Sixpackfilm / Version 2
sixpackfilm works to foster international visibility for Austrian artistic filmmaking. We function as an agency for the promotion and distribution of Austrian experimental film and video, as well as short fiction, animation, and documentary films.
Festival mediation: At the heart of our work lies the submission of films to international festivals. Each year, we engage with around 200 festivals worldwide, resulting in over 500 placements for the films we represent. Film festivals in particular play a crucial role as both screening venues and forums for discourse on aesthetically and thematically advanced works. Despite the Internet, they remain—now and for the foreseeable future—the most important gathering places for engaged audiences, industry professionals, curators, cinema operators, TV editors, content providers, and journalists. Film festivals today often fulfill a role once held by municipal movie theaters and public television programming: the dissemination and mediation of moving image culture in all its diversity. Without festivals, cinematheques, and museums—many of which house their own screening rooms—there would be little living history of film and media art, especially as repertory cinemas with curated thematic or historical programs have become increasingly rare.
Promotion: Each year, a professional jury selects approximately 40–50 films and videos for festival distribution. These works receive dedicated promotional support. We produce individual promotional cards for each film, commission and translate accompanying texts into English, and archive all relevant reviews and essays. Many of these materials are available for research in our online catalog at www.sixpackfilm.com.
Lending: Our lending efforts emerged from the desire to make these films available to international audiences beyond the festival circuit. The lending is run commercially, meaning screening fees apply. The majority of these revenues go directly to the filmmakers, offering a form of financial support with sociopolitical significance. Since the 1990s, there has been an increasing overlap between the film world and the contemporary art context, which has significantly expanded our lending activities.
TV Sales: Selling off-mainstream films to TV broadcasters has become increasingly difficult, primarily due to the disappearance of suitable broadcasting formats. In addition, per-minute licensing rates have steadily declined—particularly from Austrian public broadcasters like ORF, ORF III, and ORF-3sat. In the documentary sector, broadcasters often co-finance production and retain broadcast rights, though this does not guarantee actual air time. One consequence of this system is that independently produced documentaries hardly ever find a broadcasting slot. Meanwhile, requests from VoD (Video on Demand) providers are predominant; they are the new video stores and broadcasting areas.
DVD Label INDEX: In 2004, together with Medienwerkstatt Wien, we launched the DVD label INDEX (www.index-dvd.at), a curated DVD edition designed to promote and distribute high-quality Austrian and international film, video, and media art. To date, 42 DVDs have been published, each accompanied by a bilingual booklet. One gallerist described INDEX as a “people’s edition,” highlighting the contrast with the limited editions typically sold on the art market.
Curating and Organizing Events at Home and Abroad: Curating programs, collaborating with event partners, and the joy when the programs meet with lively interest from the public and the media—that’s the “salt in the soup” of our day-to-day mediation work. While we once hosted large-scale thematic events annually in Vienna, these are no longer feasible due to lack of funding. Fortunately, frequent invitations—usually from international festivals or cinematheques—to present curated programs provide a meaningful substitute. The most recent project, which has been touring the world very successfully since 2012, is the anniversary show Breaking Ground. 60 Years of Austrian Experimental Cinema, as part of which the book Film Unframed. A History of Austrian Avant-Garde Cinema (ed. Peter Tscherkassky) was also published.
