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News/Location Austria
FISA (Film Location Austria)
New Austrian Film Production Incentive
A new financial incentive model, planned to go into effect in July 2010 (after notification through the European Commission), will support eligible Austrian movies and documentaries as well as Austrian-international co-productions and co-financing deals with a non-repayable grant. Austria’s Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth will provide a total of 20 million Euro grant money until 2012. Grant conditions are:
· Eligible are persons/companies with residence or business location in Austria
· Minimum of production expenses in Austria: 25% of total production costs or 20% of big-budget films (budget over 10 million Euro); possible exceptions with due cause
· Fulfillment of cultural, creative, and technical criteria (“Cultural Test“)
· Production budget minimum: 1 million Euro for movies, 200,000 for documentaries
· Length of production: a minimum of 79 minutes for movies and documentaries, 59 minutes for children’s films.
· Grant amount: a maximum of 25% of eligible Austrian production expenses (a maximum of 15% of the annual grant total).
· The grant can be combined with financial support from other institutions
FISA Website (in German only)
FISA is managed by aws and Location Austria, a department within the ABA (Austrian Business Agency).
 The White Ribbon by Michael Haneke
Big triumph for Austria at the Cannes Film Festival 2009
Austrian director Michael Haneke was awarded with the Palme d’Or for his movie THE WHITE RIBBON (Das Weisse Band) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The black-and-white drama was set in a German village on the eve of World War I.
The best-actor award was given to Austrian Christoph Waltz, who plays a Nazi officer in Quentin Tarantino’s World War II movie, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.
Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel’s LA PIVELLINA, an Austrian/Italian co-production, has been awarded the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European Film in the Director’s Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.
In the course of the Festival, Erwin Wagenhofer, director of the much valued documentary LET’S MAKE MONEY, was honoured with the special WorldShift Diploma Award by the intellectual Club of Budapest.
The team of Location Austria congratulates these outstanding honourees!
Press Release
Vienna, January 30, 2009
Austria as Backdrop for Daniel Craig and Nicolas Cage
Austria celebrates a sensational year as an international film location: In 2008 there were 12 international film productions, among them 3 big screen movie productions, 2 TV-productions, 4 documentaries, and 3 commerical and video productions were filmed in Austria with the support of Location Austria, Austria’s national film commission. Total production expenses in Austria amounted to more than € 4.1 million.
The production of JAMES BOND – QUANTUM OF SOLACE, filmed in Bregenz and Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, in May of 2008, gained Austria wide international recognition as an exceptional film location. The Bregenz Festival’s extravagant stage on Lake Constance, the main location for the shoot, featured an enormous eyeball as backdrop for the opera Tosca. The crew was enthusiastic: “Filming in this location was spectacular! We could not have imagined a better setting. The stage was fantastic! It could not have been any better,“ raved Daniel Craig when the production wrapped. Location Austria supported the production before and during the 8-day shoot in Austria. Direct production expenses in the Vorarlberg region amounted to € 3.1 million. During filming alone Bregenz hotels registered 10,000 overnights. The tourism representatives of the region agree: “The commercial effect of the scenes shot in Bregenz is priceless.“
SEASON OF THE WITCH, starring Academy Award winner Nicholas Cage, was another high-caliber production acquired and supported by Location Austria. The US-Hungarian co-production filmed in Salzburg, Lower Austria, and Styria with a crew of 320 for a duration of 17 days. Direct production expenses in Austria amounted to approx. € 700,000.
GULFSTREAM UNDER THE ICEBERG, a Russian-Latvian co-production set in the Middle Ages features a cast of Russian and Finnish stars. Filming took place in Styria and Lower Austria during 10 days in September of 2008, with the support of Location Austria. Direct production expenses in Austria amounted to approx. € 120,000.
In addition to the productions filmed in Austria in 2008, Location Austria worked on another 37 production inquiries, among them several mega projects from international production companies and therefore potential box office hits. Despite Austria’s alluring locations and excellent infrastructure, these 37 productions eventually chose locations in neighboring countries. Ari Bohrer, Film Commissioner at Location Austria, comments: “Austria offers a number of advantages as a film location but the potential to acquire a much greater number of top notch international productions requires the implementation of financial incentives that compete with those offered in Germany, Hungary, Italy, and other countries.“ According to Bohrer, international awareness of Austria in the industry is currently at another high with the 2009 Academy Award nomination of REVANCHE for Best Foreign Language Film just two years after THE COUNTERFEITERS won the same category in 2007. Both films are Austrian productions filmed in Austria.
Austria’s COUNTERFEITERS wins Oscar
The German-Austrian co-production THE COUNTERFEITERS, directed and written by Austria’s Stefan Ruzowitzky, won the Oscar in the Best Foreign Language Film category on February 24, 2008. It is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936. Salomon Sorowitsch, played by LOLA Best Actor Nominee Karl Markovics, is the king of counterfeiters. The film was produced by the Austrian Aichholzer Filmproduktion and the German Magnolia Filmproduktion. Location Austria congratulates the production team on this outstanding achievement!
Press Release
June 4, 2007
First European Film Commission Network (EuFCN) Meeting in Cannes – Location Austria participates as a founding member
For the first time in history, 50 European film commissions met on Tuesday, May 22, 2007, at the Cannes Film Festival for the first general assembly of the European Film Commission Network (EuFCN). With the active participation of Location Austria, several months of preparation led up to the official inauguration of the EuFCN in Brussels at the end of March 2007. Location Austria will serve as the central EuFCN contact office until the election of the board this fall in a European location yet to be determined. The active working group of the EuFCN, consisting of film commission representatives from Andalusia/Spain, France, Genoa/Italy, Stuttgart Region/Germany, Torino/Piemonte/Italy and Austria, scheduled first informational meetings at the Cannes Film Festival.
The new network of European film commissions hopes to make a stronger impact as a joint European force. A complete action plan will be presented after the board has been elected. Planned efforts include joint marketing activities targeting production companies, intranational location services and joint attendance at important events, i.e. trade shows and film festivals. In addition, the interest group will promote the economic benefits of the film commissions’ services within the framework of the EuFCN and the European film industry.
Film Commissions, like Location Austria, actively search for international film projects suitable for their respective locations. Then, the film commissions will find co-production partners, serve as a liaison to public institutions and film funds, assist in location scouting, help negotiate location fees and recruit local film industry representatives and provider companies.
Film commissions have become an important part of the international film industry because they provide services that generate income for their country’s or region’s economy. Over the past few years, the number of European film commissions has increased, mostly on a regional level. More than 300 film commissions worldwide show convincing results and impressive bottom-lines.
To the editor:
Location Austria is Austria’s film commission and nationwide agency to promote Austria as a location for international film projects. Location Austria’s objective is the acquisition of international film, TV, commercial and documentary production projects to generate income for the local economy and film industry. Location Austria was founded in 1997 as a department of ABA-Invest in Austria, the national agency for business development and promotion.
Press Release
March 26, 2007
Location Austria is ‘Buzzing the Biz’ with 32 high-gloss international productions in 2006 and 7 projects in the first quarter of 2007
Location Austria, Austria’s film commission, has worked on 32 international film- and TV projects in 2006, 14 of which ended up choosing Austria as their location, five more are still in the game. Among last year’s projects were Warner Brothers “The Invasion” with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig for which post-production took place in Vienna and the Korean TV-series “Spring Waltz”. Another five to seven projects are planned to roll out in Austria in 2007.
Location Austria actively searches for international film productions. Location Austria will also find an Austrian co-production partner, assist in location scouting and help negotiate location fees. The total volume of the film projects generated by Location Austria in 2006 amounted to 2.45 million Euro. The 90-minute German TV-film “Die Lawine” (The Avalanche) by the Munich production company Tellux was the most lucrative project with 1.5 million Euro, followed by “Spring Waltz” with 450,000 Euro.
“Spring Waltz” was the first Austrian cooperation with the renowned South Korean production company Yoons Color. “Spring Waltz” is a 40-part TV-series starring famous Korean actors which was broadcast on Korean, Japanese, and Chinese television. The series included 170 minutes of footage from Vienna, Tirol, and the Salzburg lake district “Salzkammergut” and turned out to be a great product placement vehicle for Austrian brands, such as Swarovski, Wittmann, Mozart 2006, and the Austrian Railways, OEBB. “Spring Waltz” achieved record ratings in Japan and Korea. Due to this successful co-operation, future projects with Austria are planned.
A joint promotional tour with Cine Tirol to Mumbai, India, in fall 2006, resulted in seven promising leads, among them a movie with one of Bollywood’s favorite stars, Amitabh Bachchan.
Currently, Location Austria is working on ten projects from four countries. Arie Bohrer, Project Director of Location Austria, comments on the positive 2006 results: “The increasing interest in Austria as a film location is astonishing. Austria is a very desirable European location although it cannot compete with bigger European countries when it comes to production incentives like tax breaks.”
Another Asian project is currently being assisted by Location Austria: A Chinese-Austrian co-production with a historical theme, “Jakob Rosenfeld,” a co-operation between Dor Film and China Film Group Number One, is in pre-production and scheduled to wrap in 2008.
To the editor:
Location Austria is Austria’s film commission and nationwide agency to promote Austria as a location for international film projects. Location Austria’s objective is the acquisition of international film, TV, commercial and documentary production projects to generate income for the local economy and film industry. Location Austria was founded in 1997 as a department of ABA-Invest in Austria, the national agency for business development and promotion.
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