01/12/25 – The KURIER Branchen-ROMY honours personalities behind the camera – those without whom there would be neither film nor television. At the festive gala at Schloss Kaps in Kitzbühel, Michael Wolkenstein, founder of Satel Film, was awarded the ROMY in platinum for his life’s work. The laudatory speech was given by the managing director of Bavaria Film, Christian Franckenstein.
Whether it’s ‘Der Schüler Gerber’, ‘Kottan ermittelt’, ‘Die Piefke Saga’, ‘Soko Donau’ or Austria’s first Oscar nomination ‘38 – Auch das war Wien’ – all these productions are inextricably linked to Michael Wolkenstein (85), founder of Vienna-based Satel Film. At the KURIER Branchen-ROMY awards ceremony at Schloss Kaps in Kitzbühel, Wolkenstein was honoured with the KURIER Platin-ROMY for his life’s work. The laudatory speech was given by Christian Franckenstein, managing director of Bavaria Film.
‘I am truly delighted to receive this award. And it can only be achieved through teamwork. I could never have made a film on my own. I would like to thank all my loyal colleagues who have accompanied and supported me over the years. And I am proud that I am still good friends with so many of them today,’ explains Michael Wolkenstein.
It all began with a glass of wine…
The story of Satel Film began – in true Viennese style – at the Heuriger Wagner in Grinzing. Michael Wolkenstein recalls: “I was sitting in the wine tavern in 1971 and, after a few glasses of wine, I combined the name Sascha-Film with Polytel, a film subsidiary of PolyGram – and Satel was born. At first, people weren’t thrilled that we were suddenly on the market. At that time, broadcasting companies dominated the market. Our approach was different: we developed our own projects, pre-financed them and granted licences.‘ The young company quickly established itself as a fixture in the Austrian film industry. Wolkenstein: ’When you develop your own material, you also have contact with the authors. For me, the old saying by Louis B. Mayer, the founder of MGM, applies: The most important thing in film is the book, the book, the book. It’s all about storytelling. You can’t make a good film from a bad book.”
Successful for five decades
For more than 50 years, Satel Film has been one of Austria’s leading film production companies. With legendary films such as Maximilian Schell’s ‘Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald’ (1979), Peter Patzak’s “Kassbach” (1979), the Academy Award-nominated “38 – Auch das war Wien‘ (1986) by Wolfgang Glück and Luc Bondy’s award-winning ’Das weite Land” (1987), Satel Film established itself as a fixture in the Austrian film industry in the 1970s and 1980s.
“Der Schüler Gerber (1981) became standard viewing in school classrooms, the cult series “Kottan ermittelt” (1976-1983) brought new life to the rather dry world of crime drama, and “Die Piefke-Saga” (1990-1993) polarised in the domestic tourism industry and won the Grimme Prize. With ‘Schlosshotel Orth’ (1996-2004), Michael Wolkenstein produced another TV classic that accompanied audiences over nine seasons.
In 2007, Heinrich Ambrosch took over as managing partner and head of the company. ‘I was fortunate to take over a company with an excellent structure and dedicated employees,’ says Ambrosch. ‘Michael created television classics that I grew up with, including literary adaptations such as “Der Schüler Gerber” and “Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald” as well as original material such as “Die Piefke Saga” and “Kottan ermittelt”. This cultural heritage continues to shape me and the Satel Film team to this day – it is both an incentive and an obligation.’
And Satel’s success story continues: long-running productions such as ‘SOKO Donau/Wien’ (since 2005) and ‘Die Toten von Salzburg’ (since 2016) regularly achieve record ratings at home and abroad. With ‘Freud’ (2019), the first domestic series production for Netflix in cooperation with ORF and Bavaria Fiction, Ambrosch and his team opened a new chapter in the company’s history and won the Romy Award for ‘Best TV Fiction Production’. Satel Film’s latest projects include another major international production: the six-part Disney+ original series ‘Vienna Game’ by producer Bettina Kuhn is dedicated to the Congress of Vienna and was filmed in Austria and Hungary in 2024.
Bildcredit: Kurier/Philipp Hutter
