The Vienna International Film Festival, or Viennale, is a

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 upo ...

taking place every October since 1960 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 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 ...

. The average number of visitors is about 75,000. Traditional cinema venues are ''Gartenbaukino'', ''Urania'', ''Metro-Kino'', ''Filmmuseum'' and ''Stadtkino''. At the end of the festival, the ''Vienna Film Prize'' is awarded.

History

The festival features a collection of new films from all over the world, as well as national and international premieres. Apart from new feature films in various

film genre A film genre is a stylistic or thematic category for motion pictures based on similarities either in the narrative elements, aesthetic approach, or the emotional response to the film. Drawing heavily from the theories of literary-genre cri ...

s, the festival focuses on

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

short film 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 ...

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 ...

s and crossover productions. Together with the ''Austrian Film Museum'', a historical retrospective is organized every year, as well as special programs, tributes and homages to international institutions and individuals. During the festival, the '' Fipresci Prize'' is awarded by international

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outl ...

s. Another prize is awarded by the readers of the Austrian

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as p ...

Der Standard ''Der Standard'' is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first edition on 19 October 1988. German media company Axel Sprin ...

''. The program of the festival includes galas, special events and celebrations, as well as discussions and meetings between international guests and local visitors. The Vienna International Film Festival is different from the ''Film Festival Rathausplatz'' in central Vienna, which exclusively shows music films daily throughout August.

External links

Vienna International Film Festival

Film Festival Rathausplatz
Film festivals in Austria Festivals in Vienna Documentary film festivals in Austria Short film festivals Experimental film festivals Tourist attractions in Vienna Film festivals established in 1960 Autumn events in Austria {{film-festival-stub