# Vienna Independent Film Festival

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