The Austrian producer talks about her most successful productions, the philosophy of her company and her projects in the pipeline

Katharina Posch is a producer at Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion and recently produced successful feature films such as Tales of Franz and the sequel New Tales of Franz. Posch has been selected as the Austrian representative for the European Film Promotion's Producers on the Move programme at this year's Cannes Film Festival. We talked with her about her work, her current projects, and what she expects from the initiative.

Cineuropa: What have been the main stages of your career as a producer?
Katharina Posch: I remember very well, when I was part of “Les 60 à Cannes” in 2005, and shortly after became a member at the NISI MASA European short film network, which Matthieu Darras initiated at that time. I’ve always been a big film enthusiast and was working at festivals in every kind of department from guest office to programming and management. In 2011, after a couple of years abroad, I returned to Vienna and the main stages of my career happened simultaneously: I started to work at Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion and founded together with Daniel Hoesl and Gerald Kerkletz the European Film Conspiracy collective, where I produced my first feature, Soldier Jane [+see also:
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interview: Daniel Hoesl
film profile], which premiered in Sundance in 2013 and won the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival in the same year. The European Film Conspiracy was created to be a vehicle to produce unconventional and low budget films – so far Soldier Jane, WiNWiN [+see also:
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interview: Daniel Hoesl
film profile], Davos [+see also:
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interview: Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niem…
film profile], and the latest in post production, Il grand casino. At Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion, my biggest success was the two family features, (New) Tales of Franz. Those movies are based on the best-selling book series by Austrian writer Christine Nöstlinger (2.5 million books sold, translated in 30 languages) and were the biggest success in kids entertainment in Austria in the last 30 years. Tales of Franz reached 100,000 national admissions in 2022 and won awards from the Chicago Children’s Film Festival to the Alekino! Poznan and other festivals worldwide. The sequel was released in 2023 and had a great international journey as well, from Giffoni to Cinekid, and over 75,000 admissions at the national box office. Both have been dubbed into English and Dutch. 

What is the production philosophy of your company? 
All of the documentaries and feature films ever produced by NGF are dedicated to socially relevant topics. Respect for the environment has been one of our main concerns since the company was founded – in the award-winning documentaries Our Daily Bread [+see also:
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film profile] (about the food industry), Earth [+see also:
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interview: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
film profile] (the exploitation of soil-resources) or lately Matter Out of Place [+see also:
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interview: Nikolaus Geyrhalter
film profile], which follows traces of rubbish around the globe. We produced movies in the last years focusing on female rights (Feminism WTF, Europes forsaken slaves, Mother Myths), the empowerment of people with Down Syndrom (Ways to Shine). More than half of the films in our catalogue were made by female filmmakers and strong female driven stories were told in Mademoiselle Paradis [+see also:
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interview: Barbara Albert
film profile] by Barbara Albert and L’Animale [+see also:
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interview: Katharina Mückstein
film profile] by Katharina Mückstein. We do also produce a lot of first features, among them Markus Schleinzer's Michael [+see also:
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film profile] and lately Bernhard Wenger's Peacock. 

For the films you produce, are international co-productions important?
Yes, they are. We do often co-produce with Germany which is of course a natural. Concerning my new project I’m Not There To Make Friends by Julia Niemann (co-director of Veni Vidi Vici [+see also:
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interview: Daniel Hoesl, Julia Niemann
film profile]), a sleek and sunny psycho-thriller set in a reality-TV island situation, I am looking for co-producers as well in Mediterranean countries such as France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus. For the financing of a mini-drama series about a female hash baroness set in 1990s Vienna, I'm in talks with Germany and Luxembourg so far.

Are there other projects you are currently working on?
At Cannes I am also pitching Marie Luise Lehner’s class criticism debut film If You Are Afraid, You Put Your Heart Into Your Mouth And Smile: it tells the story of 13-year-old Anna and her deaf mother, and what it's like to transform the shame of one's own origins into pride again. It was shot in March and April in Vienna and is in the editing room now, and will be finished by the end of 2024. The cast is mostly amateur actors and it guest-stars Daniel Sea, better known for his role in The L-Word, the first trans actor in a US TV series.

What do you expect from your participation at this year's Producers on the Move programme in Cannes? 
Already during the online sessions, it was inspiring to meet with 19 like-minded, well experienced and visionary producers coming from very nearby places, like Slovakia, or faraway, like Iceland. They all brought interesting projects, which allows me to get to know their company's focus better. We've already exchanged treatments and I am looking forward to our meetings in Cannes. A big advantage of the programme is of course the online pitching sessions with sales agents and the media visibility we will be gaining.