Vienna Independent Film Festival

Film festival in Vienna, Austria

VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival

Location	Vienna, Austria
Website	www.vienna-film-festival.com

VIFF Vienna Independent Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in July in Vienna, capital of Austria. The festival focuses on independent cinema.

History

The Vienna Independent Film Festival was held for the first time on 4–7 July 2016 in the cinemas UCI Kinowelt Millenium City and CineCenter. The festival program consisted of 38 films from 14 countries in international competition. Opening film of the festival was God of Happiness by Dito Tsintsadze who won the Best Director award. Grand Prix of the festival – The Golden Sphinx – was awarded to the Konkani film Let's dance to the rhythm directed by Bardroy Barretto. Graham Streeter received the Best Feature Film award for his film Imperfect Sky. The award for Best Documentary Film was awarded to Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust narrated by Adrien Brody and directed by Lance Shultz.

Winners

2024

Best Feature Film

Kintsugi — Directed by Diego Dicarlo

Best Actor

Francois Arnaud (Canadian Sniper)

Best Actress

Sofia Verna — Kintsugi

Best Director - Short Film

Carlos Arjona (Far Away from My Town)

Best Director - Feature Film

Michel Kandinsky (Canadian Sniper)

Best Short Film

The Journey — Directed by Dan Istrate

Best Art Direction

Kyle Browne, Stan Strickland, Ken Kinna (Spirit Sensing - Anima of the Quarry)

Best Cinematography

Kintsugi — Cinematography by Diego Dicarlo

Best Screenplay

He — Written by Chunzi Zhang

Best Documentary Film

The Ocean — Directed by Jennifer Schlieper

Best Animated Film

I'm Hip — Directed by John Musker

Best Music Video

Won't Be Around — Directed by Terry Blade

Best Song

ego — Song by Ava Della Pietra

Best Experimental Film

HOME — Directed by Kazumi Shimizu

Best Unproduced Script

PharmacyNice — Written by Joey Gu

2023

Grand Prix

The Whirlpool — Directed by Denis Kryuchkov

Best Feature Film

W — Directed by Anna Eriksson

Best Short Film Director

Deirdre Lorenz — Return to New York

Best Feature Film

Graham Streeter — Unfix

Best Original Screenplay

8-Ball — Original Screenplay by Adrien Marquet

Best Short Film

Have a Nice Apocalypse — Directed by Dávid Géczy

Best Documentary Film

My Two Lives — Directed by Sarita Gold

Best Experimental Film

Little Planet 7406 — Directed by Goran Šporčić

Best Song

Fearless — Music by J Edna Mae

Best Music Video

Vampire — Directed by Persia White

Best Actor

Wolfgang Cerny (The Whirlpool)

Best Art Direction

An Occurrence — Directed by Dien Vo

Best Editing

Touching Moon — Edited by Sophia Liu

Best Cinematography

La Pietra — Cinematography by Michael Bradley

Best Film Score

W — Film Score by Anna Eriksson

Best Unproduced Script

Stay With Me — Written by Zsolt Pozsgai

2022

Grand Prix

Playing Through – directed by Balbinka Korzeniowska

Best Feature Film

Playing Through – directed by Balbinka Korzeniowska

Best Director

Balbinka Korzeniowska – Playing Through

Best Short Film

Živa (The Death of the Goddess Živa) – directed by Nataša Stearns

Best Music video

Frozen Heart – directed by Nina Guseva

Best Documentary Film

Ballymanus – directed by Patrick Sharkey, Séan Doupe

Best Experimental Film

Blue Delusion – directed by Guan Fang

Best Musical Film

Big Boss – directed by Keke Palmer

Best Comedy Film

Hot Mess by Evelyne Tollman

Best Animated Film

Me and My Winter Games-Perfect Holiday – directed by Haoling Lee, Ming Zhong, Zhe Zhang, Liwen Wang

Best Actress

Julia Rae – Playing Through

Best Actor

Brandon Sklenar – Futra Days

Best Supporting Actress

Rosanna Arquette – Futra Days

Best Film Score

Long Flat Balls “Broken Promises” – music by Zach Robinson

Best Song

Molly’s Rainbow – by Katie Hardyman

Best Cinematography

Other Side of the Mountain – directed by Markus Otz

Best Screenplay

JIZO-Evangelist – written and directed by Tokoroten Nakamura

Best Art Direction

The Violin and its Shadow – directed by Greg Babalas

Best Unproduced Script

The Faerie Rings – written by Zina Brown

Honorary Mention for Social Impact

Change of Course – directed by Andreas Ortner

2020

Grand Prix

Grand Cancan — Directed by Mikhail Kosyrev-Nesterov

Best Feature Film

Between Pain and Amen [ro] — Directed by Toma Enache

Best Director

Great Poetry (Aleksandr Lungin)

Best Original Screenplay

Laugh or Die — Original Screenplay by Heikki Kujanpää

Best Short Film

To Her — Directed by Jacopo Ardolino

Best Documentary Film

Armenia(s), Time for Artists — Directed by Anahit Dasseux Ter Mesropian and David Vital-Durand

Best Experimental Film

Our Turn — Directed by Martiros Vartanov

Best Music Video

Champagne Drag Queen — Directed by Anna Haslehner

Best Actor

Martti Suosalo (Laugh or Die)

Best Supporting Actor

Jon Voight (Roe v. Wade)

Best Cinematography

Grand Cancan — Cinematography by Dmitriy Ulyukaev

2019

Grand Prix

Doing Money — Directed by Lynsey Miller

Best Feature Film

M — Directed by Anna Eriksson

Best Director

Doing Money (Lynsey Miller)

Best Original Screenplay

Murder on the Road to Kathmandu — Original Screenplay by Rupalee Verma

Best Short Film

Dark like the Night. Karenina-2019 — Directed by Radda Novikova

Best Documentary Film

Three Scenes of a Wedding — Directed by Jason Tovey

Best Experimental Film

Fragmented Dreams — Directed by Tonatiuh Garcia

Best Music Video

Theresa's Groove — Directed by Aleksey Igudesman

Best Actor

Atul Kulkarni (Murder on the Road to Kathmandu)

Best Supporting Actor

Konstantin Khabensky (Dark like the Night. Karenina-2019)

Best Art Direction

The Lossen — Directed Colin Skevington

Best Cinematography

M — Cinematography by Matti Pyykkö

Best Film Score

Hinge — Film score by Diana Ringo

2018

Grand Prix

I May Regret — Directed by Graham Streeter

Best Feature Film

NO-ONE — Directed by Lev Prudkin, Vladimir Prudkin

Best Director

I May Regret (Graham Streeter)

Best Original Screenplay

Rosemarie — Original Screenplay by Adonis Floridis

Best Short Film

Father of the Man — Directed by Tommy Creagh

Best Documentary Film

Ballad of a Righteous Merchant — Directed by Herbert Golder

Best Experimental Film

Ghosts on the Road to Camalt — Directed by Jason Tovey

Best Music Video

The Sea — Directed by Hisanori Tsukuda

Best Actor

Danny Glover (Buckout Road)

Best Cinematography

NO-ONE — Cinematography by Ziv Berkovich, David Stragmeister

Special Jury Prize

Krieg — Directed by Jeff Fry

2017

Grand Prix (The Golden Sphinx)

Million Loves In Me — Directed by Sampson Yuen

Best Feature Film

Platonov — Directed by Andreas Morell

Best Director

Ebrahim Hatamikia (Bodyguard)

Best Original Screenplay

Million Loves in Me — Original Screenplay by John Yiu, Tiong Wooi LIM, Jeremy Tan

Best Short Film

Forgiveness — Directed by Rima Irani

Best Documentary Film

Chasing Stars — Directed by Markus Eichenberger
The Writer with No Hands — Directed by William Westaway

Best Experimental Film

Je Suis Le Ténébreux — Directed by Rank Amateur, Christopher Chaplin

Best Music Video

Nara - alt-J — Directed by Jasmin Selen Heinz

Best Actor

John Yiu (Million Loves in Me)

Best Supporting Actor

Babak Hamidian (Bodyguard)

Best Art Direction

Bodyguard — Directed by Ebrahim Hatamikia

Best Cinematography

Platonov — Cinematography by Felix Cramer

2016

Grand Prix (The Golden Sphinx)

Let's dance to the rhythm

Best Feature Film

Imperfect Sky — Directed by Graham Streeter

Best Director

Dito Tsintsadze (God of Happiness)

Best Original Screenplay

The Closer — Original Screenplay by Eli Hershko & Isaac Broyn

Best Short Film

After Truth — Directed by Nicolas Ehret

Best Animated Film

“Parade” de Satie — Directed by Kōji Yamamura

Best Documentary Film

Violins of Hope: Strings of the Holocaust — Directed by Lance Shultz

Best Experimental Film

The Calling — Directed by Chris Boyd

Best Music Film

Let's dance to the rhythm — Directed by Bardroy Barretto

Best Music Video

Tiësto / The Chainsmokers - Split — Directed by Joe Zohar

Best Actor

Blake Lewis (Imperfect Sky)

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Berlin (The Closer)

Best Art Direction

After Truth — Directed by Nicolas Ehret
Let's Dance to the Rhythm — Directed by Bardroy Barretto

Best Cinematography

God of Happiness — Cinematography by Ralf M. Mendle

Director Graham Streeter and producer Alex Lebosq presenting their film "Imperfect Sky" at the VIFF 2016
Director Bardroy Barretto receiving his Grand Prix for the film "Let's dance to the Rhythm" at the VIFF 2016
Fashion designer La Hong Nhut and director Rima Irani at the VIFF 2017
Director Sarah Scherer presenting her film "Golden Shot" at the VIFF 2017
Actor John Yiu and producer Kenny Chan presenting their film "Million Loves in Me" at the VIFF 2017
Director Andreas Morell and cinematographer Felix Cramer presenting their film "Platonov" at the VIFF 2017