On the occasion of the opening ceremony of the festival, on June 8, the Diagonal 21 will award for the fourteenth time the Großer Diagonale-Schauspielpreis for contributions to Austrian film culture. La Diagonale is pleased to announce that this year the award goes to Christine Ostermayer. The theater actress, cinema and television will receive the award – a work of art by Verena Dengler – in Graz in person.
“Small refined gestures, impersonati with noble grace: nIt doesn't matter where and in what significant role actress Christine Ostermayer appeared on stage – he has always conquered his audience”. With this remark, the Süddeutsche Zeitung started an article in 2016 on the occasion of Ostermayer's 80th birthday. That the actress, born in Vienna in 1936, is exactly the “energetic diva grandeur lady” which is described in the same, was also confirmed when she learned that she would receive the Großer Diagonale-Schauspielpreis: “You make a fool of yourself if you press me!” A rough voice, accompanied by an incomparable charm – Christine Ostermayer is an engaging and warm person. It is an immense pleasure for the jury of the Großer Diagonale-Schauspielpreis (Ute Baumhackl, Christian Konrad, Julia Franz Richter, Julia Stemberger e Hüseyin Tabak) reward her: “In many different roles Christine Ostermayer demonstrates how empathetic she is, simple and genuine in its work. Most recently in the role of a frail grandmother, smart and warm-hearted in Oskar & Lilli (directed by Arash T. Riahi, AT 2020), in recent years as a lover in Beginning 80 (directed by Sabine Hiebler, Gerhard Ertl, AT 2011) or as a woman with senile dementia in Byways (directed by Michael Ammann, FROM 2014). His career spans an entire era and a wide range of theatrical roles, television, cinema and radio, in which – both as a protagonist and in supporting roles – it gives its characters an intimate depth. Christine Ostermayer is an actress with humor, spirit and sensitivity. A human actress who shines without having to show off all the time. So, this award honors a long life, lively and impressive by an actress who has enriched the world of Austrian cinema and theater for decades”.
After the Best Interpretation Award for his acclaimed performance in Beginning 80 a Diagonal 12, this is Christine Ostermayer's second prize at the Austrian film festival.
Il Great Diagonale Acting Award 2021 will be delivered to Christine Ostermayer during the opening ceremony of the Diagonale on 8 June at the Helmut List Halle in Graz. Due to the legal curfew and distance regulations, the Austrian film festival will open with two consecutive screenings of Fox in a Hole (AT 2020) by Arman T. Riahi. Following the cancellation of the Diagonale'20, last year's winner Ursula Strauss will also receive the Großer Diagonale-Schauspielpreis in person on June 8. The awards ceremony will take place during the first opening show in the afternoon. Unfortunately, the opening party must be canceled due to Covid-19.
Burn, shine, heat up: a sun of acting
A highlight of Ostermayer's career was the award-winning feature film Beginning 80 di Sabine Hiebler e Gerhard Ertl (AT 2011), that, on the wave of the age debate recently unleashed by Mavie Hörbiger, he is also a role model for Austrian cinema in terms of casting policy. Christine Ostermayer's courageous performance as the latest arrival earned her her first prize at the Diagonale in 2012: for her interpretation of Rosa, a cancer patient, received the Acting Award for Outstanding Performance in a Competing Film. On this occasion, the interpreter demonstrated what "shine" means for an actor. The jury rejoiced: “And you, the Christine Ostermayer way, you won us over with your outstanding performance, sensitive, sincere, that shows us life, merciless and courageous. When your Rosa falls in love with Bruno, you evoke spring in our hearts and we fall in love too. Of you!” After appearances in the thriller Dragon maiden (AT 2015) by Catalina Molina at the Diagonal 16 and in comedy White lie (AT 2017) at Marie Kreutzer alla Diagonal 17, Christine Ostermayer was due to appear again in a central role on the Graz cinema screens last year: in the poetic Oskar & Lilli di Arash T. Riahi plays a grandmother suffering from Parkinson's disease who befriends one of the two children who fled from Chechnya and entrusted to two different families. It is the last film role of an impressive career to date, in which the 84-year-old also took part in the television adaptation of classic works such as The Talisman (AT 1976), The Taming of the Shrew (BRD 1971) e What you want (BRD 1973) by director Otto Schenk, in addition to series such as Determined quickly, The winemaker king and several episodes of crime scene e Derrick.
From Kindertheater to expressive dance, up to the early and late beginnings
Christine Ostermayer's acting career began at a young age. Her pediatrician's recommendation to do gymnastics turned into a dance studio with Willy Fränzl. She soon began acting at Hanna Berger's newly born Vienna Kindertheater, where already at the age of seven he had his first experiences on the stage. The experience at the Kindertheater was soon followed by the study of dance at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts. His greatest passion was expressive dance, Ostermayer once said, who finally took part in Max Reinhardt's seminar in 1954 to train as an actress. After his debut at the Städtische Bühnen in Essen, Christine Ostermayer has recitato per quattro anni al Wuppertal stages. from 1963 al 1984 he was part of the ensemble of the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel (Munich Residenztheater). Commitments followed in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Zurich, at the Burgtheater in Vienna, at the Theater in der Josefstadt and at the Salzburg Festival. from 1994 Christine Ostermayer also appeared at the Munich Volkstheater. Parallel to his theatrical career he worked for cinema and television and took part in numerous radio shows.
In 1968 Ostermayer received the Förderpreis of the city of Munich, in 1975 the Kainz medal, in 1999 the Nestroy Ring and in 2010 il Piscator anniversary award. In 2017, the actress, resident of Monaco, was awarded the medal “Munich shines” for outstanding contributions in the theatrical field. For his role in Oskar & Lilli di Arash T. Riahi is currently nominated for the Österreichischer Filmpreis 2021 for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
A work of art for Christine Ostermayer, created by Verena Dengler
La vincitrice del Big Diagonale Acting Award 2021 will receive a work of art, designed and donated by Verena Dengler thanks to legero united – the shoemakers | Initiator of con-tempus.eu.
With his allusive works, current and sometimes provocative - presented to the public for the last time in a solo exhibition at the Vienna Secession – Verena Dengler has made a name for herself internationally. Per il Big Diagonale Acting Award di quest’anno, Dengler has designed a gilded bronze selfie stick.
“Not only after the pandemic has traditional cinema been confronted with alternatives and changes: films shrink to the size of cell phone screens – and this in turn leads to isolation instead of collective experience. The gold stick of selfies, however, is a positive aspect: through the democratization of the cinematographic medium, anyone can now create a platform for themselves. At the same time, the suckers of these popular selfie sticks can even be compared to those of an octopus – a metaphor for rampant anti-Semitic and conspiratorial content that can be circulated by all those who create the most poignant images”.
— Verena Dengler on the award she sponsored
Interim jury 2021
Ute Baumhackl (head of the culture and media department, Small newspaper)
Christian Konrad (head of the cinema department, ORF)
Julia Franz Richter (actress)
Julia Stemberger (actress, VdFS representative)
Huseyin Tabak (director, producer, screenwriter)
Previous winners of the Großer Diagonale-Schauspielpreis:
Ursula Strauss (2020), Birgit Minichmayr (2019), Ingrid Burkhard (2018), Johannes Krisch (2017), Erni Mangold (2016), Tobias Moretti (2015), Georg Friedrich (2014), Maria Hofstätter (2013), Johannes Silberschneider (2012), Senta Berger (2011), Klaus Maria Brandauer (2010), Josef Hader (2009), Karl Markovics (2008).