Sign in for free online special features, chats and special offers!
Virgil WIDRICH
Born in Salzburg, Virgil Widrich spends his childhood in a house that is over 500 years old and stands on the Mönchsberg. While there he gets to know artists such as Peter Handke, who was his neighbour, and Wim Wenders, a frequent visitor. He gains his first experience of film at a very young age and is given his first camera, a Super-8, at the age of 13. That same year (1980) he makes three films. He follows that with an animated cartoon. At the age of 15 he makes Monster in Salzburg, on which he works with actors for the first time. He creates the rampaging monster using stop-motion photography. In 1983 he begins work on Vom Geist der Zeit (Spirit of Time). Even bad marks at school are not enough to prevent him finishing his first feature-length movie, which takes him 14 months. During this time he also takes on a job as a props manager at the Salzburg Festival to finance his films. In 1984 he also begins to take an interest in computers and programmes a number of simple games.
After passing his school-leaving exams at the Akademisches Gymnasium in Salzburg he enters the Vienna Film Academy, only to leave again after a matter of weeks to work on the script for a science fiction film which, in the end, he never makes. In 1987 he founds the film distributing company Classic Films with two partners with the aim of distributing mainly artistic films. Later on he becomes assistant to John Bailey, a camera man and director, and in 1990 he goes to Hollywood to work with him on the science fiction comedy The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe. After selling Classic Films in 1991 Widrich again turns his attention to the computer and the possibilities it offers for creating art. His next major project, which sees him working as production manager, is a new festival for Austrian film which is held for the first time in 1993 under the name Diagonale. In the second year he also compiles a film database. More databases relating to film follow, and he is also involved in the creation of an interactive CD-ROM.
From 1997 Widrich starts concentrating more on making films of his own again, producing the short film tx-transform, which is a great success at the Ars Electronica festival. He also keeps returning to his script for Heller als der Mond (Brighter than the Moon), which he films in 1999. The film is premiered in 2000 in Rotterdam. Copy Shop is his next project, and one of his most successful to date. Following its premiere in 2001 the film wins numerous awards, is nominated for the Oscar and is shown on a great many television channels and at many film festivals. His next short, Fast Film, is likewise very successful. A large number of multimedia projects for companies follow (in 2001 he founds his own firm, checkpointmedia AG, and is its CEO) as do films productions. In 2004 Widrich becomes chairman of the Verband der Filmregisseure Österreichs (Austrian Film Directors’ Association) and a member of the jury for Ars Electronica.
Widrich created computer animated installations for the refurbished Mozarthaus Vienna which re-opened in 2006.
