'Revanche' wins Europa prize

Film set in Vienna's red light district

By ED MEZA

Goetz Spielmann’s Austrian drama "Revanche" has won the Europa Cinemas Label for best European film in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section.

Announced Friday by the Europa Cinemas Label jury, it marks the fourth year that the Europa Cinemas Label has been awarded in Berlin, complementing the Labels awarded at the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice, the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes and Karlovy Vary.

Set in Vienna’s red-light district, pic follows a gangster’s henchman with a heart who falls for a hooker employed by his boss in a story of guilt and revenge.

As part of the kudos, "Revanche" will receive the support of extended theatrical exposure and additional promotion from the Europa Cinemas network.

"This is a very well-made and dramatic film that we believe has the potential to grip audiences around Europe," the jury said in a statement. "The story is absorbing, the characters well drawn and the performances uniformly strong. This is true European cinema at its best — an authentic and uncompromised view of a corner of Europe."

Written and directed by Spielmann, "Revanche" stars Johannes Krisch, Irina Potapenko and Andreas Lust. The film was produced by Matthias Forberg, Heinz Stussak, Sandra Bohle and Spielmann for Prisma Film und Fernsehproduktion, in co-production with Spielmannfilm. The Match Factory is handling international sales.

Serving on the Europa Cinemas Label jury were Robert Kenny, operations manager at the U.K.’s Curzon Cinemas; exhib Marko Roehr of Bio Rex Helsinki and Bio Rex Kajaani in Finland; Wolfgang Steininger, of Moviemento and City Kino in Linz, Austria; and Barbara Suhren, of Berlin’s Kino am Oranienplatz.