Cinema of Austria refers to the film industry based in Austria. Austria has had an active cinema industry since the early 20th century when it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and that has continued to the present day. Producer Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky, producer-director-writer Luise Kolm and the Austro-Hungarian directors Michael Curtiz and Alexander Korda were among the pioneers of early Austrian cinema. Several Austrian directors pursued careers in Weimar Germany and later in the United States, among them Fritz Lang, G. W. Pabst, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann, and Otto Preminger.
The Gartenbaukino in Vienna during the Vienna International Film Festival 2010
An advertisement for films by the French Brothers Lumière in Vienna from 1896.
Advertisement for "Pariser-Abend" (Paris evening) and "Herren-Abend" (gentlemen's evening) with erotic movie screenings of the "wandering cinema", Alhambra-Theater, 1906.
The Viennese Stadtkino at the Viennale film-festival 2004
Count Alexander "Sascha" Joseph von Kolowrat-Krakowsky was an Austrian film producer of Bohemian-Czech descent from the House of Kolowrat. A pioneer of Austrian cinema, he founded the first major film studio Sascha-Film in Vienna.
Sascha Kolowrat (left) at work, around 1916
Count Leopold Kolowrat and his children, 1903
Historic photo of the Kolowrat memorial on the area of the former Wien-Film studio, in Vienna-Sievering, which was removed in 2021