The institution of the Vienna Film Fund has been working for more than fifteen years now. But a film fund of the city of Vienna exists even longer. In November 1976 the Viennese Government approved the articles of the so called "Viennese Fund of Film Subsity".
In 1992 the fund got its own domicile and renewed its articles. The new "Film Financing Fund" was now managed by a director who even was an appointee of film of Vienna. The first subsidy guidelines were developed, funding decisions were made by the managing director.
A deep reform of the fund was decided in 1999. During five months a working group of film professionals was developing new articles. A separation of powers took place between the managing director, a oversight committee and an independent jury. In the jury no Austrian producers should decide about funding applications of their colleagues. There foreign experts were called into the jury for the first time. The oversight committee was filled with Austrian representatives of the film business. The post of the managing director was advertised for the first time as well. The guidelines were renewed and updated to blend well with the activities in film business. The idea of "non-repayable grant awarded after success" was born: If a film has been successful at box office and the producer paid the subsidy back to the fund, he/she could get the money as a non-repayable subsidy for a new project again and twice of that amount the producer gets in addition as a subsidie repayable on success. The new appearance of the fund in 2002 as the "Filmfonds Wien" and its new logo show the dynamic development of the business of film and look ahead with hope, that the successful Austrian and European film-making is going on...
