Virgil Widrich

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Virgil Widrich - 2016

Virgil Widrich (born May 16, 1967 in Salzburg ) is an Austrian director , screenwriter , filmmaker and multimedia artist. He is best known for his numerous short films and multimedia projects, which have so far won over 150 film awards.

Life

Born in Salzburg Virgil Widrich spent his childhood in a 500 year old house on Salzburg's Mönchsberg . His parents are the journalist Hans Widrich and Gerheid (née Kupelwieser) . In his childhood he met artists like Peter Handke , who was his neighbor, and Wim Wenders , a frequent visitor.

At the age of 13 he got his first camera, a Super-8 . In the same year (1980) he made three films, My Homelife , Fried Meat and 3 times Ulf . This was followed by the cartoon Color Can Dream, too . At the age of 15 he made Monster in Salzburg , where he worked with actors for the first time. He realized the angry monster with stop motion . In 1983 he started working on Vom Geist der Zeit . Even poor school grades couldn't stop him from completing his first full-length film after more than 14 months of shooting. In between he also worked at the Salzburg Festival as an extra and prop master to finance his films. He also started working with computers in 1984.

After graduating from the Academic Gymnasium in Salzburg , he attended the Vienna Film Academy , which he left a few weeks later to work on the script for a science fiction film, which he never made. With two partners, he founded the film distributor Classic Films in 1987 , primarily to distribute artistic films. He later became an assistant to John Bailey , a cameraman and director, and went to Hollywood in 1990 to work with him on the science fiction comedy The Search for intelligent life in the universe . After selling Classic Films in 1991 , he took part in the Festival for Austrian Films , which took place for the first time in 1993 in Salzburg under the name Diagonale . In the second year he created a film database for this purpose. Other databases related to film followed, and he also worked on some interactive CD-ROMs .

In 1997, Widrich began to work increasingly on his own films again, and the short film tx-transform was made , which was shown at Ars Electronica . Widrich wrote repeatedly on the feature film script for Heller als der Mond , which he filmed in 1999. The film premiered in Rotterdam in 2000 . Copy Shop was his next project. After its premiere in 2001, the film won a total of 35 awards, was nominated for an Oscar and has been shown on numerous television channels and over 700 film festivals. His next short film, Fast Film, was also successful, winning 36 international film awards and being shown at over 400 film festivals. This was followed by multimedia projects on behalf of companies (checkpointmedia AG was founded in 2001, whose CEO is Widrich) and the production of films. Together with other filmmakers, he founded the film production company Amour Fou (shareholder until 2007), which takes on the production of aesthetically demanding films, primarily for young filmmakers. Widrich was a member of the Ars Electronica jury in 2004 and chairman of the Austrian Film Directorate Association from 2004 to 2007 . He is also a member of the Academy of Austrian Films . From 2007 to 2010 Virgil Widrich was Univ.-Prof. works for the “digital art” class at the University of Applied Arts Vienna . Since 2010 he has been the Univ.-Prof. the master's course "Art & Science".

Exhibitions

  • 2006: Design of the interactive media for the Mozarthaus Vienna
  • 2008: Presentation of 13 works by students as part of "Essence08" in the Museum of Applied Arts (Vienna)
  • 2009: Artistic director of the exhibition “Linz. City in luck ”in the Nordico City Museum .
  • 2009 “Alias ​​in Wonderland” (June 25 to July 12, 2009) in Freiraum / quartier 21, Museumsquartier Vienna , realized with the students of digital art at the University of Applied Arts .
  • 2009: 10 works by students of digital art were exhibited as part of "Essence09" in the Expositur Vordere Zollamtstrasse.
  • 2010: 15 works by students of digital art were on view as part of “Essence10” in the Künstlerhaus Vienna .
  • 2010: Artistic director of the exhibition "90 Years of the Salzburg Festival " in the " Salzburg Museum "
  • 2011: Artistic director of the exhibition "parameter {world} - parameters for every or no thing" of the Masters "Art and Science" at the University of Applied Arts (March 30th to April 1st, 2011)
  • 2012: Works by students in the “Art & Science” class were on view at “Essence12” in the Künstlerhaus Vienna .
  • 2013: “Crucial Experiments”: Exhibition by the University of Applied Arts Vienna as part of the Vienna Art Week 2013, MuseumsQuartier Wien / Ovalhalle, directed by Bernd Kräftner, Virgil Widrich
  • 2014: From June 26th to July 13th, 2014, two students of the Art & Science class will be exhibiting their works in the Künstlerhaus Vienna as part of “Essence14” at the University of Applied Arts.
  • 2015: “Parallaxis” - media installation as a contribution to the exhibition “Color Rush” in the Leopold Museum
  • 2016: [dis] placement - Information through Sound - of the "Art & Science" class, Citygate Shopping, 1210 Vienna
  • 2017: “Circuit Training”, June 6th to June 17th, 2017, das weisse haus, 1010 Vienna
  • 2017: Exhibition and retrospective "analog_digital - The dichotomy of the cinema", October 3, 2017 to January 28, 2018, METRO Kinokulturhaus, 1010 Vienna: Retrospective film selection, participation in the exhibition with two works
  • 2017: Contribution to the “Potemkin Safe” exhibition at the Vienna Design Week
  • 2017: Participation in the exhibition "Aesthetics of Change - 150 Years of the University of Applied Arts Vienna" at the MAK, Vienna
  • 2018: Participation in “Sound of Music World”, Salzburg
  • 2018: Contribution to the exhibition “Journey around my room” at the Vienna Design Week

Musical theater

Filmography

  • 1980: My Homelife (AUT) 6 min. (this documentary is about an old house)
  • 1980: Roast meat (AUT) 11 min. (A detective film about the murder of a woman in an inn), the book for the film "Roasted Meat" comes from the art historian Stefan Grüner, who lives in Salzburg and was Virgil Widrich's school friend in 1980 at the Academic Gymnasium
  • 1980: 3 times Ulf (AUT) 12 min. (Documentation about Arnulf Komposch )
  • 1981: Color can also dream (AUT) 12 min. ( Cartoon in which a worm and a small man flee from the destruction of the environment)
  • 1982: Monster in Salzburg (AUT) 12 min. (Cartoon in which a monster rages in Salzburg)
  • 1983–1985: The Spirit of Time (AUT) 112 min. (Many genres mixed)
  • 1998: tx-transform (AUT) 5 min. (Experimental cartoon, with very interesting technology)
  • 2000: Brighter than the moon (Europe) 88 min. (Comedy about being a stranger in Vienna)
  • 2001: Copy Shop (AUT) 12 min. (A man copies himself until the world is just himself)
  • 2001: LeftRight (AUT / FRA) 4 min. (Interviews on the subject of "Left and Right in Film and Politics")
  • 2003: Fast Film (AUT / LUX) 14 min. (Animated film with printed film frames about a chase)
  • 2010: make / real (AUT), 5 min. (found-footage film for the exhibition "Robot Dreams" in the Kunsthaus Graz and Museum Tinguely in Basel)
  • 2011: warning triangle (AUT), 6 min. (found-footage film for the exhibition "Fetish car. I drive, therefore I am." in the Museum Tinguely in Basel)
  • 2015: back track (AUT), 7 min. (found-footage film in 3D)
  • 2016: Vienna table trip (AUT), 1 min. 22 sec. (found-footage animation film)
  • 2016: The night of 1000 hours (feature film)
  • 2018: Icon Island - a live battle of pictures and sounds (AUT), 70 min. (Film and music live performance)
  • 2018: Nena & Dave Stewart: Be my Rebel (D), 3 min. 45 sec., Music video
  • 2018: Light Matter (A), 5 min, experimental film

Prices (selection)

Brighter than the moon (Europe 2000)
Copy Shop (A 2001)
  • Oscar nomination in 2002 in the "life action short" category by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  • Prix ​​de la meilleure creation sonore / Best Music and Sounddesign - Festival du Court-Métrage de Clermont-Ferrand (January 26, 2001– February 3, 2001)
  • Best Experimental Short - Toronto - International Short Film Festival (June 6, 2001– June 10, 2001)
  • Kodak Award - Jury's choice for short film - Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival 2001 (July 12, 2001– July 20, 2001)
  • Jury Prize - IMAGO 2001 - Covilha, Portugal (September 25, 2001– September 30, 2001)
  • Silver Dove - 44th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (October 16, 2001– October 21, 2001)
  • Best Short film - Lleida 2001 - inCurt (November 7, 2001– November 11, 2001)
  • Best Experimental - Shorts International Film Festival New York 2001 (November 12, 2001– November 15, 2001)
  • 1st. Comunidad de Madrid Award - Best Film - Madrid - Semana de Cine Experimental (November 16, 2001– November 23, 2001)
  • Best Short film - Barcelona L'alternativa 01 (November 16, 2001– November 24, 2001)
  • Prize of the Jury - Leuven Kort 2001 - International Short Film Festival (November 23, 2001– December 2, 2001)
  • Best Of Festival - Boston Underground Film Festival (February 20, 2002– February 24, 2002)
  • Prix ​​des televisions europeennes - Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival (March 15, 2002– March 30, 2002)
  • Special Prize - Hiroshima Kokusai Animation Festival 2002 (August 22, 2002– August 26, 2002)
  • Best Experimental Film - Thessaloniki 02 - Panorama of Ind. Film and Video Makers (October 14, 2002 - October 21, 2002)
  • Special Jury Prize - Tehran International Animation Festival (February 23, 2003– February 27, 2003)
Fast Film (A, LUX 2003)
  • Official selection Festival de Cannes (2003) (nomination)
  • Best Animated Short (CORE Digital Pictures Award) - Worldwide Short Film Festival, Toronto (2003)
  • Grand Prize for Animation (Grande Prémio Animação) - Festival Internacional de Curtas Metragens de Vila do Conde , Portugal (2003)
  • Best Experimental Short Film - 52nd Int. Film Festival, Melbourne (2003)
  • Audience Award - Bearded Child Film Festival, Grand Rapids, MN / Boulder, CO USA (2003)
  • Most Imaginative Film - Odense Film Festival, Odense (2003)
  • High Risk Award - Fantoche - 4th International Festival for Animated Film, Baden (Switzerland) (2003)
  • Best Experimental Film - Panorama of Independent Film & Video Makers, Thessaloniki (2003)
  • Most innovative short film - International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (2003)
  • Grand Prix - Uppsala International Short Film Festival (2003)
  • Premio de la Comunidad de Madrid a la Mejor Película - Semana de Cine Experimental de Madrid (2003)
  • Onda Curta, 2nd prize and special mention by the jury - Cinanima Portugal (2003)
  • Innova Award - Animadrid, Spain (2003)
  • Film Critics Award - Animafest Zagreb (2004)
  • ASIFA Korea Prize for best Experimental SICAF (2004)
  • Cartoon d'Or - best animated film Cartoon Forum Galicia (2004)
back track (A 2015)
  • New York City Indie Film Awards - USA - Best Experimental: Gold Award
  • FICOCC Five Continents International Film Festival - Puerto la Cruz, Tenerife - Best Experimental Short Film
  • Crossing the Screen - Eastbourne, East Sussex - Best Experimental Film
The night of the 1000 hours (Lux / A / NL 2016)
  • Busan International Film Festival 2016 - Korea - Flash Forward Audience Award Winner
Vienna table trip (A 2016)
  • EIFA - European Independent Film Award - Paris - Best Animation: Platinum Award
  • LA Shorts Awards - USA - Best Animation: Diamond Award
  • TRAVEL FILM In Russian international film festival - Business Center "Barklay-plaza" - Moscow - finalist
  • International Tourism Film Festival "Tourfilm Riga" - 1st prize in the category "Culture Tourism" for "Vienna table trip"
  • Film Forum Linz - Competition for the best commercial and business films in Austria - Award in the category "Tourism Film"
Nena & Dave Stewart "Be my Rebel" (A 2018)
  • Mindfield Film Festival - Los Angeles - USA - Best Music Video: Platinum Award
  • UNDO Divergent Film Awards - Arlington - USA - Best Music Video
  • Mindfield Film Festival - Albuquerque - USA - Best Music Video: Platinum Award
  • EIFA - European Independent Film Award - Paris - Best Music Video - Bronze Award
  • Snowdance Film Awards - Los Angeles - USA - Best Visual VX
  • Fort Worth Indie Film Showcase - USA - Best International Music Video
  • NYC Indie Film Awards - USA - Best Music Video
  • Hollywood Sun Awards - USA - Best Music Video
  • Cosmic Film Festival - Florida - USA - Best Music Video
  • Rosarito International Film Festival - Los Angeles - USA - Best Music Video
  • Eurasia International Monthly Film Festival - Moscow - Best Music Video
  • Royal Wolf Film Awards - Los Angeles - USA - Winner: Best FX, Best Director, Best Music Video: Gold Award
  • Top Indie Film Awards - Online Festival - Winner: Best director, Best FX
  • Enginuity Film Awards - Shepherdstown - USA - Winner: Best New Media Director
  • West Wing Film Competition - Los Angeles - USA - Music Video: 1st Place Winner
  • Lake View International Film Festival - Punjab - India - May 2018 Best Music Video of the Month
  • Jaipur International Film Festival - JIFF - India - Top 2nd Music Video / Song
  • LA Edge Film Awards - Los Angeles - USA - Best Music Video, Best Editing, Best Visual FX
  • Silicon Beach Film Festival - Los Angeles - USA - Best Music Video
  • Berlin Flash Film Festival - Monthly category winner April 2018 - Music Video
  • SFAAF - South Film and Arts Academy Festival - Chile - Winner: best fx in a short film
  • Mediterranean Film Festival (MedFF) - Siracusa, Italy - Music Video Competition: Best Music Video

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ University course Art & Economy
  2. ↑ Michael S. Zerban: Too perfect for this world. Review of the premiere in Dortmund. In: Original sound, accessed June 24, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Widrich, Virgil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian director, screenwriter and multimedia artist
DATE OF BIRTH May 16, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH Salzburg , Austria