EUFCN Audience Location Award 2024

EUFCN Location Award for the Vienna Film Commission and Schönbrunn Palace
The Vienna Film Commission’s submission has won over the jury and the public: the EUFCN AUDIENCE LOCATION AWARD 2024 goes to Vienna!

Schönbrunn Palace, the main subject of the HBO series ‘The Regime’, takes first place in the public voting for the EUFCN Location Award. ‘The Regime’, directed by Stephen Frears and starring Kate Winslet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Hugh Grant and Andrea Riseborough, was filmed in Vienna for four weeks in early 2023. Schönbrunn Palace was the main subject of the series and serves as the residence of the ruling dictator Elena Vernham (Kate Winslet). The award ceremony took place yesterday as part of the 75th Berlinale.

Director Stephen Frears’ vision of President Elena Vernham as a ruthless, power-hungry, authoritarian ruler sealed off behind palace walls is reflected in the expansive, opulent architecture of Schönbrunn Palace. In the series, the size and splendour of Schönbrunn Palace is a clear demonstration of the dictator’s power. For her country, Elena Vernham’s palace is the epitome of authority and resilience; when the doors close, the walls of her majestic residence literally seem to collapse. The film was shot in the Bergl and White Gold Rooms, in staircases and in the extensive palace park at Schönbrunn.

The filming at Schönbrunn Palace was the first project to receive funding from the newly founded Austrian film funding programme FISAplus and was shot in Vienna from the end of January to the end of February 2023, putting film funding on the international film map. Vienna Film Commission Managing Director Marijana Stoisits: ‘We are delighted that the first flagship project of FISAplus was able to bring the EUFCN Location Award to Vienna two years after filming. Our big thanks go to Klaus Panholzer, Managing Director of the Schönbrunn Group, and the entire team at Schönbrunn Palace, who provided extremely professional and solution-orientated support for the filming in every respect. It was not easy for the most visited place in Austria, but it has been shown that it can work perfectly at any location with co-operative teamwork. Producer Tracey Seaward and director Stephen Frears were also full of praise for the filming in Schönbrunn.

Receiving the EUFCN Location Award once again confirms the great importance of film funding and film incentives, not only for Vienna as a business location, but also for Austria as a whole. Managing Director Marijana Stoisits is therefore making an urgent appeal to the Ministry of Finance to publish the new guidelines for FISAplus as soon as possible so that international productions are no longer blocked.

The EUFCN (European Film Commission Network) is the association of European film commissions. In addition to Vienna, Froya in Norway, Mdina in Malta, the State Opera House in Stuttgart and the Tajogaite Volcano in the Canary Islands were nominated for the Location Award.