20160526 Fotoprojekt Oesterreichischer Film Virgil Widrich - by 2eight - 8SC5671

Virgil Widrich (* 16 May 1967 in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

) is an Austrian

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and

multimedia artist Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to traditio ...

. Widrich works on a large number of films and multimedia projects, sometimes as part of a creative team. He is known especially for his numerous

short films A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

and multimedia works.

Biography

Born in

, Virgil Widrich spent his childhood in a house that is over 500 years old and stands on the Mönchsberg. While there he became acquainted with artists such as

Peter Handke Peter Handke (; born 6 December 1942) is an Austrian novelist, playwright, translator, poet, film director, and screenwriter. He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Literature "for an influential work that with linguistic ingenuity has explored t ...

, who was his neighbour, and film director

Wim Wenders Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (; born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among many honors, he has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Docum ...

, a frequent visitor. He gained his first experience with film at a very young age and was given his first camera, a

Super-8 Super 8 mm film is a motion-picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement over the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format. The film is nominally 8 mm wide, the same as older formatted 8& ...

, at the age of 13. That same year (1980) he made three films, "My Homelife", "Gebratenes Fleisch" and ''3 mal Ulf''. He followed that with an

animated cartoon Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

titled ''Auch Farbe kann träumen''. At the age of 15 he made ''Monster in Salzburg'', on which he worked with actors for the first time. He created the rampaging monster using

stop-motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

photography. In 1983 he began work on ''Vom Geist der Zeit'' (''Spirit of Time''). Even bad grades at school were not enough to prevent him finishing his first feature-length movie, which took him 14 months. During this time he also took on a job as an

extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...

and props manager at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

to finance his films. In 1984 he began to take an interest in computers and programmed a number of simple games. After passing his school-leaving exams at the ''Akademisches Gymnasium'' in

he entered the ''Vienna Film Academy'', only to leave again after a matter of weeks to work on the script for a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

film which, in the end, he never made. In 1987 he founded the film distributing company ''Classic Films'' with two partners with the aim of distributing mainly artistic films. Later on he became assistant to John Bailey, a camera man and director, and in 1990 he went to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

to work with Bailey on the science fiction comedy ''The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe''. After selling ''Classic Films'' in 1991 Widrich again turned his attention to the computer and the possibilities it offered for creating art. His next major project, which saw him working as

production manager In the cinema of the United States, a unit production manager (UPM) is the Directors Guild of America–approved title for the top below-the-line staff position, responsible for the administration of a feature film or television production. Non- ...

, was a new festival for Austrian film, held for the first time in 1993 under the name

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 ...

. In the second year he also compiled a film database. More

databases In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases spa ...

relating to film followed, and he was also involved in the creation of an interactive

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains data. Computers can read—but not write or erase—CD-ROMs. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold both comput ...

. In 1997 Widrich started concentrating more on making his own films again, producing the short film "tx-transform", which was a great success at the

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in the ...

festival. He also returned to his script for ''Heller als der Mond'' ("Brighter than the Moon"), which he filmed in 1999. The film premiered in 2000 in Rotterdam. ''Copy Shop'' was his next project, and one of his most successful to date. Following its premiere in 2001 the film won 35 awards, was nominated for the

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...

and was shown on television and at over 200

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon ...

s. His next short, '' Fast Film'', was likewise very successful, won 36 international awards and was shown on over 300 film festivals. A large number of multimedia projects for companies followed (in 2001 he founded the company, checkpointmedia AG, and is its CEO) and he continued producing films with his company Virgil Widrich Film- und Multimediaproduktionen G.m.b.H. Together with other filmmakers he also co-founded the production company Amour Fou Film in 2001, focusing on arthouse movies from young directors. In 2004 Widrich was a member of the jury for

and became chairman of the Austrian Film Directors’ Association until 2007. He is also a member of the Academy of Austrian Film. From 2007 to 2010 Virgil Widrich taught as Professor at the

University of Applied Arts Vienna The University of Applied Arts Vienna (german: Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, or informally just ''Die Angewandte'') is an arts university and institution of higher education in Vienna, the capital of Austria. It has had university sta ...

, teaching the class of “digital arts”. Since 2010 he is the leading Professor of the post-graduate Master Programme "Art & Science". Virgil Widrich has three sons with the film director

Anja Salomonowitz Anja Salomonowitz (born in Vienna) is an Austrians, Austrian film director and screenwriter, specialised on documentary films with political or social background. Biography Anja Salomonowitz was born in Vienna. She studied Film in Vienna and Berlin ...

, one of whom, Oskar Salomonowitz (born 2008), known for his role in the film "This Movie is a Gift", died in an accident in 2020.

Exhibitions

* 2006: Virgil Widrich created computer-animated installations for the refurbished

Mozarthaus Vienna The Mozarthaus Vienna was Mozart's residence from 1784 to 1787. This building in Vienna's Old Town, not far from St. Stephen's Cathedral, is his only surviving Viennese residence and is now a museum. History The house is located on Domgasse. It ...

. * 2008: 13 works by Virgil Widrich and his students of “digital arts” were displayed at the “Essence08” in the

Museum für angewandte Kunst Wien The MAK – Museum of Applied Arts (German: ''Museum für angewandte Kunst'') is an arts and crafts museum located at Stubenring 5 in Vienna's 1st district Innere Stadt. Besides its traditional orientation towards arts and crafts and design, the mu ...

. * 2009: Virgil Widrich took on the role as art director for the exhibition "Linz. City in Luck" at the museum Nordico, that formed part of the city's year as European Capital of Culture. * 2009: "Alias in Wonderland" took place from 25 June to 12 July in the Freiraum/quartier 21 in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, a project carried out with his students. * 2009: 10 works by his students of “digital arts” were displayed at the “Essence09” in the Expositur Vordere Zollamtsstraße Vienna. * 2010: 15 works by his students of “digital arts” were displayed at the “Essence10” in the

Vienna Künstlerhaus The Künstlerhaus in Vienna’s 1st district has accommodated the Künstlerhaus Vereinigung since 1868. It is located in the Ringstrassenzone in between Akademiestraße, Bösendorferstraße and Musikvereinsplatz. The building was erected betw ...

. * 2010: Widrich was artistic director of the exhibition “90 Jahre

Salzburger Festspiele The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...

” (90 years of the Salzburg Festival) at the

Salzburg Museum Housed in the ' (to which it moved in 2005), the Salzburg Museum is the museum of artistic and cultural history of the city and region of Salzburg, Austria. It originated as the Provincialmuseum and was also previously known as the Museum Carolino- ...

. * 2011: Artistic director for the exhibition “parameter - parameters for every or no thing” of the master “Art and Science” at the

. * 2012: Works by his students of “Art & Science” were displayed at the “Essence12” in the

. * 2013: "Crucial Experiments": exhibition of University of Applied Arts Vienna on behalf of Vienna Art Week 2013, MuseumsQuartier Wien/Ovalhalle, direction: Bernd Kräftner, Virgil Widrich * 2014: 2 works by his students of “Art & Science” were displayed at the “Essence14” in the

. * 2015: "Parallaxis" – media installation for the exhibition "A Rush of Color" at

Leopold Museum The Leopold Museum, housed in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria, is home to one of the largest collections of modern Austrian art, featuring artists such as Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Richard Gerstl. It contains the wo ...

. * 2016: islacement – Information through Sound - of "Art & Science", Citygate Shopping, 1210 Vienna * 2017: "Circuit Training", 6 June to 17 June 2017, the white house, 1010 Vienna * 2017: Exhibition and retrospective "analog_digital - Die Dichotomie des Kinos", 3.10.2017 to 28.1. 2018, METRO Kinokulturhaus, 1010 Vienna: Film selection retrospective, participation in exhibition with two works * 2017: Exhibition contribution "Panzerschrank Potemkin" at the Vienna Design Week * 2017: Co-creation of the exhibition "Aesthetics of change – 150 years of the University of Applied Arts Vienna" at the MAK, Vienna * 2018: Co-creation of "Sound of Music World", Salzburg * 2018: Exhibition contribution "Voyage around my room" at the Vienna Design Week

Stage works

* 2012: Concept (in collaboration with

Martin Haselböck Martin Haselböck (born 23 November 1954, Vienna, Austria) is the Austrian musical director of Musica Angelica in Long Beach, California, United States, and the musical director and founder of the Orchester Wiener Akademie. He is also a professor ...

and Frank Hoffmann), stage, visuals and film projections for "New Angels", which premiered on November 19, 2012 at the Théâtre National du Luxembourg.

Filmography

* 1980: ''My Homelife'' (A) 6 mins. (Documentary about an old house) * 1980: ''Gebratenes Fleisch'' (A) 11 mins. (Crime thriller about the murder of a woman in a restaurant) * 1980: ''3 mal Ulf'' (A) 12 mins. (Documentary about Arnulf Komposch) * 1981: ''Auch Farbe kann träumen'' (A) 12 mins. (Animated cartoon in which a worm and a little man flee from the destruction of the environment) * 1982: ''Monster in Salzburg'' (A) 12 mins. (

Animated film Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...

in which a monster goes on the rampage in Salzburg) * 1983-85: ''Vom Geist der Zeit'' (A) 112 mins. (An assortment of many different genres) * 1998: ''tx-transform'' (A) 5 mins. (Experimental animated film using intriguing techniques, co-directed by Martin Reinhart) * 2000: ''Heller als der Mond (Brighter than the Moon)'' (Europe) 88 mins. (Comedy about being a foreigner in Vienna) * 2001: ''Copy Shop'' (A) 12 mins. (A man copies himself until he fills the entire world) * 2001: ''LinksRechts'' (A, F) 4 mins. (Interviews on the subject of "Left and right in film and politics") * 2003: '' Fast Film'' (A, LUX) 14 mins. (animated film with printed scraps of other films telling the story of a chase) * 2010: make/real (A), 5 mins. (Found-footage film for the exhibition "Robot Dreams" which was being staged at the

Museum Tinguely The Museum Tinguely is an art museum in Basel, Switzerland that contains a permanent exhibition of the works of Swiss painter and sculptor Jean Tinguely. Located in the Solitudepark by the Rhine, the museum was designed by the Ticinese architect ...

in Basel and the

Kunsthaus Graz The Kunsthaus Graz, Grazer Kunsthaus, or Graz Art Museum was built as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2003 and has since become an architectural landmark in Graz, Austria. Its exhibition program specializes in contemporar ...

* 2011: warning triangle (A), 6 mins. (Found-footage film for the exhibition “Fetisch Auto. Ich fahre, also bin ich.” which was being staged at the

in Basel * 2015: back track (A), 7 mins. (Found-footage film in 3D) * 2016: Vienna table trip (A), 1 min. 22 sec. (found-footage animated film) * 2016: Night of a 1000 Hours (feature film) * 2018: Icon Island – a live battle of pictures and sounds (AUT), 70 min. (Film and Music live-performance) * 2018: Nena & Dave Stewart: Be my Rebel (D), 3 min. 45 sek., music video * 2018: Light Matter (A), 5 min, experimental film * 2019: tx-reverse (A, D), 5 min, experimental film, co-directed by Martin Reinhart Since 2011 project development for a feature-length animated film titles "Micromeo", screenplay in collaboration with

Jean-Claude Carrière Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing '' Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorary ...

Accolades

In total, Virgil Widrich's work has been awarded more than 150 international awards. for ''Heller als der Mond (Brighter than the Moon)'' (2000): * Scriptwriting prize of the City of Salzburg for the best script (1997) * Jean Carment Award for Lars Rudolph — Angers European First Film Festival (2000) * Laser Vidéo Titres Award — Angers European First Film Festival (2000) for ''Copy Shop'' (2001): * Academy Award for Best Live Action Short nomination * Prix de la meilleure création sonore / Best Music and

Sound Design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

— Festival du Court-Métrage de

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...

(26 January 2001 - 3 February 2001) * Best Experimental Short — Toronto — International Short Film Festival (6 June 2001–10 June 2001) * Kodak Award — Jury's choice for short film — Puchon 2001 - Int. Fantastic Film Festival (12 July 2001–20 July 2001) * Jury Prize — IMAGO 2001 - Covilha, Portugal (25 September 2001–30 September 2001) * Silberne Taube — Leipzig 2001 – 44th International Film Festival (16 October 2001–21 October 2001) * Best Short film — Lleida 2001 - inCurt (7 November 2001–11 November 2001) * Best Experimental — Shorts International Film Festival New York 2001 (12 November 2001–15 November 2001) * 1st

Comunidad de Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest munici ...

Award — Best Film — Madrid — Semana de Cine Experimental (16 November 2001–23 November 2001) * Best Short film — Barcelona L'alternativa 01 (16 November 2001–24 November 2001) * Jury Prize — Leuven Kort 2001 - International Short Film Festival (23 November 2001 - 2 December 2001) * Best Of Festival — Boston Underground Film Festival (20 February 2002–24 February 2002) * Prix des télévisions européennes — Brussels 02 - Festival of Fantasy, Thriller and Science Fiction (15 March 2002–30 March 2002) * Special Prize — Hiroshima 2002 - International Animation Festival (22 August 2002–26 August 2002) * Best

Experimental Film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

— Thessaloniki 02 - Panorama of Ind. Film and Video Makers (14 October 2002–21 October 2002) * Jury's special prize — Tehran International Animation Festival (23 February 2003–27 February 2003) for ''Fast Film'' (2003): * Official selection

Festival de Cannes The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

(2003) (nomination) * Best Animated Short (C.O.R.E.

Digital Pictures Digital Pictures was an American video game developer founded in 1991 by Lode Coen, Mark Klein, Ken Melville, Anne Flaut-Reed, Kevin Welsh and Tom Zito. The company originated from an attempt to produce a game for the failed VHS-based NEMO (vid ...

Award) - Worldwide Short Film Festival, Toronto (2003) * Grand Prix for Animation (Grande Prémio Animação) - Festival Internacional de Curtas Metragens de

Vila do Conde Vila do Conde (, ; "the Count's Town") is a municipality in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 79,533, in an area of 149.03 km². The urbanized area of Vila do Conde, which includes the parishes of Vila do Conde, Azurar ...

, Portugal (2003) * Best Experimental Short Film – 52nd Int. Film Festival, Melbourne (2003) * Audience Award — Bearded Child Film Festival,

Grand Rapids, MN Grand Rapids is a city in Itasca County, Minnesota, United States, and it is the county seat. The population is 11,126 according to the 2020 census. The city is named for the long rapids in the Mississippi River which was the uppermost limit ...

/ Boulder, CO USA (2003) * Most Imaginative Film — Odense Film Festival, Odense (2003) * High Risk Award — Fantoche – 4th International Festival for Animated Film, Zürich (2003) * Best Experimental Film — Panorama of

Independent Film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

& Video Makers, Thessaloniki (2003) * Most innovative short — Leipzig International Festival for Documentaries and Animated Film (2003) * Grand Prix — Uppsala Short Film Festival (2003) * Premio de la Comunidad de Madrid a la Mejor Película — Semana de Cine Experimental de Madrid (2003) * Onda Curta, 2nd prize and jury's special mention — Cinanima Portugal (2003) * Innova Award — Animadrid, Spanien (2003) * Film Critics Award — Animafest Zagreb (2004) * ASIFA Korea Prize for best Experimental SICAF (2004) *

Cartoon d'or The Cartoon d'Or was a European award for animated short films. History It was rewarded every year to the best European short film from Cartoon's partner festivals until it was suppressed in favor of the Emile Awards. Amongst this short list, a j ...

— best animated cartoon Forum Galicia (2004) * Part of the Animation Show of ShowsAcme's Show of Shows on DVD, Cartoon Brew
/ref> for ''Nena & Dave Stewart: Be my Rebel'' (2018) * Mindfield Film Festival – Los Angeles – USA – Best Music Video: Platinum Award * UNDO Divergent Film Awards – Arlington – USA – Best Music Video * Mindfield Film Festival – Albuquerque – USA – Best Music Video: Platinum Award * EIFA – European Independent Film Award – Paris – Best Music Video – Bronze Award * Snowdance Film Awards – Los Angeles – USA – Best Visual VX * Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase – USA – Best International Music Video * NYC Indie Film Awards – USA – Best Music Video * Hollywood Sun Awards – USA – Best Music Video * Cosmic Film Festival – Florida – USA – Best Music Video * Rosarito International Film Festival – Los Angeles – USA – Best Music Video * Eurasia International Monthly Film Festival – Moskau – Best Music Video * Royal Wolf Film Awards – Los Angeles – USA – Winner: Best FX, Best Director, Best Music Video: Gold Award * Top Indie Film Awards – Online Festival – Winner: Best director, Best FX * Enginuity Film Awards – Shepherdstown – USA – Winner: Best New Media Director * West Wing Film Competition – Los Angeles – USA – Music Video: 1st Place Winner * Lake View International Film Festival – Punjab – Indien – May 2018 Best Music Video of the Month * Jaipur International Film Festival – JIFF – Indien – Top 2nd Music Video/Song * LA Edge Film Awards – Los Angeles – USA – Best Music Video, Best Editing, Best Visual FX * Silicon Beach Film Festival – Los Angeles – USA – Best Music Video * Berlin Flash Film Festival – Monthly category winner April 2018 – Music Video * SFAAF – South Film and Arts Academy Festival – Chile – Winner: best fx in a short film * Mediterranean Film Festival (MedFF) – Siracusa, Italien – Music Video Competition: Best Music Video for checkpointmedia: * September 2006: National Award for the “Mozarthouse Vienna” in the category "culture and entertainment" and an award in the category "Public information and services" for the “Visitor Center of the Austrian Parliament”.

External links

Official Homepage

checkpointmedia

Master of Art and Science
*
Official YouTube channel

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Widrich, Virgil 1967 births Living people Film people from Salzburg Artists from Salzburg Austrian film directors Austrian animators Collage filmmakers Multimedia artists