Press Conference 2025

Unbroken upward trend for Vienna as a film location

2024 was an exceptionally good year for Vienna as a film location. The number of film shoots increased significantly once again. ‘Vienna is a highly sought-after film location both nationally and internationally,’ summarises Marijana Stoisits, Managing Director of the Vienna Film Commission. ‘I am delighted about the continued boom for the Viennese film industry, which is a clear sign that the filming conditions in the city of Vienna are exceptionally film-friendly and that the Vienna Film Commission’s service meets the needs of filmmakers exactly.’

Veronika Kaup-Hasler, Executive City Councillor for Culture and Science in Vienna, also emphasises this: ‘The fact that Vienna is playing an increasingly important role on the international film map and attracting top-class productions is due to the interaction of many factors – including the excellent work of the Vienna Film Commission. The best proof of this is the recently awarded prize for European Film Location of the Year (EUFCN Audience Location Award), which went to Schönbrunn Palace, the main motif for the HBO series production ‘The Regime’ with Kate Winslet. By expanding the film location and working on the best framework conditions for the film industry, the city has created the basis for the Vienna Film Commission’s outstanding work for Vienna as a filming and production location.’

Managing Director Stoisits also emphasises the great importance of close cooperation with the city’s authorities and institutions: ‘We are supported in our service work by the city government, the entire Vienna City Council and the districts, for which I would like to express my explicit thanks. This extraordinary cooperation with the city, in combination with the film funding from the Vienna Film Fund and the Vienna Film Incentive, is the centrepiece of success for Vienna as a film industry location.’

Managing Director Stoisits also thanks all of the Vienna Film Commission’s financing partners: the Vienna Tourist Board, the Vienna Business Agency, the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, the City of Vienna’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Vienna Film Fund.
The city’s initiatives for the film industry are having an impact: the opening of HQ7 Studios in Simmering in summer 2024 will be a huge boost for the location and has attracted a great deal of international interest. The studio complex perfectly complements the existing film infrastructure in Vienna, such as the Vienna Synchronstage and other post-production facilities. The funding from the Vienna Film Fund, the Vienna Film Incentive, FISAplus and ÖFIplus can thus be utilised even more effectively at the location in Vienna itself and can also be used.

Applications and letters of recommendation

In 2024, 1288 applications for filming permits were submitted for 670 national and international film projects and the same number of letters of recommendation were forwarded to the responsible land administration departments and the applicants. Compared to the previous year, this represents a remarkable increase of 11.9%. The number of shooting days in Vienna recorded by production companies for 2024 also rose by 6.7%, totalling around 3,200 shooting days, of which 1,295 were for feature film and series productions.
In 2024, 188 recommendations were issued for 95 international projects, which roughly corresponds to the previous year. Most project applications from abroad came from Germany, the USA, the UK and 26 other countries.

Motive ranking list Vienna city council and federal authorities

In 2024, the Vienna Film Commission cooperated with 28 municipal departments and institutions of the city. MA 42 (Vienna City Gardens) is once again at the top of the motif ranking list with 228 letters of recommendation. The parks, green spaces, avenues, ball cages and children’s playgrounds of the Vienna City Gardens are by far the most popular film locations in the city, followed by the many markets of MA 59 (Market Department) with 110 recommendations. In third place with 66 recommendations is MA 29 (Bridge Construction and Foundation Engineering) with its properties and bridges.

MA 46 (Traffic Organisation and Technical Traffic Matters), with its Film Customer Centre, is one of the Vienna Film Commission’s most important cooperation partners. At 1,272, the number of notices issued by MA 46 increased by 2.9% compared to the previous year. Wiener Linien realised 166 film projects at original locations. This corresponds to an increase of 2.7%, 85 of which were feature films, short films, series and music videos, 38 advertising films, 20 student projects and 23 documentaries and reports. Wiener Wohnen issued a total of 45 filming permits for 39 productions in municipal buildings. The Vienna cemeteries approved 59 projects, and 11 film projects were realised on the Otto Wagner site. The Schönbrunn Group supervised 127 projects, while the University of Vienna approved 14 projects totalling 16 days of filming.

District distribution

The proportion of filming in the Inner City declined slightly to 18.7%, followed by Leopoldstadt with 7.2%, Landstraße with 6.2%, Alsergrund with 5.8%, Döbling with 5.4% and Mariahilf with 5.1%. In all other districts, the proportion was below 5%, with the least filming taking place in Liesing at 1.4%. Filming took place in all 23 districts of Vienna.

Outstanding productions in 2024

The biggest international project was the Apple / Skydance production ‘The Fountain of Youth’ starring Natalie Portman, John Krasinski, Eiza González and Arian Moayed and directed by Guy Ritchie. The main location was the State Hall of the National Library, but filming also took place in other parts of the Hofburg as well as in the Hochstrahlbrunnen and on Schwarzenbergplatz. Other international service productions included ‘007 – Road to a Million’ for Amazon Prime as well as ‘Zitronenherzen’ and the series ‘Crystal Wall’ for ZDF, the series ‘Stationär’ for ARD, ‘Die Nichte des Polizisten’ for ARD and the cinema film ‘Ein fast perfekter Antrag’ with Iris Berben and Heiner Lauterbach.
Major national productions or international co-productions included the series ‘Drunter und Drüber’ for Amazon Prime, the German-Austrian-Danish series ‘Other People’s Money – Die Affäre Cum-Ex’ for ZDF, ‘Mother’s Baby’, ‘Bibi Blocksberg’, ‘Meiberger’, ‘Im Schatten der Angst’, ‘Ein Münchner im Himmel’, “Mädchen, Mädchen”, “Tatort”, “Der zweite Gang”, “Tage, die es nicht gab”, “Mama ist die Best(i)e”, “Hundertdreizehn”, “Biester”, “Die Totenfrau”, “School of Champions”, “Alles finster”, “Die Liesl von der Post”, “Die Nichte des Polizisten” and many more.

Outlook for 2025

The coming federal government’s explicit commitment to the further development and evaluation of the FISAplus and ÖFIplus funding instruments means enormous support for the entire domestic film industry and Vienna as a film business location. This commitment is essential for the international promotion of the location. The incentives provided by both the City of Vienna and the federal government in recent years have generated enormous added value, which should not be jeopardised under any circumstances. For the very sensible investment levy for streamers that has been promised, it would be worth considering taking their local investments into account.