolf from his father and from access to power. Against the backdrop of one of the most dangerous, exciting and colorful periods in history, at the dawn of the modern age...
In WWII Munich, Anna works for a Nazi family as a nanny but secretly steals food and cigarettes and bring those to a Jewish family, who hides from the Nazis. One day, the family is discovered and only by chance can Anna save the family's only daughter, Franziska. Together they escape to Anna's native village where Anna tells everybody that Franziska is her daughter...
Postal worker Jenny finds and reads the letters that the little girl Lilly sent to her dead mother. Jenny decided to help Lilly and gets involved with her father Matthias.
A mismatched team of British Special Services agents led by an American must infiltrate, in disguise, a female-run Enigma factory in Berlin and bring back the decoding device that will end the war.
Former detective Brenner has become an ambulance driver and finds himself, much to his dismay, caught up in a war between two rival first aid organizations.
It all begins with a mistake, an error with serious consequences: in a hospital the new-born babies of an Austrian couple and a Turkish family of immigrant workers are mixed up and go home with the wrong parents. By the time the mistake comes to light, it emerges that the Turkish family, including the baby, has been deported. The despairing Austrian couple begins a confusing odyssey through Turkey in order to track down the unsuspecting family to their native village. But they are not at all convinced that the babies have been mixed up. It is decided that the only way to know for sure is to have a blood test done. It is decided that the blood work is done in Vienna due to the better medical resources, but that will be far from simple. It will involve an illegal smuggling of the Turks across the Austrian border.
Herbert Krcal (Roland Düringer) und seine Frau Margit (Nina Proll) träumen den Traum vom Eigenheim. Am liebsten tun sie das in der "Blauen Lagune", einem Fertigteilhaus-Park im Süden Wiens, wohin sie regelmäßig mit ihrem Sohn Philipp pilgern. Ebenso regelmäßig müssen sie die bittere Wahrheit erkennen, daß sie sich das jeweils besichtigte Traumhaus eigentlich nicht leisten können.
Young Piano teacher Lukas accidentally meets DJ Nathalie, the love of his life. After losing her telephone number, he starts looking for her. Finally, he finds her place and stays with friends of hers while she is abroad. Now Lukas falls in love with Alice, but does not want to admit it. And while his relationship with Alice is in doubt, Nathalie comes back home. Trouble had been breeding all along.
When six year old Olivia is diagnosed with the Wilms tumor in her kidney, the doctors suggest an immediate operation and chemotherapy. Healing chances would be 95%, but when her parents learn how other children suffer from the procedure, they're terrified and refuse to expose their daughter to such a torture. Instead they consult faith healer Hamer, who claims to be able to heal cancer without drugs. When the youth welfare office attempts to force them to have Olivia medicated properly, the family flees from Germany. So Olivia's condition worsens, and a great press campaign is started to change the parent's mind...
Stockinger is an Austrian-made police television drama, with fourteen 45-minute episodes first aired from 1996 to 1997. The series is a spin-off from the popular Austrian television drama Inspector Rex, and focuses on Ernst Stockinger, one of the original members of the Homicide division or Mordkommission in German. Stockinger leaves the series to return to Salzburg where his wife has inherited a dental practice from her late father . He is appointed a Bezirksinspektor at the Landes Gendarmerie, sharing an office with District Inspector Antonella Simoni. Unlike the members of the team in 'Rex', who appear to be self-directed and are seldom seen to answer to senior management, Stockinger reports to Dr Brunner, a philosophising burecratic senior police inspector. Stockinger is portrayed as a clumsy, almost Inspector Clouseau-like character, driving a clapped-out 1973 VW Variant, but single-minded when following up clues. The series was first broadcast in Australia in February 2008 on SBS television. SBS was responsible for the English subtitles therefore bringing the series to a wider audience than simply those with a knowledge of the German language. SBS also provided the English subtitles for all the Inspector Rex series. The series has since been released in two parts on DVD.
Leo Strobl, called "Turbo-Leo", is the fastest photographer around. When a tragedy takes place, he is the first one on his way to cover it. Then a young photographer shows up and a deadly race between the two commences.
Kommissar Rex is a police procedural drama originally made in Austria and aired from 1994 to 2004. In 2008 the series was revived under Austrian-Italian production, and has since 2009 been made fully in Italy, with occasional episodes set in Austria. The show follows the German Shepherd police dog Rex, his partners and the rest of the team at the Vienna Kriminalpolizei homicide unit, as they work together to solve crimes. Since 2008, the show has been set in Rome.
Heinzi Boesel and Kurt Fellner are two Austrian health inspectors forced to work together, traveling through Austria. Over time a beautiful friendship evolves between the odd couple who couldn't stand each other initially; a friendship that even overcomes the boundaries of great tragedy.
The sun blazes down from the sky with destructive power; exposing oneself to its light means death. People have transposed everyday existence to the night. In the metropolis of HALF WORLD a culture based on various languages and lifeforms has grown rampant. Everyone is looking for a way to survive.
Two men and a young woman who recently met spend a night together at a secluded mountain inn. It soon turns out that one of the two men could be a dangerous psychopath who is wanted by the police. The woman is torn between her emotions and what she should actually believe. A long night takes its course, at the end of which there will be no winner.
A documentary look behind the scenes at dubbing voices and sound effects. A scene is filmed and then copied three times with different sound effects and dialogues, thereby telling thre different stories.
Thomas Larcher has adapted Yasushi Inoue’s best-seller The Hunting Gun for his first opera, with a libretto by Austrian Book Prize winner Friederike Gösweiner. Austrian actor and film director Karl Markovics made his debut as stage director for an opera. The story tells of three women, who speak in three letters addressed to the same man, a hunter – his wife, his lover and his lover’s daughter. As the women react to the revelation of illicit love, the hunter’s life is laid bare.
