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About us 

The Guild

The Austrian Directors’ Guild (Verband Filmregie Österreich) — known as Regieverband — currently has around 100 members and is the largest representative body of screen directors working in Austria. It was founded in 1972 as the Arbeitskreis Österreichischer Filmmacher (Working Group of Austrian Filmmakers) and was renamed several times in the following years: in 1977 to Syndikat der Filmschaffenden Österreichs (Syndicate of Austrian Filmmakers), in 1979 to Verband der Filmregisseure Österreichs (Association of Austrian Film Directors), and finally in 1989 to Verband Filmregie Österreich. The Directors’ Guild is non-partisan. It is run in an honorary capacity by a six-member board, which is elected annually from among the members.

Mission Statement

The Directors' Guild has made it its mission to stand up for the artistic and intellectual freedoms as well as the professional and economic interests of film directors and to participate in the development of improved structures for cinema, television and streaming. Our members reflect the great diversity of Austrian film in feature, documentary, essay and experimental film. We are committed to equal access to the means of production of filmmaking: for diverse artistic approaches, different social milieus as well as the variety of narrative perspectives that make up our society.

Our goals

For more than 30 years, we have been advocating for production conditions that make creative work possible, for a constant improvement in remuneration conditions as well as compliance with and improvement of labor law conditions, for minimum standards in director’s contracts, the strengthening of the copyright position of directors, the promotion of further professional training, a progressive cultural, media and film policy as well as the preservation of film as a cultural heritage.

We are constantly working to improve the framework conditions for the contractual, legal and social aspects of everyday professional life, with the aim of enabling our members to concentrate primarily on their creative work. We make it clear that creatives are the capital of the film industry. We are committed to overcoming antagonisms and call for an environment of mutual equality in the industry.

Our capabilities

We continuously represent the interests of directors vis-à-vis film funding institutions, the film industry, television broadcasters, the trade union, ministries and parliament. We nominate members for decision-making bodies in the film industry, e.g. the Supervisory Board of the Austrian Film Institute, the Oscar Commission of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce’s film division, the Curia of the KSVF Artists’ Social Insurance Fund, the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board of VdFS Collecting Society of Audiovisual Authors, the Advisory Board under the Art Subsidy Contribution Act, etc.

We are also a member of AFC — Austrian Films and represented on its board, a member of the Umbrella Association of Austrian Filmmakers (Dachverband der Österreichischen Filmschaffenden) and represented on its board, and a member of the European Directors’ Association FERA and represented in its general assembly. In addition, we maintain a constant exchange with other interest groups in our industry.

Current board of directors

Kurdwin Ayub (chairwoman)
Arman T. Riahi (chairwoman deputy)
Franz Novotny
Veronika Franz
Sebastian Brameshuber
Adrian Goiginger

Verbandskoordination

Damla Ilhan

Membership

Find out here about the possibility of becoming a member of our association.

Association statutes

Association statutes in full

Contact

Verband Filmregie Österreich
c/​o VDFS
Löwelstraße 14/1.Stock
1010 Wien

office@​austrian-​directors.​com
www​.aus​tri​an​-direc​tors​.com

Imprint

Verband Filmregie Österreich
c/​o VDFS
Löwelstraße 14 / 1st Floor
1010 Vienna, Austria

ZVR-Nr. 614918003

office@​austrian-​directors.​com

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