Tanja Hausner

Sleeping with a Tiger is a hybrid film about the Austrian painter Maria Lassnig. A film about her struggle in the male dominated art world and the quest to find her own personal artistic way of expression in which she brings her inner pain on canvas. And of course a film about her great artistic success.

The story of Empress Elisabeth of Austria told from the point of view of her lady-in-waiting, Irma Sztáray. Far from the kitschy “Sissi” cliché, she portrays a woman who, for years without her husband, surrounded only by women, ventured on journeys throughout Europe, mastered six languages, practiced high-performance sports and did not fit at all into the tight corset of the Viennese court.

Richie Bravo, once upon a time a successful pop star, chases after his faded fame in wintry Rimini. Trapped between permanent intoxication and concerts for busloads of tourists, his world starts to collapse when his adult daughter breaks into his life.

Alice, a single mother who is more dedicated to her work as a genetic engineer than to her teenage son Joe, develops a new variety of flower that is supposed to have the ability to make its owner happy thanks to its special chemical properties.

In early 18th century an African slave boy is chosen by a European Comtesse to be baptized and educated. Reaching adulthood, Angelo achieves prominence and soon becomes the Viennese court mascot until he decides to secretly marry a white woman.

Nick and Anna are off to Switzerland for six months. Nick, a chef, wants to collect recipes of local cuisine and Anna hopes to write a new book. The journey can also be good for their relationship, because Anna suspects that Nick had an affair with other woman. Meanwhile, Mischa will take care of their Viennese apartment.

According to an African fairy tale, every child receives a song from their parents that they carry with them throughout their lives. Richard, an orphaned Tanzanian immigrant, has never had his own song. How he got one before his unexpected death and the significant, though unintended, roles played by the dark-tourism entrepreneur Drakuhl, the gray-haired hair model Barney and the heavy-drinking music teacher Kiesel won't be revealed here. Merely that the song Dead Man Play becomes an international hit.

In the heat of the summer lays a lonesome house in the countryside where nine year old twin brothers await their mother’s return. When she comes home, bandaged after cosmetic surgery, nothing is like before and the children start to doubt whether this woman is actually who she says she is.

Hope, the third film in the PARADISE TRILOGY, tells the story of the 13-year-old Melanie. While her mother (Teresa) travels to Kenya, Melanie spends her holiday in the Austrian countryside at a strict diet camp for overweight teenagers. Under the supervision of a tattooed trainer and a creepy doctor, the teenagers attempt to do sports during the day and secretly get drunk in the evening. Between physical education and nutrition counseling, pillow fights and her first cigarette, Melanie falls in love with the doctor who is 40 years her senior.

Second film in Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy. A devout Catholic woman practises her religion at home and in the local community, but is unprepared for the reappearance of her estranged husband, who is a Muslim.

On the beaches of Kenya they're known as "Sugar Mamas" -- European women who seek out African boys selling love to earn a living. Teresa, a 50-year-old Austrian and mother of a daughter entering puberty, travels to this vacation paradise. She goes from one Beach Boy to the next, from one disappointment to the next and finally she must recognize: On the beaches of Kenya love is a business.

Christine is a wheelchair-using woman with severe multiple sclerosis. In order to escape her isolation, she makes a journey to Lourdes, the iconic site of pilgrimage in the Pyrenees Mountains, along with other people with varying disabilities. During her stay she begins to regain the use of her limbs. This is in contrast with others, who appear to have stronger faith than Christine but experience only slight, passing improvement. Her fellow pilgrims are eager to call it a miracle; however, as the pilgrimage draws to a close, exactly how accurate a claim this is becomes uncertain.

A teacher takes a job at an elite school and forms a strong bond with five students — a relationship that eventually takes a dangerous turn.