Review of the Vienna Labour Film Festival 2026

To date, more than 2,500 visitors have attended the festival – three times as many as at its first edition. Across 13 scree­nings, ten feature-length fiction and docu­men­ta­ry films as well as five short films were presented at Stadtkino Wien, Admiralkino, Gartenbaukino and the Austrian Film Museum. The school programme, which is still to take place, is already fully booked with 1,200 reser­va­tions from pupils, app­ren­ti­ces and young adults in education and training. Particularly encou­ra­ging is the strong par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on of young people from voca­tio­nal schools and training initia­ti­ves, including Sprungbrett, Interface, Training Jugendwerkstatt, Jobtrain, Jobfabrik and Integrationshaus.

The festival offered far more than film scree­nings. Post-screening dis­cus­sions, a per­for­mance, a sound lecture and exhi­bi­ti­ons com­ple­men­ted the programme and opened up a variety of per­spec­ti­ves on the world of work. Numerous film­ma­kers, experts and repre­sen­ta­ti­ves from practice, politics and education engaged with audiences in dis­cus­sions and con­ver­sa­ti­ons throug­hout the festival.

Among the high­lights were the Vienna premiere of “Ich verstehe Ihren Unmut” (Germany, 2026) by Kilian Armando Friedrich and the special screening of “AMS / Arbeit muss sein” (Austria, 2026) by Sebastian Brauneis. At both events, the film­ma­kers were present in person, con­tri­bu­ting to lively, thought-provoking and inspiring dis­cus­sions with audiences at Stadtkino Wien.

Our sincere thanks go to all visitors, partner orga­ni­sa­ti­ons, funding bodies, film­ma­kers, panel­lists and members of the festival team. Their com­mit­ment and support once again helped make the Vienna Labour Film Festival a space for dialogue, reflec­tion and meaningful encounters.

We are already looking forward to the festival’s third edition in 2027.