As of the last application date for 2012, ten projects were submitted to the Austrian Television Fund (FERNSEHFONDS AUSTRIA). The Fund approved grants totalling EUR 1,022,087 for two television films and five documentaries. Two projects that grants had been approved for earlier were withdrawn, thus an additional amount of EUR 710,000 was available for projects handed in at the fourth application date, increasing the total funding amount to EUR 1.2 million. “This year we have awarded EUR 15.8 million, this is the highest grant volume for film projects since the Fund’s establishment”, said Mr Grinschgl, managing director of RTR’s Media Division and responsible for the Austrian Television Fund.
One of the two supported television films is “Medcrimes” by MONA Film Produktion GmbH, a medical crime story of a young woman doctor and a policeman who fight for the life of a patient. The second film “Inspektor Jury” by EPO – Filmproduktionsgesellschaft m.b.H is the screen adaptation of the first novel of Martha Grimes’s crime series, which sold three million copies and thus is one of the most successful one in the German speaking world.
The scope of subject matters dealt with in the supported documentaries is very diversified – “Pralle Schönheit – die Reise der Paradeiser” by MR-Film Kurt Mrkwicka Gesellschaft m.b.H. is the success story of the tomato, which started around 500 years ago when it first came to Europe from South America. “Universum Gonsalvus” by EPO-Filmproduktionsgesellschaft m.b.H. tells the story of the ape-man Petrus Gonsalvus, who lived in the 15th century and who is the basis for the legend of “The Beauty and the Beast”. The documentary “Die Gentlemen baten zur Kasse” by NAVIGATOR FILM PRODUCTION impressively depicts the story of the biggest railway robbery of all times, which occurred on the railway line between Glasgow and London in 1963 and which made Ronald Briggs, a gangster who succeeded in fleeing from prison to Brazil, famous.
The series “Die Notaufnahme IV“ by ON-MEDIA TV- und Filmproduktion GmbH accompanies doctors and nurses of the Austrian hospitals LKH Graz and LKH Innsbruck in their day-to-day work. Based on interviews with one of Germany’s leading bankers, Mr V., the documentary “Gespräch mit Herrn V.“ by Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion GmbH provides profound insight into the financial industry.
The first application date for 2013 is Tuesday, 29 January.
Further information about supported film projects is available on RTR’s website under the link www.fernsehfonds.at.