Wiener Kunstfilm

Wiener Kunstfilm was founded in January 1910 (115 years ago) (1910-01) as the Erste österreichische Kinofilms-Industrie[1] in Alsergrund in Vienna by the photographer Anton Kolm, his wife Luise née Veltée, daughter of the owner of a panopticon, and the cameraman Jacob Fleck.

Due to its coverage of important events, Wiener Kunstfilm also has great significance as the chronicler of the last years of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

During World War I, although its former French rivals vanished from the picture, expelled from Austria as enemy aliens, Wiener Kunstfilm came under increasing pressure from the rival Austrian company Sascha-Film, backed by the immense family wealth of its proprietor, Count Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky, which by 1918 had secured dominance of the market.

Wiener Kunstfilm was forced into liquidation in 1919 (106 years ago) (1919), although refounded by Anton and Luise Kolm as the short-lived Vita-Film.

Other directors who worked occasionally for Wiener Kunstfilm were Walter Friedemann, Ludwig Ganghofer, Max Neufeld and Hans Otto Löwenstein.