Die Realitäten des Krieges

Films 1914-1918
The way in which the reality of war reached cinema screens changed significantly from 1914 onwards. While with the outbreak of the First World War the focus was still on endeavouring to faithfully depict reality, the Imperial-Royal military soon realised that strategic warfare also included control and sovereignty over the production of motion pictures. The central coordination and administration office was the k. u. k. Kriegspressequartier (KPQ), founded on 28 July 1914. Kriegspressequartier (KPQ), which was founded on 28 July 1914. In 1915, Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky took over the management of the film branch of the KPQ and thus also the propaganda control of the film recordings. Austria-Hungary now entered the battle of images. Instead of reporting relying on the truthfulness of the camera lens, the war became a staged spectacle that was closer to the feature film than the traditional film chronicle. This programme presents a selection of film documents that not only depict the history of the world war, but also show how the relationship between cinema and reality shifted during these years. (Ernst Kieninger)

With live musical accompaniment by Heidi Fial & Chris Janka

Free admission for club members of the Filmarchiv Austria with companion

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)