On June 18th, the winners of the 16th Austrian Film Awards have been announced: A festive and playfully artistic gala at the hq7 studios, attended by over 1,000 guests, celebrated Austrian cinema under the motto “A Stage for Film.” The artistic concept was the work of Julia Edtmeier (actress, director, theater director) and Alexander Pschill (actor, director, writer).

The members of the Austrian Film Academy presented awards to the following productions: PERLA (8), FOUR MINUS THREE (5), HOW TO BE NORMAL AND THE ODDNESS OF THE OTHER WORLD (2), NO LONG WAY LIPIZZANS (1), NIGHT OF PASSAGE (1), and WELCOME HOME BABY (1).

The award for Most Audience-Wide Film went to AUFPUTZT IS’, which attracted 448,429 moviegoers. The Austrian Film Awards were presented in a total of 18 categories.

Category Winner:

Best Feature Film: PERLA – Arash T. Riahi, Sabine Gruber
Best Documentary: NOCH LANGE KEINE LIPIZZANER – Deniz Simon Raunig, Olga Kosanović
Best Short Film: NIGHT OF PASSAGE – Ivet Castelo, Maximilian Demets, Reza Rasouli
Most Popular Feature Film: AUFPUTZT IS’ – Florian Gebhardt, Dani Purer, Claudia Jüptner-Jonstorff, Michael Stejskal, Christina Baptist / Filmladen
Best Director: Adrian Goiginger – VIER MINUS DREI
Best Screenplay: Senad Halilbašić – VIER MINUS DREI
Best Actress: Valerie Pachner – VIER MINUS DREI
Best Actor: Simon Schwarz – PERLA
Best Supporting Actress: Elke Winkens – HOW TO BE NORMAL AND THE ODDNESS OF THE OTHER WORLD
Best Supporting Actor: Robert Stadlober – FOUR MINUS THREE
Best Casting: Angelika Kropej – VIER MINUS DREI
Best Cinematography: Georg Weiss – PERLA
Best Editing: Julia Drack – HOW TO BE NORMAL AND THE ODDNESS OF THE OTHER WORLD
Best Costume Design: Monika Buttinger – PERLA
Best Makeup: Sam Dopona, Verena Pellegrini – PERLA
Helene Lang – WELCOME HOME BABY
(tied)
Best Production Design: Klaudia Kiczak – PERLA
Best Music: Johannes Winkler, Rusanda Panfili – PERLA
Best Sound Design: Johannes Baumann, Atanas Tcholakov, Rudolf Pototschnig – PERLA

Julia Edtmeier and Alexander Pschill, together with the acting ensemble Elena Hückel, Lisa Weidenmüller, and Rafael Schuchter, paid tribute to cinema: Dressed as tramps in the style of silent films, the evening became a loving homage to the silent film era. Physical performance and clownish humor met solemn and touching moments, accompanied by live music (Florian C. Reithner, piano & Anaïs Tamisier, violin) and a powerful vocal performance by Ruth Brauer-Kvam.

Creatively designed short films, in which stars such as Birgit Minichmayr, Gerti Drassl, and Gerhard Liebmann delivered mischievous performances, delighted the audience. Furthermore, the Austrian Film Academy announced that the award sculpture will be named and will henceforth be called VALIE.

Academy CEO Katharina Albrecht said after the gala: “Today’s production was created in close collaboration between the artistic director and the board of the Austrian Film Academy. The focus has always been on the great appreciation for the cinematic achievements of this country. The 2026 Austrian Film Awards have once again demonstrated the great diversity that our cinema offers – from internationally acclaimed films to domestic audience favorites.”

AUSTRIAN FILM AWARD 2026