Veronika Franz (born 1965) and Severin Fiala (born 1985) are an Austrian filmmaking duo. Fiala is the nephew of Franz and her husband, filmmaker

Ulrich Seidl Ulrich Maria Seidl (born 24 November 1952 in Vienna) is an Austrian film director, writer and producer. Among other awards, his film ''Dog Days'' won the Grand Jury Prize at Venice in 2001. His 2012 film '' Paradise: Love'' competed for the Palme ...

. Franz, a former film journalist, began her film career co-writing with Seidl. Franz and Fiala began their creative partnership writing and directing ''Kern'' (2012), a documentary about the actor Peter Kern. They went on to gain international notice for their feature debut, the German-language

psychological horror Psychological horror is a genre, subgenre of horror fiction, horror and psychological fiction with a particular focus on mental, emotional, and Mental state, psychological states to frighten, disturb, or unsettle its audience. The subgenre frequent ...

film ''

Goodnight Mommy ''Goodnight Mommy'' (german: Ich seh, Ich seh , translation=I see, I see; UK: ''Goodnight Mummy'') is a 2014 Austrian psychological horror film, written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. The film stars Susanne Wuest and twin ac ...

'' (2014), which was selected as the Austrian entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the

88th Academy Awards The 88th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2015 and took place on February 28, 2016, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. PST. Du ...

. They subsequently wrote and directed a segment of the

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

horror film ''

The Field Guide to Evil ''The Field Guide To Evil'' is a 2018 anthology horror film produced by Legion M. Eight film makers from different countries bring stories or folk tales from their country to the anthology. Plot The film comprises treatises on forbidden love ...

'' (2018), followed by the English-language psychological horror film '' The Lodge'' (2019).

Career

Veronika Franz was born in 1965 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. Prior to establishing a career as a filmmaker, she worked as a film journalist for the German-language newspaper ''

Kurier ''Kurier'' is a German-language daily newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. History and profile ''Kurier'' was founded as ''Wiener Kurier'' by the United States Forces in Austria (USFA) in 1945, during the Allied occupation after World War II. ...

'', beginning in 1997. She subsequently co-wrote several screenplays with her husband, filmmaker

, including all three features in his ''Paradise'' trilogy; she also worked as an assistant director on some projects. Severin Fiala was born in 1985 in

Horn Horn most often refers to: *Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound ** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments *Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...

, Austria, and formally studied at a film school. Fiala is Seidl's biological nephew, and Franz his aunt-by-marriage. Franz became more closely acquainted with Fiala when she and Seidl hired him to regularly babysit their two sons. Franz and Fiala found they had a mutual love of horror films. While attending a film festival, Franz met Austrian actor Peter Kern, a controversial actor and filmmaker. Recalling their meeting Franz said: " talked to himfor several days actually. I only talked to him because I felt so sorry for him, but I got to know him. I really thought that he was a very fascinating character and someone should do a movie about him. He used to work with

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's main ...

in the German cinema of the ‘70s. He was kind of ''erschwerte'' in that group. I mean, he was crazy. I thought he was really crazy." Franz decided to follow Kern for the next two years, directing and writing a documentary film on him with Fiala. The documentary, titled ''Kern'', was released in 2012. In 2013, Franz and Fiala began working on their feature debut, ''

'', a horror film about two twin boys who suspect their mother, having recently undergone cosmetic surgery, is in fact not their mother. ''Goodnight Mommy'', co-written and co-directed by Franz and Fiala, was selected as the Austrian entry for the

at the

, but it was not nominated. Franz and Fiala subsequently co-wrote and co-directed a segment in the

horror film ''

'' (2018), titled ''Die Trud''. In 2019, the duo directed (and co-wrote, with Sergio Casci) their English-language film debut, the psychological horror film '' The Lodge'', which premiered at the 2019

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

before being released in the United States on 7 February 2020.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Franz, Veronika, Fiala, Severin 1965 births 1985 births Austrian documentary filmmakers Austrian film directors Austrian screenwriters Austrian women film directors Austrian women screenwriters Filmmaking duos Horror film directors Screenwriting duos Living people