"I want to talk about it because I'm proud that I did it"

“I want to be completely honest.” Vivian Bausch says this sentence often in the OÖN interview, sincerely and with such conviction that one thing is revealed: the trait that it takes to get this far at the Austrian Film Festival , the Grazer Diagonale, to win the Carl Mayer Screenplay Prize (more below). In addition to artistic talent, it is also the tendency to tackle things and do things, to be determined, as we say.

The 32-year-old and her co-author, Fabian Rausch from Salzburg, won the award last week at the 24th edition of the festival for their project “Soldat”. It is endowed with 15,000 euros – which Bausch comments with “Yay, finally money to work!” Bausch’s path into domestic film first became more concrete at the Linz Art University, after initially concentrating on performances.

„It doesn’t define you.”

When asked how exactly her motivation came about, Bausch first responds with silence, reflection and then with “I want to be honest.” There were many strokes of fate that made it more difficult and cost a lot of strength. Then she becomes specific: “I stand by it and think it’s important to talk about it: I have experienced two rapes in my life.”

She didn’t report one, but she did the other. There was a trial (attempted rape) and a guilty verdict. That’s why she wants to talk about it, “because I’m proud that I did it, went through with it and went to court.” It means a lot to her to be able to tell others “that it’s so important to report something like this” – no matter whether there will be a verdict or not. “It helped me a lot from a psychological perspective to do that. You can only deal with such things, even socially, if you face them and support each other. What happened doesn’t define you.”

However, some of the energy that the experiences of violence took from her was given back to her to cope, to carry on and to complete her master’s degree (time-based and interactive media art) at the art university. Gitti Vasicek (now vice-rector) encouraged her to make her first documentary. The desire to write returned. Joachim Smetschka, now head of the course, said: “Don’t be stupid and finally apply for a film academy!”

Bausch is now completing his master’s degree in directing with Barbara Albert at the Vienna Film Academy and with Linz’s Michael Palm (direction and conception) at the University of Television and Film in Munich. The art university master’s degree was completed, based on a bachelor’s degree in theater, film and media studies in Vienna.
Bausch first had to gather the courage to study what she really wanted. Before that, she didn’t dare to apply. As a girl, studying and going to school seemed like “a utopia” to her – something that would never end.

Bausch grew up in Munich for the first seven years of her life. After her father’s death, she returned with her mother, a hairdresser, to her hometown of Linz. Bausch attended the Auwiesen secondary school. “I was very bad at school and didn’t go to school.” At some point, however, she realized that she had to pull herself together in order to be able to lead the free life that she had imagined for herself. The difficult family circumstances also led to learning problems that no longer exist today. Ambition and school success came at high school.

Bausch also wants to be honest about secondary school: “I was in the third ability group in German and English, which was embarrassing for a long time.” Now it doesn’t have to be that way anymore. Bausch is co-author of one of the country’s award-winning films.

About price and person

The Carl Mayer Screenplay Prize is awarded annually to a treatment suitable for a cinema film (preliminary stage of a screenplay). Vivian Bausch brought him in with Fabian Rausch for her project “Soldier”. Partly inspired by Bausch’s life, it is about a girl (11) in Linz-Auwiesen, grief and play spaces. Bausch has previously presented short films, including Crossing Europe. “Soldier” will be her fictional feature film debut.