| Diagonale | Juries 2025 |

As part of the Diagonale, Austria’s most highly endowed film awards totalling around € 121,000 will be awarded by international juries at the upcoming 2025 edition, thereby honouring the many achievements associated with the production of a film.

JURY FEATURE FILM

Hans Broich (Director & Producer, DE)
Hans Broich (*1991) founded the production company Superzoom Film, based in Berlin and Vienna, together with Felix Leitner during his studies at the Vienna Film Academy. With Superzoom, he produced HIGHFALUTIN (2021), a documentary film about the actor Volker Spengler, and Menuett (2023, Diagonale Editing Award – Felix Leitner), based on Louis Paul Boon’s novel of the same name. The first Superzoom feature film production Die ängstliche Verkehrsteilnehmerin (Martha Mechow, 2023) won, among others, the Grand Diagonale Prize of the Province of Styria for Best Feature Film (2024), the Viennale ERSTE Award (2023) and was shown at numerous international festivals. Since the 2021/22 season, Hans Broich has curated the film programme at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg Platz in Berlin.

Malika Rabahallah (Festival Director Film Fest Hamburg, DE/FR)
Malika Rabahallah was born in France and studied business administration and languages in Paris. After graduating, she initially worked as a tour guide in Costa Rica before moving to Germany. There she began her career at the International Film and Television Festival in Cologne, where she focused on international programme research and the development of international partnerships. She later completed the Franco-German Masterclass at FEMIS and Filmakademie Ludwigsburg and specialised in international film financing. She worked as a documentary film producer in Berlin for more than a decade before moving to MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein in 2011. She started there as a consultant for international co-productions and quickly took over as head of the funding department. Malika Rabahallah has been head of FILM FEST HAMBURG since January 2024. She is also a member of the European Film Academy (EFA) and part of the EAVE producer network.

Nele Wohlatz (Director, DE)
Nele Wohlatz is a director and screenwriter. She was born in Hanover in 1982, studied scenography in Karlsruhe and lived in Buenos Aires from 2009 to 2020. Her feature film debut El futuro perfecto won numerous awards, including the Golden Leopard for Best Debut in Locarno in 2016, and was invited to more than 70 international festivals such as the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Viennale and New Directors/New Films Festvial. Her second feature film Sleep with Your Eyes Open premiered in the Encounters competition at the 2024 Berlinale, where it won the FIPRESCI Award. She is a member of the European Film Academy.

JURY DOCUMENTARY FILM

Annett Busch (Curator & Writer, DE)
Annett Busch works as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Trondheim / NTNU and has many years of experience as a researching curator, editor and writer with an interest in radical forms of filmmaking and unruly artistic methods. Publications and projects include: Tell It to the Stones: The Work of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet (2017/2021 exhibition & book, ADK & Sternberg Press, with Tobias Hering); Ousmane Sembène: Interviews (2008, with Max Annas, University Press Mississippi); Women on Aeroplanes (since 2017, with MH Gutberlet and Magda Lipska) -Inflight magazines, exhibitions, formats for collaborative learning.

Stefan Neuberger (Cinematographer, Director, DE)
Stefan Neuberger studied documentary film directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. In 2012, he was nominated for the German Camera Award for Meahnwhile in Mamelodi (Director: Benjamin Kahlmeyer). Heimat ist ein Raum aus Zeit (Director: Thomas Heise) was honoured at Vision du Réel, the Crossing Europe Film Festival and with the German Documentary Film Award 2019, among others. Zustand und Gelände (Director: Ute Adamczewski) received the Prix Premier and the Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig, among others. In 2020, Neuberger was once again nominated for the German Camera Award for his work on In der Kaserne (Director: Katharina Copony). He has been giving workshops and seminars at film and art academies (including HFBK Dresden and AdbK Vienna) since 2011.

Christof Schertenleib (Editor & Director, DE)
Christof Schertenleib studied directing and editing at the Film Academy in Vienna. He has been working as a freelance film editor and realiser since 1990. He has directed various short films and five feature-length films, including Liebe Lügen and Zwerge sprengen. He has worked as an editor for many years with Ulrich Seidl (including PARADIES: Hoffnung / Glaube / Liebe), Michael Glawogger (including Slumming), Stefan Haupt (including Zurich Diary) and Simon Jaquemet (including Chrieg). Most recently, among others: Who’s afraid of Alice Miller? by Daniel Howald, Schwarzarbeit by Ulrich Grossenbacher, Unser Vater by Miklós Gimes, Bergfahrt by Dominique Margot, Avant il n’y avait rien by Yvann Yagchi.

JURY INNOVATIVE FILM

Hephzibah Druml (Art historian & Curator, AT)
Hephzibah Druml studied art history at the University of Vienna and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. After spending time in Frankfurt and New York, she has been working for the Kontakt Collection in Vienna, which specialises in art from Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, since 2012. She currently manages the programme and production and has realised numerous projects, including exhibitions, in Austria and abroad in this role.

Günther Holler-Schuster (Curator & Artist, AT)
Günther Holler-Schuster, born in 1963 in Altneudörfl in Styria, studied art history and folklore at the Karl-Franzens-University Graz, lives mostly in Graz after extended stays abroad in Los Angeles, London, Chengdu and Istanbul. Curator and deputy director of the Neue Galerie Graz, Universalmuseum Joanneum, artist and founding member of the artist group G.R.A.M., international exhibition activities.

Olena Newkryta (Curator & Artist, UA/AT)
In her artistic work, Olena develops films and installations that explore the relations between forms of marginalised labour, technological infrastructures, strategies of exploitation in contemporary capitalism and gestures of resistance. As a curator, she works mostly collaboratively on film programmes and exhibitions that develop artistic concepts for the presentation of films and audiovisual works. Olena studied at the University of Applied Arts Vienna and the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and is a member of The Golden Pixel Cooperative – Association for Moving Image, Art and Media. Most recently she was a resident artist at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Netherlands. Olena’s work has been honoured with awards and scholarships, including the Outstanding Artist Award for Media Art (2024), the City of Duisburg Award for Best Short Documentary (2023), the City of Vienna Working Scholarship (2022), the START Scholarship for Artistic Photography (2019) and the Kunsthalle Wien Award (2017).

JURY SHORT FEATURE FILM

Sallar Othman (Director, SY/AT)
Sallar Othman was born in Al-Hasaka, in Rojava Kurdistan in northern Syria. There he founded the theatre group ‘Koma Ararat’, in which he worked as an actor and director. With Koma Ararat, he performed several critical theatre pieces against the Syrian government on the streets of Al-Hasaka. Due to the war in Syria, Othman fled to Europe, where he began his career as a filmmaker. He was involved in major film productions and took part in various film and screenplay workshops. During this phase, he wrote and directed six short films, two of which were presented at international festivals. In 2023, Othman received a start-up grant from MA7 for his new project We Have a World to Unite. At the same time, Othman is dedicated to the development of two further feature film projects: The Journey, supported by the Austrian Film Institute and the ScriptLAB screenplay forum, and Hobi Let’s Dance, funded by the BMKÖS. Othman’s most recent film Yarê was awarded the prize for Best Short Feature Film at Diagonale 2024.

David Reumüller (Musician & Artist, AT)
David Reumüller, born in the Murtal valley, moved to Graz at an early age to dedicate himself to visual art at the Ortweinschule. Since graduating in 1998, the Austrian artist has been working with various media. In addition to his visual productions, spatial installations and projects in public spaces, he has also produced numerous musical works, publications and films. In his interactive video installations, the artist primarily examines perception and puts its individual information content to the test. David Reumüller lives and works in Graz and Vienna, and his interdisciplinary works are shown internationally in various galleries, museums and at festivals.

Cordula Thym (Editor & Director, AT)
Cordula Thym (*1977 in Kufstein, Tyrol) is a director and film editor. Their filmmaking is informed by participatory practice and intersectionality. Thyms work centers marginalized perspectives and aims to challenge societal power structures—particularly in relation to the representation of bodies beyond normative concepts and a continuous negotiation of identities in diverse social and historical contexts. Together with Katharina Lampert, they created the award-winning documentaries amorous, antiquated, audacious – Stories of Lesbian (In)Visibility in Vienna in the 50s and 60s (2009) and FtWTF – Female to What the Fuck (2015). They received the Diagonale Award for Best Artistic Editing for Relatively Independent (2017, with Christin Veith) and the Diagonale Award for Innovative Cinema for C-TV (If I Tell You I Like You…) (2023, with Eva Egermann).

JURY SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM

Anatol Bogendorfer (Director & Producer, AT)
Anatol Bogendorfer, born in 1979, lives and works as a director and film producer in Linz. He studied Audiovisual Media Design at the University of Art and Design Linz from 2005 to 2011. Several short films were followed by his feature film debut Innere Blutungen (international premiere: Filmfest Hamburg) in 2013. Corpus Homini, his second feature-length documentary film, was released in 2024 and was also produced by Bogendorfer’s film production company BOXA FILM. (Premiere: Diagonale ‘24, cinema release in Austria: November 2024)

Bernhard Hetzenauer (Direcotr & Writer, AT)
Bernhard Hetzenauer (*Innsbruck 1981) is a filmmaker, media artist and author. He studied at the New York Film Academy, University of Applied Arts Vienna, FUC Buenos Aires and HFBK Hamburg.
His film and video works have been shown in cinema, TV, festivals and art contexts in 28 countries and have received numerous awards, including the Theodor Körner Prize, Crossing Europe Innovative Award, Yale University’s LIFFY Short Film Prize, DocsMX Short Film Prize, Nonfictionale Short Film Prize, Promotion Prize for Contemporary Art of the Province of Tyrol. The essay Das Innen im Außen / Lo interior afuera was published in book form by Alexander Verlag in Berlin and UNAM/Cineteca Nacional Mexico, as well as the art book Faces of Athens by Revolver Verlag in Berlin. His film Those Next to Us was awarded the prize for Best Short Documentary at the Diagonale ‘24.

Angelika Reitzer (Writer, Screenwriter & Director, AT)
Angelika Reitzer has published several novels (most recently Obwohl es kalt ist draußen), the short story collection Frauen in Vasen and an inventory of the area around the Styrian Mürztal, and her poetry collection Blauzeug will be published soon. Her short film abstechen was shown at the Diagonale ‘24 and the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, among others. Collaborations with artists in various fields (screenplays, off-texts, libretti for operas and musicals – most recently Wenn der Wald geht). Numerous awards, including the Culture Prize of the Province of Styria and the Promotion Prize of the City of Vienna, Diagonale Prize for the Best Short Documentary Film and Prize for Innovative Cinema for Antoinette Zwirchmayr’s films with off-text by Angelika Reitzer.

JURY ACTING AWARDS

Ute Baumhackl (Chief Reporter Culture and Society, Kleine Zeitung, AT)
Born in Graz in 1968, grew up in southern Styria. Studied various foreign languages (Arabic, English, Russian). Editor at the Kleine Zeitung since 2005, 2013 – 2023 Head of Culture & Media, since 2024 Chief Reporter Culture & Society.

Christian Konrad (Head of Film Department, ORF, AT)
Studied classical guitar at the Academy of Music in Vienna.After completing his studies, he started at ORF as a holiday trainee in the ‘Kunststücke’ programme, later switched to culture and finally ended up in the film department.He has been the head of the film department at ORF since October 2010.

Maria Köstlinger (Actress, AT)
Maria Köstlinger was born in Sweden and grew up in Salzburg. She performed at the Salzburg State Theatre as a child and joined the ensemble of the Kleines Theater Salzburg after completing her acting training. In addition to engagements at the Salzburg Festival and the Reichenau Summer Festival, among others, she has been a member of the ensemble at the Theater in der Josefstadt since 1996 and was appointed Kammerschauspielerin in 2023. She regularly appears in front of the camera for film and TV productions, including in the series Die Vorstadtweiber and Vienna Blood, as well as in the courtroom drama Sie sagt.Er Sagt.

Johanna Orsini (Actress, AT)
Born in Klagenfurt. Studied violin at the Vienna Academy of Music and drama at the Mozarteum Salzburg. Theatre engagements at the Burgtheater Vienna, Salzburg Festival, Deutsches Theater Göttingen, Volkstheater Vienna, Schauspielhaus Graz, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, Landestheater Linz, Rabenhof, Kosmostheater Vienna and Theater am Werk, Bronski and Grünberg, among others. Film roles include Sleeping with a Tiger, What a Feeling, Veni Vidi Vici. Johanna Osini was honoured with the Diagonale ‘13 Acting Award for her leading role in Soldate Jeannette by Daniel Hoesl.

Michael Sturminger (Director, AT)
Michael Sturminger, born in Vienna in 1963, is a director and author for theatre, music theatre and film. He was artistic director of the Perchtoldsdorf Summer Festival from 2014 to 2022 and taught music theatre directing at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna until 2023. He has directed at the Vienna State Opera, the Sydney Festival and the Salzburger Festspiele, among others. He has worked regularly with John Malkovich for many years; their works have been performed worldwide. Sturminger has received numerous awards, including the Austrian Music Theatre Prize.

YOUTH JURY
The youth jury will be put together in the course of a film seminar in mid-March. Initiated and organised by Verein Kulturvermittlung Steiermark – Kunstpädagogisches Institut Graz (idea: Max Aufischer, management until 2018 | organisation: Luise Grinschgl, Natascha Reiterer). Supported by the Province of Styria/Youth and AV-Professional GmbH.