Since 2012, the HANS VOGT AWARD of the city of Rehau has been awarded as part of the Hof International Film Festival. We are very pleased that, thanks to the support of our sponsors, we will be able to present this award again in 2023. The prize, endowed with € 5,000, is aimed at filmmakers who, with innovation and care, have given their works special quality and value, paying particular attention to their film music. The Hans Vogt Award commemorates the pioneering work of Hans Vogt, an engineer born in 1890 in the Wurlitz district of Rehau, who played a decisive role in the invention of sound film and brought about a new era in the history of cinema.
This year, the prize goes to director, screenwriter and producer
Günter Schwaiger was born on September 11, 1965 in Neumarkt am Wallersee near Salzburg, Austria. After studying ethnology and theater studies in Vienna, Schwaiger has devoted himself to directing and producing short films and documentaries since 1993. Many of them have participated in international festivals and won numerous awards. Furthermore, he directs theater and opera. In 2019, he also produced his first feature film. THE DIVER INSIDE was nominated for the Austrian Film Award in the category "Best Female Lead" and had its German premiere at the Hofer Filmtage. Günter Schwaiger has often been a guest in Hof with his films.
At the 57th International Hof Film Festival, he presents his documentary WHO IS AFRAID OF HITLER’S TOWN?, which explores the question of why no film has ever been made in Austria about Adolf Hitler's birthplace and house. Starting from this, the director begins his five-year project. He accompanies the heated debates surrounding the subsequent use of the house after a state expropriation, deals with "brown clichés" of a city and finally lands in his own family history.