IF 19|20

The Future
The large media coverage of the major film festivals
demonstrates that motion pictures remain socially and
artistically relevant and that film-making will remain
important for the 21 st century. The continuing success
of Austrian films at international film festivals speaks
volumes about the consistent quality of Austrian filmmaking
and filmmakers and is equally a seal of quality
for domestic audiences. Looked at it from this angle, we
should be confident that future cinema audiences will
continue to value the diversity and quality of engaged
film-making, as well as the role of the cinema as a place
and platform for creative stimulation and reflection.
Renowned film journals, such as Variety, Cahiers du Cinéma or Senses of Cinema,
regard Austria as a metropolis of experimentation and place our country in a
lead position for enabling the creation of the best avant-garde films in the past
50 years. I am therefore extremely pleased that the Federal Chancellery has once
more been able to provide support to many exciting and ambitious projects, thus
promoting artistic innovation as well as young talented filmmakers.
The support of the Federal Chancellery aspires to enable working conditions
that are conducive to excellence. At the same time the resulting products create
unique, multifaceted and lasting images of our country which no medium other
than film can provide with equal distinction.
The current catalog provides an insight into outstanding artistic creations of the
past year. I wish you an interesting reading!
Alexander Schallenberg
Federal Minister for the EU, Arts, Culture and Media