Ferry Radax

Ferry Radax in 2014

Ferry Radax (born June 20, 1932) is an Austrian film maker born in Vienna. He has been active in many genres since 1949. He studied at Vienna's Film Institute in 1953-54, followed by Cinecittà, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, in Rome in 1955-56. He has produced films all around Europe, and also in South America, USA and New Zealand. He has made feature films, but is mostly known for short experimental films, documentaries and portrayals of poets and artists. Some of them, Konrad Bayer, Friedensreich Hundertwasser and H. C. Artmann, he became acquainted with in the early 1950s as a member of Art-Club in Vienna.

Selected films

• Sonne halt! (Sun stop!, 1960) With Konrad Bayer. The film which Ferry Radax is most known for in his native country. An experimental film produced in Italy and Switzerland. 26 min., black and white. It was shown as the first film at Künstlerhaus (Artist's House) in Vienna in spring 2008, as Ferry Radax was celebrated and many of his films were shown for one and a half months.^[1] The film is on DVD since 2007.
• Hundertwasser - Leben in Spiralen (Hundertwasser - life in spirals, 1966). Ferry Radax praised first documentary on his fellow-countryman, the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, and his life in Europe.
• H.C. Artmann (1967). A portrait of a legendary Austrian poet. 42 min., black and white.
• Konrad Bayer, oder: die welt bin ich und das ist meine sache (Konrad Bayer, or: the world am I and that's my business, 1969). An experimental portrait of Konrad Bayer and his suicide. 52 min., black and white. A mixture of documentary and fiction.
• Der Kopf des Vitus Bering (Vitus Bering's head, 1970). 26 min., black and white. An experimental mixture of documentary and fiction after a book by Konrad Bayer.
• Thomas Bernhard - Drei Tage (Thomas Bernhard - three days, 1970). Based on a written self-portrait by the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard.
• Schizophrene Maler (Schizofrenic painters, 1971).
• Der Italiener (The Italian, 1972), a feature film based on a script by Thomas Bernhard.
• Ludwig Wittgenstein (1976). 2x60 min. documentary/fiction.
• Attentat in Bad Gastein (Attack in Bad Gastein, 1979), a feature film on political terrorism.
• Mit Erich von Däniken in Peru (With Erich von Däniken in Peru, 1982). A documentary.
• Capri - Musik die sich entfernt, oder: Die seltsame Reise des Cyrill K. (Capri - music fading away, or: The strange journey of Cyrill K., 1983), a made-for-TV movie for the WDR, featuring Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, and a lot of other historical Capri celebrities. The director himself appears as nonetheless than Friedrich Nietzsche.
• Hundertwasser in Neuseeland (Hundertwasser in New Zealand, 1998). After 30 years Ferry Radax made a second portrait of the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

Notes and references

1. ↑ Künstlerhaus Wien

External links

• Homepage of Ferry Radax