R.I.P. Dóra Maurer (1937-2026)
We have received the very sad news that Dóra Maurer has passed away in the 89th year of her life. Dóra Maurer, who had dual Hungarian-Austrian citizenship, was one of the most influential figures in the international art world. From the late 1960s onwards, she played an active role in establishing the international network of the Hungarian New Avant-Garde. In addition to her work as an exhibition organizer, her commitment to art education was also remarkable. Her oeuvre, spanning more than six decades, is remarkably diverse in terms of media, ranging from films, photographs, prints, and painting, which were her main focus. We knew Dóra Maurer as a person of absolute integrity, very open-minded, warm-hearted, and also curious—she will be sorely missed by us and the art and cultural world.
“Dóra Maurer once said that the theme central to her work is “movement in respect to the conceptual and factual effects of displacement” (1). And indeed, her extensive oeuvre produced since the end of the 1960s consistently documents movement and displacement, specifically with regard to systematics and structurality. It is the duality emanating from a particular, predetermined system combined with the subsequent observation of unforeseen deviations and ruptures that characterizes the process Maurer realized in a multi-faceted form over the course of her artistic career: from her early graphic works to her displacements as she calls them, and culminating in the “quasi-images” that she derived from spatial painting in the 1980s and 90s. Since 1973 Maurer produced a series of films in loose succession that fit in with her investigation of structure and its inherent variability. Initially, these works were solely committed to the concept of repetition and the measurability of movement, but they increasingly became concerned with a conceptual questioning of the image, closely tied to momentary fragmentations of body, movement and space. The “systems” she utilized range from seemingly simple, everyday acts (i.e. the reading of a book), to highly abstract image sequences (i.e. the presentation of purely monochrome color fields). This broad spectrum indicates early on how Maurer’s methodical approach was for all intents and purposes quite universal, although it never explicitly spread to forms of political or social systematics. And yet there is an implicit concern – and perhaps thereby unconsciously more urgent – in regard to the possibility of “dropping out of the system,” as art historian Judit Király maintains. (2) (Christian Höller, „Displacement Effects,“ Index-Edition 046, Dóra Maurer, Thinking in Proportions)
(1) DÓRA MAURER, EXTRACT FROM LECTURE AT THE HUNGARIAN UNIVERSITY OF FINE ARTS, CONFERENCE ABOUT CONCEPTUALISM IN CENTER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES [SIC], IN: DORA MAURER - TRACES 1970–1980. EXHIBITION CATALOG BUNKIER SZTRUKI, KRAKÓW, 2011, P. 19.
(2) CF. JUDIT KIRÁLY, “MATHEMATISCHE BEZÜGE IN DER KUNST VON DÓRA MAURER”, IN: MAURER DÓRA. EXHIBITION CATALOG LUDWIG MUSEUM – MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, BUDAPEST, 2008, P. 46.
sixpackfilm @ Berlinale 2026
We are thrilled to announce the premieres of brilliant new films by Siegfried A. Fruhauf, FLIM FLAM, Varia Garib & Kirill Komar, Yuragim, both being selected for Berlinale Shorts Competition and Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński, Nursery Rhymes. (Holy) Water as well as Johann Lurf, Forever... Forever (in glorious 70mm!) as part of Forum Expanded selection of this year's Berlinale 2026
Festival Awards for YARÊ, THE END, Challenges of a solitary mind & Sugarland
We are delighted to announce the latest awards for films distributed by sixpackfilm:
Last week, YARÊ by Sallar Othman received the Amnesty International Award in the international competition Short on Rights at the 22nd edition of the Dorico International Film Festival in Ancona, Italy.
At Best Austrian Animation Film Festival in Vienna, THE END by Claudia Larcher was honored as “Best Experimental Animation” while Challenges of a solitary mind by Astrid Rothaug won one of the audience awards for independent works—and this film also received the Blickwechsel Award at the Flensburg Short Film Festival in Germany and an Honorary Mention/ Diploma from Maya Yonesho at T-Short Filmfestival in Karlsruhe.
And finally, as already reported, Isabella Brunäcker was delighted to receive the Fipresci Jury Special Prize for Sugarland at the 63rd Gijon International Film Festival in Spain.
Our heartfelt congrats to you all!
Still: YARÊ (c) Soran Salih
Award Season: Festival Prizes for "Bürglkopf", "Bleifrei 95" and "Blind Date 4.0"
Lisa Polster's documentary film Out of Sight (Bürglkopf) was named Best Central and Eastern European Documentary Film in the OPUS BONUM competition at the 29th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival. The jury wrote: "With a new acute crisis springing up every day to consume all our attention and compassion, it can be easy to forget about the longer, more drawn-out traumas and tragedies that are often ongoing right in our own back yards. For a stirring, intelligent, beautifully shot act of empathy towards a community of refugees enduring what is essentially psychological torture by isolation on an Austrian mountaintop while tourists ski nearby, the Award for Best Central and East European Documentary Film goes to Bürglkopf, directed by Lisa Polster." (Ognjen Glavonić, Jessica Kiang, Dominic Lees, Tekla Machavariani, Jana Ševčíková)
The film, which is currently showing in Austrian cinemas and at international festivals, also received the DOCRACY Award at DOXS RUHR, Germany. The jury of teenagers and young adults honored Bürglkopf because it impressively documents “how isolation, lack of rights, and deliberate social exclusion lead to hopelessness, psychological stress, and exploitation.” With precise research and restrained imagery, the film highlights abuses that would otherwise remain hidden. The jury particularly emphasizes that Bürglkopf makes an important contribution to public debate on human rights issues and social responsibility.
We are also pleased to announce that Bleifrei 95 by Emma Hütt and Tina Muffler was awarded the Sweet Cherry Award at the fourth Cherry Pop Film Festival in Zagreb: "A film of sprawling aspirations, pure sex and youthful energy. Visually explosive, narratively daring — a wild, wild ride with complex characters and relentless momentum. The queerest of them all."
A Special Mention was given there to Jan Soldat for Blind Date 4.0: “There have been many dates shown on film — none so subversively close to reality. A delightful documentary that provokes with its earnestness, proving that bold filmmaking can still respect the dignity of its protagonists.”
Our heartfelt congrats to Lisa, Emma, Tina and Jan!
Viennale 2025: Erste Bank Film Award for "Rojo Žalia Blau" by Viktoria Schmid
We are delighted to share the news that Viktoria Schmid was awarded "Erste Bank Filmpreis" ex aequo for her latest work Rojo Rojo Žalia Blau at this year's Viennale International Film Festival. We quote from the jury's statement:
"Viktoria Schmid’s Rojo Žalia Blau is a landscape study – shot in the forests and seasides of Spain, Lithuania, and Lower Austria – that utilizes a simple but evocative technique. (...) The film’s technique is far more than a formal experiment: it becomes essentially a way of photographing time, with three different temporalities layered into a single (intoxicating) image and made visible only due to the movement produced by wind, wave, sun, and shadow. Achieving an astonishing fusion of color, motion, time, and philosophical inquiry, Rojo Žalia Blau also holds a special resonance in an era in which it has become particularly important to explore the space that exists between “truth” and the image." (Silvia Bohrn, Nicolas Mahler, Boris Manner, Jed Rapfogel)
Warm congrats to all award winning filmmakers.
Photo: Viennale/ Alexi Pelekanos
Diagonale 2026 with a retrospective of Billy Roisz's work and a trailer by Michael Gülzow
We are pleased to announce that the Diagonale. Festival of Austrian Film will dedicate a “Position” to filmmaker, musician, and performer Billy Roisz at its upcoming edition (March 18 to 23, 2026). Artist Michael Gülzow, whose mockumentary The Blind Spot of Perception won this year's Diagonale Prize in the Innovative Film category, will design the festival trailer.
Billy Roisz © Diagonale/ Lisbeth Kovačič
"Out of Sight" in Opus Bonum competition at Jihlava IDFF
Lisa Polster's award-winning documentary Out of Sight will be screened at the 29th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival in the main competition “Opus Bonum.” The renowned festival, which takes place from October 24 to November 2, 2025, will also show works by Josephine Ahnelt, Kurt Kren, Peter Kubelka, Viktoria Schmid, and Ernst Schmidt Jr. in a special program "Fascinations: Food", as well as Billy Roisz's latest festival hit The Garden of Electric Delights. We are very excited about this diverse selection!
Film Still: Out of Sight
Punk, Glitch, Traces: Austrian Experimental Cinema at Her Docs Film Festival
We are delighted to be involved the following special program as part of the Her Docs Film Festival in Warsaw:
Punk, Glitch, Traces: Austrian Experimental Cinema brings together four programs of short films from six decades, as well as the feature-length Canale Grande by Friederike Pezold (Pezoldo) from 1983. The spectrum ranges from analog experimental film to abstract digital “audiovisions,” including films by feminist icons as well as female* directors of younger generations. The contributions range from anarchic performances, documentary sketches, and queer gems to animations and found footage.
Films/videos by: Kurdwin Ayub, Miriam Bajtala, Moucle Blackout, Adina Camhy, Linda Christanell, Katrina Daschner, Carola Dertnig, VALIE EXPORT, Eve Heller, Karø Goldt, Michaela Grill, Friedl vom Gröller, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński, Claudia Larcher, Maria Lassnig, Sabine Marte, Mara Mattuschka, Lydia Nsiah, Astrid Ofner, Christiana Perschon, Friederike Pezold (Pezoldo), Sasha Pirker & Lotte Schreiber, Lisl Ponger, Ursula Pürrer & Ashley Hans Scheirl, Ella Raidel, Michaela Schwentner, Anna Spanlang & KLITCLIQUE, Nana Swiczinsky, Kathrin Resetarits, Billy Roisz, Anna Vasof.
Her Docs, the festival for feminist non-fiction film, takes place September 17-21, 2025, at the Kinoteka in Warsaw.
filmstill: Canale Grande (Pezoldo)
31st SarajevoFF Documentary Award goes to "Our Time Will Come"
Ivette Löcker's latest documentary, Our Time Will Come, has just been awarded the prize for best documentary film at the 31st Sarajevo Film Festival: "The 'Heart of Sarajevo' award for best documentary feature goes to a film that combines the beauty and the challenges of creating togetherness, with the generosity and rigour of making films in the intimacy of lives being lived. It is a film that builds a cinematic time and space for the complexities of love and the politics of coexistence, valuing the richness that each person may bring to our common spaces." (Jury Statement)
Jury:
Blake Levin
Cíntia Gil
Veton Nurkollari
Our heartfelt congrats to Ivette and the film team!
Outstanding Artist Award for Experimental Film 2025 goes to Sasha Pirker
This year's BMWKMS', the Austrian Ministry for Culture's, Outstanding Artist Award in the Experimental Film category goes to Sasha Pirker. We quote from the jury's statement: "For over two decades, Sasha Pirker has been working at the intersection of (feminist) film, art and architectural history. High formal concentration and conceptual clarity are essential characteristics of her work. The artist combines feminist perspectives with subtle irony and negotiates spaces whose social structures are reflected in a clever and multi-layered way. Humor functions as a precise means of irritation. For Pirker, architecture is not only an object, but also a carrier of stories, attitudes and atmospheres - readable as a mirror and framework of human experience, which she subtly brings together in her films with a subtle sense of tempo, rhythm and visual composition."
We warmly congratulate Sasha - and we recommend you keep an eye out for her latest work Everyone deserves a Slice of the Pie at festivals this summer/fall.
