Moving Images of Habsburg´s Final War

This research projects aims to examine the filmic depiction of Austria-Hungary during the First World War on the basis of all available, relevant visual and written materials related to the subject matter and its context. On the one hand, documentation, interpretation and analysis build on previous regional and international research results, which owing to the topic`s historical relevance and explosiveness are rather limited. One the other hand a socioscientifically oriented media science off the purely aesthetically oriented, historiographical tracks and supported by archival footage as well as archival studies will be implemented. Such a discursively revalued film footage allows for a complete rethinking of the relation of the conceptual triad film-history-Austria. Within the well-investigated field of filmic propaganda, the First World War is of particular importance because of its reorientation in media use and complex source material situation. Austrian and related sources in particular permit an approach which regards and explores film as an autonomous form of media, which in turn makes it possible to discuss and exemplify memory. The cyclic dependency of consensus reality and politically exaggerated medialisation necessitates the consideration of both fictional and non-fictional material a fact fully taken into account by the project. With this first-ever opportunity to access the absolutely unique, heterogeneous collection of the Filmarchiv Austria the best partners and the most fertile questions can be brought together in a focused examination. The new typology, which is described in detail in the concept paper, not only establishes an innovative template of reflection for the material in general, but also allows to describe and explore particular aspects, such as the genuinely Austrian elements in the filmic discourse on the conflict. Apart from sources from the period of the conflict between 1914 and 1918, relevant film productions originating both nationally and internationally after 1918 shall also be addressed in accordance with a specified list of questions. The clear guidelines for this project envisage a fact- and source-oriented research method which deliberately aims to distance itself from a neo-positivist conception of the source material. The work to be undertaken in the course of this Vienna-based research project will be carried out in consultation with recognised international authorities and will both have continuing implications for a variety of disciplines and prove to be a trend-setter for European research, for instance in the area of smart specialisation.

The research project aimed to consider the last war of the Danube monarchy from two different film-historical perspectives. A. Under the title `Visuelle Fronten. Film in Österreich-Ungarn 1914-1918`, cinematography in the Habsburg Empire during the First World War is the subject of a detailed German- language presentation for the first time and on a hitherto unknown source base. This work which is now being prepared for publication fills a glaring gap in the scientific study of the history of cinematography and serves as an indispensable foundation of future investigations in this workspace: Roughly 1.500 film productions are listed in a filmography presenting feature films, actuality films, `culture` movies, short films, animated feature films, commercials, propaganda films and newsreels from studios in Vienna, Prague, Budapest and Kolozsvr. Unexpectedly much information was collected about filmmakers or film teams, studios, trading companies, filming locations, premieres, contents of films and censorship decisions. This filmography `Die österreichisch-ungarische Produktion 1914- 1918` formed at the same time the prerequisite to widen the analytic horizon, together with written sources such as newspapers, magazines, books and available archival documents. This extension of the field of investigation also meant inclusion of international films not only from neutral or allied countries but also from enemy states. Surprisingly enough, film productions of the war enemies constituted a considerable part of the supply on the Austro- Hungarian market. Eventually, a source-oriented presentation deals with the following aspects: Stances of (military) officials, expansion of a professionalized film propaganda, sales strategies at home and abroad, in combat and occupation zones, the development of the Austro-Hungarian film industry in different parts or crownlands of the monarchy, cinema programming and contents of movies, expectations and reactions of the audience, classification of the Dual monarchy in the international context and in longer-term developments of film history. B. In the second work focus the project leader and his main scholarly staff together with experts from neighbouring countries and successor states of the Danube monarchy turned to the decades after 1918. In this connection the following question was crucial: How did the various national film productions deal with the last years of the Habsburg empire? The individual contributions focus on specific feature films, documentaries or epochs, some articles offer historical longitudinal sections - beyond the various caesuras of the 20th century and now and then up to the present. Created in cooperation with the University of New Orleans, this omnibus volume - titled `Habsburgs Last War: The Filmic Memory (1918 to the Present)` - has been released in the first days of May 2018. It embeds the respective filmmaking into different European cultures of memories since the end of the First World War and the revolutionary upheaval of 1917/18. From this point of view the volume gathers essays exploring the intersections between the political, historical and aesthetic aspects too.