Short film "Vienna table trip"

It's a film and more: a whirlwind cinematic tour of what makes Vienna wonderful.

Video "Vienna table trip"

Created by Austria's Virgil Widrich, whose internationally acclaimed short film "copy shop" earned him an Oscar nomination in 2002, Vienna table trip zips from one attraction to another. It's an exhilarating journey that presents the Austrian capital in all its strongpoints - a smart city that regularly tops the list of metropolises with the best quality of life, a cultural jewel, hotspot of innovative business and technology.


Coffee house table as microcosm of Vienna

Widrich does all this in one minute and 22 seconds, using as a jump-off point something most visitors immediately associate with Vienna: the coffee house table. But it's a special table, serving not only traditional Viennese delicacies but also showcasing the city's other draws. "The coffee table is a microcosm of Vienna", says Widrich. From this idea grew the concept of a miniature table trip through the city staged with cups, saucers, plates, knives, forks, local specialties and products interspersed with different dimensions of Vienna's contemporary urban life.

55,000 photos and 2.7 terabytes of data

Several tables with little country flags and plates with Austrian dishes

A coffee house table serves as a jump-off point for the film.

Using stop-motion animation, Widrich's team made 55,000 photos over five days to produce 2.7 terabytes of data. "We would have had enough material in the end to produce a 38-minute film taking a playing speed of 24 images per second", he says. It took weeks of work to compress the message into the film's present length. But Widrich clearly had fun with the project. "Our Vienna coffee house table has to cope with a fair amount and turns more and more into a stage - and at the end into the whole city", he says.

Making of "Vienna table trip" - Youtube

Capturing Vienna's unique essence

The film is yet another example of how Vienna thinks outside the box when it comes to branding. Travelling the well-trodden path would have meant using the classic promotion film. But not in the Austrian capital.

More than 100 promotional films dealing with international city, country and product marketing were reviewed together with the director before the decision was made to break with the conventional image and focus on a work that in its creativity captures Vienna's unique essence.

Presenting Vienna to a global audience

A man in a film studio is filming a coffee house table in front of a green wall

Short film director Virgil Widrich at work

The Chief Executive Office - European and International Affairs, which commissioned the short film, sees it as a way to show Vienna in all its facets. Between 3,000 and 5,000 delegates from all over the world visit Vienna's municipal government each year. Many of Vienna's international partners, who are here for the first time, are surprised and enthused about the city's fast pulse and many faces. They inspired the city to step up its efforts to present Vienna in all its contemporary diversity to a global audience, and that's what the film does. It's a compressed impression of Vienna today that we can send to the world in visually overpowering colorfulness.

Partners

The following partners have contributed photo and video footage to the production of the short film: Bösendorfer, Freywille, KunstHausWien, Lena Hoschek, MAK - Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art/Katrin Wißkirchen/Georg Mayer, Marina Hoermanseder, Mode Atelier Knize, Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna, Mühlbauer, Svenskt Tenn, Thonet, Theater an der Wien, Vienna Business Agency, Vienna Film Commission, Vienna Tourist Board, W24/WH Medien, Wendy & Jim/Augarten Porzellan, WienWein/Herbert Lehmann and Wien Energie/MirAlf Media.

Biography Virgil Widrich

Virgil Widrich, born 1967 in Salzburg, works on numerous multimedia and film productions. His short film "Copy Shop" won 35 international awards and was nominated for the Oscar. "Fast Film" premiered in Cannes 2003 and won 36 awards until today. His newest feature film is "Night of a 1000 Hours" to be released later this year. Virgil Widrich lives in Vienna.

Virgil Widrich

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