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On the occasion of the Diagonale’23 in Graz, the Franz Grabner Award 2023, endowed with EUR 5,000 each, was awarded today in the categories film documentary and TV documentary. The award is sponsored by the Grabner family, the AAFP, the ORF and the Diagonale in memory of ORF journalist Franz Grabner (1955-2015). The prize is awarded for an ethically and morally responsible and credible approach by filmmakers to their medium.
Reality on screen
On the occasion of the Diagonale’23 in Graz, the Franz Grabner Award 2023, endowed with EUR 5,000 each, was awarded today in the categories film documentary and TV documentary. The award is sponsored by the Grabner family, the AAFP, the ORF and the Diagonale in memory of ORF journalist Franz Grabner (1955-2015). The prize is awarded for an ethically and morally responsible and credible approach by filmmakers to their medium.
The speech at the award ceremony in the Grand Hôtel Wiesler, Salon Frühling, was given by journalist Köksal Baltaci (Die Presse).
— The Best Film Documentary is The Way you shine by Evelyne Faye (AT 2022).
“Four young adults. They are dancers, opera lovers, poets, activists, waiters, athletes. They live independently, alone or as a couple. They have big plans for their lives: work, marriage, family. And they have Down syndrome. Evelyn Faye also received this ‘diagnosis’ from doctors after the birth of her daughter, she tells us at the beginning, and asks a question: ‘What does the pursuit of happiness mean to you? We see her gaze on the happy child, full of confidence that she will succeed in living a self-determined life. This hope finds a convincing foundation in the sensitive and humorous portraits of the four main characters. Down syndrome takes a back seat in the narrative. We see the everyday life, interests, activities, worries and difficulties of the young people – and we see them in a world where their particularity has become normality. In the interview on the film’s website, the director states that she made the film as a love letter to her daughter, rather than as a diary like the ones she dedicated to her other children as they grew up. But in addition to the love it allows us to share, the letter encourages the audience to live without fears and doubts, following the example of people who have already achieved this goal. The optimism, the strong will to live life to the full is conveyed to the audience – and also inspires those who do not have to struggle against resistance and prejudice on the road to finding themselves” . These were the words of the international jury to justify their decision.
Living together by Thomas Fürhapter (AT 2021) and The last Dialogue by Fabian Eder (AT 2021) were also nominated.
— The winner in the TV documentary category is Weg Damit – Die Kunst der Entsorgung by Karin Berghammer (AT 2022).
“Practical, everyday cinematic observations, combined with suggestions to see usual facts and processes in a new way, to evaluate them differently. Philosophical reflections on things that at first sight seem trivial. The film is convincing thanks to the always surprising combination of opposites, a good camera and a coherent dramaturgy. The film is about waste and its disposal: in the city as well as in the country. The huge quantities of waste raise ecological questions and, on the other hand, say a lot about people. One of the film’s protagonists states that a glance into the dustbin reveals intimate details about the owners. Philosopher and artist Elisabeth von Samsonow follows the discarded waste – the ‘excrement of society’, as she calls it – to its next destination: from the rubbish truck to the loading station to the composting and water treatment plant. With depth and humour, she classifies what she sees and amazes us with her associations and interpretations. You can’t get rid of anything, everything stays there’, exclaims Elisabeth von Samsonow. Her thoughts resonate within us’. This is what the jury said in their statement.
The other nominees were Visionen Bauen by Diego Breit Lira (AT 2022) and Wohnen um jeden Preis by Kim Kadlec (AT 2022).
“In 2016, the first year we had the privilege of directing the Diagonale, the Franz Grabner Award was established to strengthen the status of Austrian film and television documentaries in memory of its namesake. Throughout his life, Franz Grabner fought for quality journalism and a public broadcasting service that could work independently from a political point of view and give artistic visions, including experimentation, the necessary space. A claim that is still valid and should be articulated with full self-confidence in view of the current debates on the future of the ORF’., say the Diagonale directors Sebastian Höglinger and Peter Schernhuber.
“Our colleague Franz Grabner was a publisher, a journalist and a visionary: his humanistic attitude and openness to the new are still a source of inspiration for us today. With the award, his legacy will be carried on’: All the documentaries nominated this year, so different from one another, live up to this statement. They are socially relevant, intelligently narrated and remain, as Franz liked to say, ‘with the people’. I warmly congratulate both award winners, but of course I am particularly delighted that Karin Berghammer’s Weg Damit – Die Kunst der Entsorgung, a co-production between berg hammer film and ORF TV-Kultur, was awarded the prize by the jury.” , says Sharon Nuni, head of ORF TV’s cultural documentary department.
The award is sponsored by the Grabner family, the AAFP, the ORF and the Diagonale in memory of ORF journalist Franz Grabner (1955-2015). The prize is awarded for an ethically and morally responsible and credible approach by filmmakers to their medium. The prize money – donated by the AAFP and the ORF – is earmarked for the development of the winner’s next project.
Jury of the Franz Grabner Award 2023
Matthias Elwardt (managing director of Zeise Kinos Hamburg, DE), Gudrun Hanke-El Ghomri (editor and coordinator of ARTE SWR, DE), Paul Pauwels (film producer, BE) and Robert Stachel (author and cabaret artist, AT).
The Franz Grabner Award 2023 was presented at a ceremony on Thursday, March 23 at 3pm at the Grand Hôtel Wiesler, Salon Frühling. The award ceremony was supported by the Federal Ministry of Arts, Culture, Public Services and Sport, Fernsehfonds Austria, Filmcommission Graz and dok.at.
Cinema Austriaco sincerely congratulates all the winners!