| Diagonale Award by VAM |
| for Outstanding Production Services |
Gebhardt Productions GmbH
Producers Florian Gebhardt & Dani Purer for Aufputzt is’
Statement by the Supervisory Committee of the VAM:
An idea was born in 2019; in 2025, the film hit like a great Christmas comet — Aufputzt is’. An Austrian production company is rewriting the success story of the Christmas film. Twenty-eight years after the ORF production Single Bells, there is finally once again a contemporary comedy for the never-quite-so-silent season. Florian Gebhardt and Dani Purer set out to produce emotional, empathetic, and entertaining family entertainment for a broad audience. Gery Seidl’s solo show, sold out for the past 14 years, provided the initial spark for creating a feature-length story. Take a lead actor who has never before played a leading role in film, supporting actors who would normally only play leads themselves, an excellent screenplay, and director Claudia Jüptner-Jonstorff, who masterfully commands the comedy genre. It sounds simple, but behind it lies an outstanding producing achievement, creativity, perseverance, and the right instinct for a box-office hit. So far, the film has been seen by 441,823 cinemagoers. Many Christmases will come that simply cannot happen without having seen Aufputzt is’.
and
April April Filme GmbH
Producer Deniz Raunig for Noch lange keine Lipizzaner
Statement by the Supervisory Committee of the VAM:
That a film about the process of obtaining Austrian citizenship should enjoy a long theatrical run and attract 41,000 cinema viewers is a remarkable achievement — not only on the part of the director, but also of the production company. The company boldly embraced the experiment of producing a feature-length theatrical film that combines documentary footage with staged scenes and essayistic elements. The extraordinary success of Olga Kosanović’s Noch lange keine Lipizzaner is also the result of a smart distribution strategy, persistent audience outreach, and a keen sense of social relevance. Director Olga Kosanović has succeeded in creating a precisely observed, multifaceted, and at the same time deeply personal — and, moreover, ironically humorous — examination of questions of belonging, identity, and exclusion. Producer Deniz Raunig placed his trust in the young director and demonstrated that with great commitment and skillful negotiation in financing, it is possible to bring unconventional films successfully to the cinema. This can only be achieved through clear positioning beyond supposed market certainties. The fact that the film received strong media attention and sparked both political and artistic debate shows just how deeply it struck a nerve.