Paul Harather (born 30 March 1965 in

Mödling Mödling () is the capital of the Austrian district of the same name located approximately 14 km south of Vienna. Mödling lies in Lower Austria's industrial zone (Industrieviertel). The Mödlingbach, a brook which rises in the Vienna Woods, ...

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

) is an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

film director, producer and screenplay author. He is considered one of the early artists in Austria's new wave film (1990s to the present). Harather studied at the

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

and received a student grant from Fulbright Austria to attend the American Film Institute in 1993/94. In 1993, Harather had a major success as a director with ''Indien'', a

road movie A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the theme of alienatio ...

-style

tragicomedy Tragicomedy is a literary genre that blends aspects of both tragic and comic forms. Most often seen in dramatic literature, the term can describe either a tragic play which contains enough comic elements to lighten the overall mood or a seriou ...

and featuring famous Austrian comedians and actors

Alfred Dorfer Alfred Dorfer (; 11 October 1961) is an Austrian comedian, writer, and actor. He is one of the most well-known cabaret artists and comedians in Austria, not least due to his commitment to numerous Austrian film productions. After initial success ...

and

Josef Hader Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) Josef is the surname of the following people: * Jens Josef (born 1967), German composer of classical music, a flutist and academic teacher * Michelle Josef (born 1954), Canadian musician and tr ...

. He also co-wrote the screenplay of the film with the pair, which is based on cabaret material. It received the German

Max Ophüls Maximillian Oppenheimer (; 6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957), known as Max Ophüls (; ), was a German-French film director who worked in Germany (1931–1933), France (1933–1940 and 1950–1957), and the United States (1947–1950). He made near ...

Prize of the Saarland Premier and the Audience Award, the Grand Prize of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Thomas Pluch Screenplay Prize of the

Diagonale The Diagonale (Festival of Austrian Film) is a film festival that takes place every March in Graz, Austria. The festival was initially held under the auspices of the Austrian Film Commission in Salzburg from 1993 to 1995 but moved to Graz in 19 ...

Film Festival, and the Austrian Film Prize. It also became one of the most popular and profitable movies made in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

since the 1960s. He was awarded a Golden

Romy Award The Romy television award in honor of the German-born and naturalized French actress Romy Schneider, born in Vienna, was created in 1990 by the Austrian newspaper ''Kurier'' – or rather their movie reviewer Rudolf John, who also designed th ...

for the screenplay of ''Autsch!!!'' (1996), and his film ''The Ragu Incident'' (2000) received the New York International Film Festival Audience Award in 2000. In 2011, Harather scored a significant comeback on Austrian television with the series ''Schlawiner'', which has completed two seasons (2011 and 2013) on the national

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

network and is scheduled for a third. The series is also broadcast in Germany on

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

, in Denmark (as ''Går det godt?'') and in the UK (as ''Smooth Operators''). A multi-lingual DVD release of the first two seasons will be released in Europe in 2013. He received the Austrian Erich Neuberg Television Prize for the first season of the series. His Austrian production company is called Breitwand.

Filmography

*1988: ''Soltana'' *1990: ''Die Bürgschaft'' *1990: ''Warten'' *1991: ''Fünf Minuten bis zur Ewigkeit'' *1992: ''Cappuccino Melange'' *1993: '' Indien'' (''India'') *1996: ''Autsch!!!'' *1997: ''Weihnachtsfieber'' *1998: ''Kleine Semmeln'' *1999: ''Frische Ware'' *2000: ''The Ragu Incident'' *2000: ''Geier im Reisrand'' *2001: ''Arabesken um Frosch'' *2001: ''Die Gottesanbeterin'' (''The Black Widow'') *2003: ''Adam & Eva'' *2010: ''Death in Paradise'' - infamous ‘Black Episode’ *2011 - : ''Schlawiner'' (television series; Breitwand/

) *2011 - : ''AMS – Mutris Welt'' (television series; Breitwand/

) *2013: ''CopStories'' (television series; Gebhardt Productions/

) *2013: ''Im Schleudergang'' (television series; Infafilm Germany/

)

References

External links

* 1965 births Living people People from Mödling Austrian film directors Austrian television directors Austrian film producers Austrian screenwriters Austrian male screenwriters German-language film directors {{Austria-bio-stub