“It’s getting more expensive to produce films, so co-productions are a necessity, financially – but they also enrich a project, creatively”
– The Austrian producer explains more about the profile of her company, her experience with international co-productions and her commitment to supporting female talent
(© Nina Nauber)
Austrian producer Lixi Frank is participating in European Film Promotion‘s Producers on the Move programme at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. She founded Panama Film with fellow producer David Bohun and is based in Vienna. The firm’s Everytime by Sandra Wollner will be part of Un Certain Regard this year, while The Dreamed Adventure by Valeska Grisebach will be screened in the main competition. We talked to her about the profile of her company, her experience with international co-productions and her commitment to supporting female talent.
Cineuropa: What made you decide to become a producer?
Lixi Frank: It was a long path. I first studied Theatre, Film and Media Studies, as well as Communication and Journalism. Step by step, I fell into filmmaking, helping out and lending a hand on short films at the Film Academy in Vienna, and suddenly, I found out that producing actually suited my abilities. It’s a very versatile job that combines a lot of my interests. I think I’m not a person who creates by herself; I really like to help others create things and to be the backbone of the creative process, to an extent. So, I did an internship at a production company and found out that this was indeed something I could really see myself doing as a job. Then, I started to study Production at the Film Academy in Vienna.
After your studies, you founded your own production company. How did that come to be?
It was quite a smooth transition. I studied, and after a while, I got some jobs within the industry. The most important one was as junior producer at Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion, where we made documentaries by Nikolaus Geyrhalter, but also fiction features by Barbara Albert and Katharina Mückstein. Alongside a colleague from film school, I also acted as a producer on the documentary Paradise! Paradise! by Kurdwin Ayub. It gave me a great overview of things, and I learned a lot. It really helped me reach my decision to become a producer myself. But it’s difficult in the Austrian industry because the production companies are quite small. It’s hard to find a place where you can really work independently and choose projects, instead of going into an existing structure. At that time, David Bohun was looking for a second producer to found a company. He approached me, and it was just the perfect timing.
Panama Film is the company you founded together. How would you describe its profile?
We make auteur-driven films. David and I both come from a documentary background, so it was always obvious for us to mix documentary and fiction. We made a lot of hybrids, by filmmakers coming from documentary and moving into fiction, or films in between the two. We’re mostly looking for directors with a distinctive vision. It’s not only about the script; it’s very much about the people behind the project, and how they approach film and storytelling. Sandra Wollner is a perfect example of this. With her movies, she creates perspectives and thoughts we could never have imagined before.
It makes sense to participate in programmes like Producers on the Move if you’re interested in international collaborations. What is your take on co-productions?
I think they are becoming more and more relevant. On the one hand, budgets are decreasing everywhere. It’s getting more expensive to produce films, so co-productions are a necessity, financially. On the other hand, I think they really enrich a project, creatively, especially with auteur-driven films. They’re rarely made by one country alone. You always need collaborators. It expands the market but also nourishes the creative input. One of the biggest challenges in Austria is the lack of a minority co-production fund and a tax credit. As a result, most co-productions tend to be between Austria and Germany. However, we are very eager to move beyond this pattern and become involved in high-profile international co-productions.
Which projects will you be bringing to Cannes?
We are looking for partners for three major projects: one is the new effort by Alexandra Makarová [Perla], called Fanny Is Alive. It’s set in the time after World War II, in displaced persons camps. It tells the story of a Jewish woman, Fanny, in 1947, as she hopes to emigrate to Palestine. When her husband, Karl, finds her after years of searching, that hope is shattered, forcing her to return to Vienna – to a society that once sought to erase her. It’s a high-budget movie, and we are looking for at least two or three co-producers. Another project is Patric Chiha’s new film, Ice Cream, an Austrian-French co-production, possibly also with Belgium. And we are developing something new with Sandra Wollner, which is still at an early stage.
