Short Film Contest by VIENNA SHORTS and Johann Strauss 2025 Vienna

DANUBE SO BLUE
Reframing An Evergreen

It is one of the most famous pieces of music in the world and has also made a lasting impact on film history: from Grand Hotel (1932) with Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford to Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) to the Netflix series Squid Game (2021), the waltz The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II is linked with numerous iconic scenes.

Those searching for the “Danube Waltz” on common video platforms today will immediately be rewarded with the composer’s music, whose 200th birthday will be celebrated in 2025. Visually, however, the search often yields little result, as the music is usually accompanied by static orchestral images or kitschy advertising visuals. This is set to change with this call for entries.

Starting now, the Johann Strauss Year 2025 and VIENNA SHORTS are looking for modern and original cinematic interpretations to reframe the popular evergreen beyond advertising clichés. Whether it’s a music video, animation, or artistic experiment, and whether the approach is poetic, political, or personal, the choice is yours. The only restriction: The submitted short films should ideally be 4 to 7 minutes long and must not exceed 10 minutes.

The competition is open internationally. All applicants will be provided with a musical version of the waltz, performed by the Johann Strauss Orchestra Vienna, free of charge for the duration of the submission period and for use and editing (with copyright credit in the film credits). The best submissions will be awarded a total of 12,000 euros (1x 6,000 euros, 1x 3,000 euros, 1x 1,200 euros, 6x 300 euros) and will be presented on May 28, 2025, within the festival framework. The submission deadline is January 5, 2025.