| Forum |

This year the Heimatsaal of the Volkskundemuseum (Folk Life Museum) is being introduced by Diagonale as a new festival location and home to its new Forum series of events. It includes public discussions and the Diagonale Film Meeting, as well as the award ceremonies for the Franz Grabner Prize, the Carl Mayer Screenplay Competition, and the Thomas Pluch Screenplay Prize.

Friday, April 5
9.45 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Diagonale Film Meeting
Heimatsaal im Volkskundemuseum, free admission

In recent years, the Diagonale Film Meeting – the festival’s industry get-together – has invited people to exchange views on set topics. Since 2022, the Film Meeting has changed formally: It is not the festival that sets the topics, but the industries’ priorities that shape the Film Meeting. On two days – an Updates Day and a (non-public) Think Tanks & Connecting Day – information and discussions will be held on processes and measures that can change the industry.
Information and detailed program here.

With kind support of: FISAplus – Filmstandort Austria | FERNSEHFONDS AUSTRIA | Fachverband der Film- und Musikwirtschaft
Thanks to: Creative Europe Desk Austria – MEDIA | Canon

The Diagonale Film Meeting is certified as a Green Event according to the criteria of the Austrian Ecolabel.

Saturday, April 6
11.30 a.m.

Presentation of the Franz Grabner Prize

For the Best Cinema Documentary Film and the Best Television Documentary Film, endowed with € 5,000 each, sponsored by AAFP and ORF. Initiated and organised by the Grabner family, AAFP, Film Austria, ORF and Diagonale. With the support of the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport, the Austrian Television Fund and the Film Commission Graz.

Jury: Karin Berghammer (Filmmaker), Olga Kosanović (Filmemaker), Martin Kowalczyk (Film journalist)

Saturday, April 6
2 p.m.

Panel – Wie lässt sich die Filmkooperation zwischen Österreich und Slowenien stärken?
Heimatsaal im Volkskundemuseum, free admission

How can collaboration between Austria and Slovenia be strengthened to create better conditions for film productions and co-productions?
Presentation of a case study on the Slovenian film Orchestra (Matevž Luzar, 2021), which could not be realised as a co-production despite the participation of Austrian actors such as Maria Hofstätter and Alexander Mitterer. This will be followed by a panel discussion with representatives of the Austrian Film Institute, the Slovenian Film Centre and other film institutions.

In cooperation with the Slovenian Film Producers Association and the Association of the Film and Music Industry.

Saturday, April 6
4 p.m.

Feminist Perspectives
Heimatsaal im Volkskundemuseum, free admission

The Austrian Film Institute presents the new Gender Report. Changes, visions, setbacks: Has the film industry in Austria become more fair and diverse? According to the ÖFI’s objecitve, gender equality in the allocation of funding should be achieved by 2024. It is therefore time to evaluate old goals and set new ones. On the basis of the analysis of Austrian documentary film in the report, director Katharina Mückstein and sociologist Laura Wiesböck, among others, will then discuss: Who is dominating in documentary film and who is behind the camera? Active audience participation encouraged!

An event organised by FC Gloria and dieRegisseur*innen in cooperation with the Diagonale and the Austrian Film Institute.

Sunday, April 7
11 a.m.

Let’s talk about scripts! Diagonale Special with Daniel Hoesl
Heimatsaal im Volkskundemuseum, free admission

The unusual social satire Veni Vidi Vici by Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann fascinates with its uncompromising and unsparing look at the machinations of the super-rich. The Let’s talk about scripts! series invites the film’s screenwriter Daniel Hoesl to talk in detail about his screenplay and the dramaturgy of the film. The special aspect here is that this is Hoesl’s first “real” screenplay, which served as the starting point for improvisation with the actors on set and faded into the background as the film progressed.
Moderation: Elisabeth Scharang

In Cooperation with Drehbuchforum Wien.

Sunday, April 7
2 p.m.

Revolver Live! zu Gast in Graz
Heimatsaal im Volkskundemuseum, free admission

Revolver Live! is the discussion format of the German-language film magazine Revolver, which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary and is presented by the Diagonale. The 62nd discussion among filmmakers is thus a guest appearance in Graz: In the Revolver Live! discussion, directors Christoph Hochhäusler and Nicolas Wackerbarth will meet the important German cinematographer Jürgen Jürges, who has repeatedly engaged in new settings, perspectives and narrative styles in his work with filmmakers such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders and Michael Haneke.

Sunday, April 7
6 p.m.

Cinema Expanded – 15 Jahre filmkoop wien
Heimatsaal im Volkskundemuseum, free admission

filmkoop wien celebrates its 15th anniversary with a roaring, resounding and performative Expanded Cinema evening. As an artist-run film lab founded in 2008 by alumni of the Friedl Kubelka School for Independent Film, filmkoop wien is a place of radical self-empowerment and experimentation with the analogue medium. Film is to be celebrated as a unique event in space and time, because the boundaries of cinema are there to be broken.

Program:
fade to death Mario Sefelin
landscapes of the soul Ramina Jenabi with music by Rottweil
Blätter im Herbst I und II* Markus Maicher
Pink Sari* Alina Tretinjak
Hasenhügel* Sarah Binder

Pause

attempts of entering a moving image Cosma Grosser with Miao Fangping
Villa Empain* Katharina Kastner
FMR Mirza Kebo, Marko Sulz, Guillermo Tellechea, Stefanie Weberhofer

*with live music by punctuum collective
Afterparty at GATTO im Museum.

Monday, April 8
11 a.m.

Presentation of Carl-Mayer-Drehbuchpreise and Thomas Pluch Drehbuchpreise

Carl-Mayer-Drehbuchpreise
For an anonymously submitted fictional or documentary treatment suitable for cinema. Prize money: € 15,500 (main prize) and € 7,500 (funding prize), initiated, organised and donated by the City of Graz Department of Culture.

Jury: Sebastian Höglinger, Felix von Boehm (Producer), Thomas Mraz (Actor), Franziska Pflaum (Filmmaker), Françoise von Roy (Dramatist)

Thomas Pluch Drehbuchpreise
The main prize, endowed with € 12,000, for the best screenplay for a feature-length cinema or television film. Furthermore, the special jury prize for the best screenplay of a feature-length cinema or television film with particularly outstanding aspects, endowed with € 7,000, as well as the prize for the best screenplay for short or medium-length cinema feature films, endowed with € 3,000. Sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport. In co-operation with the DrehbuchVERBAND Austria.

Jury Austria: Libertad Hackl (script writer), Senad Halilbašić (script writer), Marie-Therese Thill (script writer)

Jury International: Adis Djapo (producer), Frauke Finsterwalder (director), Hansjörg Weißbrich (editor)

Monday, April 8
1.30 p.m.

Panel – Die erste Schicht
Heimatsaal im Volkskundemuseum, free admission

The historical Diagonale program The First Shift looks back at the first wave of labour migration after the first guest worker agreements. Based on the films, the panel will discuss questions of the present and future: How does mediated memory work by labour migrants help to break up dominant national narratives? What can, what must be done in the further engagement with migrant cinema practice?

With Ljubomir Bratić (publicist, philosopher, Vienna), Ali Özbaş (JUKUS, Graz), Petra Popović (curator, Vienna), Can Sungu (film curator, Berlin), moderated by Elke Mursalits (historian, curator, Graz)