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AWARDS Austria

Murer – Anatomy of a Trial wins the Austrian Film Award for Best Fiction Feature

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- Ruth Beckermann’s The Waldheim Waltz was crowned Best Documentary, while the Award for Best Director went to Wolfgang Fischer for Styx

Murer – Anatomy of a Trial wins the Austrian Film Award for Best Fiction Feature
The winners of the 2019 Austrian Film Awards (© Manfred Werner)

Murer – Anatomy of a Trial [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by Christian Frosch has been crowned Best Feature Film at the ninth edition of the Austrian Film Awards, which took place yesterday evening at the Vienna City Hall, and was hosted by Caroline Peters and Nicholas Ofczarek. The courtroom drama, which centres on the trial of a former SS officer and celebrated its world premiere at the Diagonale last year, has emerged triumphant in only one of the other eight categories it was nominated in, with Inge Maux taking home the Award for Best Supporting Actress.

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Ruth Beckermann’s The Waldheim Waltz [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruth Beckermann
film profile
]
, a film based entirely on archive material from the 1970s and 1980s (some of which she shot herself) and which, like Murer, also deals with antisemitism in post-war Austria, was handed the Award for Best Documentary. After premiering in the Forum at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival, where it also won the Glashütte Original Documentary Award, The Waldheim Waltz was chosen to be Austria’s candidate for the Oscar for Best Foreign-language Film, but is no longer in the race. Upon receiving the award, Beckermann, like many of the other winners who came before and after her, criticised the country’s current political situation in her acceptance speech. 

The Award for Best Director was bestowed upon Wolfgang Fischer for his refugee drama Styx [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Wolfgang Fischer
film profile
]
, which also received the Awards for Best Script (penned by the director together with Ika Künzel) and Best Editing (Monika Willi, who also won the award last year, for completing Michael Glawogger’s last film, Untitled [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
).

As for the further acting trophies, 87-year-old Ingrid Burkhard was crowned Best Actress for her performance in Ronny Trocker’s The Eremites [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, while the Award for Best Actor went to Laurence Rupp for his turn in Stefan Lukacs’ Cops [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
. His colleague Anton Noori scooped the Award for Best Supporting Actor, meaning that the police drama emerged triumphant in a total of three categories, seeing as it also pocketed the Award for Best Sound Design. 

Furthermore, Klemens Hufnagl snagged the Award for Best Cinematography for The Eremites, while Bernhard Fleischmann’s compositions for L’Animale [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Katharina Mückstein
film profile
]
 earned him the trophy for Best Original Music.

Losing out on the main awards, Markus Schleinzer’s period drama Angelo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Markus Schleinzer
film profile
]
still emerged triumphant in three of the seven categories it was nominated in, winning for Best Costumes (Tanja Hausner), Best Make-up (Anette Keiser) and Best Production Design (Andreas Sobotka and Martin Reiter).

Here is the complete list of winners at the 2019 Austrian Film Awards:

Best Feature Film
Murer – Anatomy of a Trial [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
– Christian Frosch (Austria/Luxembourg)

Best Director
Wolfgang Fischer – Styx [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Wolfgang Fischer
film profile
]
(Germany/Austria)

Best Documentary
The Waldheim Waltz [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ruth Beckermann
film profile
]
– Ruth Beckermann

Best Short Film
Excuse Me, I’m Looking for the Ping-pong Room and My Girlfriend - Bernhard Wenger (Austria/Germany/Sweden)

Best Actress
Ingrid Burkhard – The Eremites [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(Germany/Austria)

Best Actor
Laurence Rupp – Cops [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]

Best Supporting Actress
Inge Maux – Murer – Anatomy of a Trial

Best Supporting Actor
Anton Noori – Cops

Best Screenplay
Wolfgang Fischer, Ika Künzel – Styx

Best Cinematography
Klemens Hufnagl – The Eremites

Best Costume Designer
Tanja Hausner – Angelo [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Markus Schleinzer
film profile
]
(Austria/Luxembourg)

Best Make-up Artist
Anette Keiser – Angelo

Best Original Music
Bernhard Fleischmann – L’Animale [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Katharina Mückstein
film profile
]

Best Film Editing
Monika Willi – Styx

Best Production Design
Andreas Sobotka, Martin Reiter – Angelo

Best Sound
Claus Benischke-Lang (original sound), Thomas Pötz and Sebastian Watzinger (sound design), Thomas Pötz (sound mixing) – Cops

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