Major figures from the Austrian film industry have come together to protest at proposed cuts to the Austria’s production incentive amid fears that this would lead to “destruction of the industry”, “massive increase in unemployment” and “permanent damage to a whole cultural sector”.
Directors Jessica Hausner and Marie Kreutzer (who both participated in the Investors Circle initiative in Cannes with new projects), Barbara Albert, Stefan Ruzowitzky and Ulrich Seidl are among the signatories of an open letter orgainsed by 17 industry associations protesting at the Austrian government’s plan to slash the ÖFI+ incentive’s annual budget from €22m to €15.5m from 2026 as part of its public spending cuts.
The ÖFI+ scheme, which is administered by the Austrian Film Institute (ÖFI), supports national Austrian productions and Austrian majority or minority co-productions.
It is separate to the FISA+ scheme which is targeted at international service productions for TV, streaming and cinema and operated under the auspices of the federal ministry for labour and economy. The FISA+ budget is understood to remain unchanged.
Further signatories include Ralph Wieser, co-producer of the Directors’ Fortnight title Militantropos, producers Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu, Gabriele Kranzelbinder, DoP Martin Gschlacht and actors Sophie Rois, Josef Hader, Birgit Minichmayr.
Recent films supported with the ÖFI+ incentive include Milantantropos, Valeska Grisebach’s Das Feträumte Abenteuer, Andreas Prochaska’s horror film Welcome Home, Baby, Johanna Moder’s Berlinale 2025 competition title Mother’s Baby and Ulrike Ottinger’s recently wrapped The Blood Countess.
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