Annual press conference of the Vienna Film Commission for 2023
Filming volumes in Vienna finally consolidated in 2023 after the pandemic years and were already on the rise at the beginning of the year. Managing Director Marijana Stoisits: “The Vienna Film Incentive and the nationwide film incentives FISA+ and ÖFI+, which came into force at the beginning of 2023, have further increased the attractiveness of Vienna as a film location and provided the film industry in Vienna with an enormous growth spurt.“Apart from the public and private TV providers, large international streaming providers such as Netflix, HBO/Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Prime are now established partners of the domestic film industry. For the Vienna film industry this means full employment, for the Vienna Film Commission it means a continuous “high season”.
„15 years ago, the city of Vienna took an important, equally necessary and – as reflected in the great successes of Austrian films – also the right decision by founding the Vienna Film Commission“, says Veronica Kaup-Hasler, senior city councilor for culture and science in Vienna, who is extremely satisfied and underlines its enormous importance: “As, in the truest sense of the word, a hub for filmmaking in Vienna, the Vienna Film Commission is the central partner of national and international filmmakers and the film industry, a communication interface that enables wonderful film materials and images from the cultural metropolis of Vienna to find their way onto cinema screens around the world find.“
Managing Director Marijana Stoisits would like to thank the Vienna Film Commission’s long-standing financing partners: the Cultural Department of the City of Vienna, the Vienna Film Fund, the Business Agency, Vienna Tourism and the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. “My very special thanks,” says Stoisits, “go to the city government with all its municipal departments, the municipal administration and the city’s companies for the great cooperation and openness to the very special requirements of the film industry. Without the city’s active commitment to film, the Vienna Film Commission would not be able to carry out its work as a Vienna film location agency so successfully.”
Applications and letters of recommendation
In 2023, applications for 652 national and international film projects from a wide range of genres were submitted to the Vienna Film Commission for processing. Compared to the previous year, this represents an increase of 4.5%. For these projects, the Vienna Film Commission issued a total of 1,151 letters of recommendation to the responsible administrative departments and the applicants. The number of letters of recommendation has increased by 4.4% compared to 2022.
The number of filming days in Vienna, which was asked for the first time from the production companies for 2023, resulted in a total of around 3,000 filming days, of which 827 were for feature films and series productions.
In 2023, 177 recommendations were issued for 104 international projects. That means a slight increase of 2%. Most project applications from abroad came from Germany, India and Great Britain as well as 19 other countries.
Motif ranking of Vienna municipal authorities and federal authorities
In 2023, the Vienna Film Commission cooperated with 26 municipal departments and institutions in the city. At the top of the motif ranking is MA 42 with 212 letters of recommendation. The parks, green spaces, avenues, ball cages and children’s playgrounds of Vienna’s city gardens are by far the most sought-after filming motifs in the city, followed by the many markets of MA 59 with 67 recommendations. In third place is via Donau, which received 49 recommendations for the Danube Canal and Danube Island.
The film customer center of MA 46 (traffic organization and technical traffic matters) is the most important cooperation partner of the Vienna Film Commission. The notifications from MA 46 increased by 5.8% in 2023 compared to the previous year, with a total of 1236 notifications. Wiener Linien approved 131 requests for filming. Last year, Wiener Wohnen issued a total of 51 permits for municipal buildings for 38 projects; there were 69 projects for Vienna’s cemeteries, with the most frequently being filmed at the Central Cemetery. 9 projects were realized on the properties in the Vienna Harbor and 182 in the Wurstelprater. The Schönbrunn Group issued 102 filming permits and the Federal Gardens 15.
Outstanding Productions 2023
By far the largest and longest film production was “The Regime” for HBO/Warner Bros. Discovery in 2023. Directed by Stephen Frears and Jessica Hobbs, stars such as Kate Winslet, Andrea Riseborough, Matthias Schoenaerts and Karl Markovics were in front of the camera in Vienna for four weeks. Schönbrunn Palace served as the main motif, and filming also took place in the Liechtenstein Garden and City Palace, the Hofburg and the Pallavicini Palace. The first episode was released last week on HBO and Sky. Other international projects included “Beasts like us” for Amazon Prime, “Exterritorial” for Netflix and “Kafka”, which will be broadcast by ORF at the end of March, and the 4th season of the successful international co-production “Vienna Blood”.
District distribution
The proportion of filming in the inner city was 19.5%, followed by Leopoldstadt with 9.1%, Landstrasse with 6.4%, Mariahilf with 5.3%, Alsergrund with 4.8%, Döbling with 4 .7%, Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus with 4.6%. Filming took place in all 23 districts of Vienna.
International activities
In 2023, the Vienna Film Commission promoted Vienna as a film location at the film markets of the Berlin and Cannes film festivals as well as at industry events in Los Angeles and London.
Outlook for 2024
The Vienna Film Incentive has been further extended for 2024. The nationwide film incentives FISA+ and ÖFI+ not only support production companies in their filming, but also post-production and animated film companies. The construction of the HQ7 Studios in Simmering through the port of Vienna went on schedule. The completion of the HQ7 Studios in the second quarter of this year marks another important milestone for Vienna as a film location. There is already a studio film hospital on the studio site in Simmering – halfway between the airport and the city center – and several outfitters have established their workshops there.
