Verzió Vienna was the pilot edition of a new documentary film festival in Vienna with the intention to bring the highlights of the 19th Hungarian Verzió IHRDF Festival to an Austrian audience and especially to the CEU community in Vienna. CEU always had a big part in the life of Verzió and this initiative made it possible again for students and faculty members to enjoy human rights documentaries on the big screen.
For three days between April 20-22, 2023 seven films were screened at the Blickle Kino Hall in Belvedere21, which is the part of one of Vienna's biggest museum complex, the Belvedere Museum, in the heart of Vienna.
The programme included two masterclasses by the directors of KIM and Nelly and Nadine and an alternative poster exhibition by Hungarian graphic design students. Erika Kapronczai shared her intimate experiences about working with a fragile protagonist in Blickle Kino and Magnus Gertten held a masterclass in the CEU campus on mixing personal and other types of archive material. The events of the festival were attended by ca. 350 people, including the opening ceremony and the alternative poster exhibition opening that also took place at the CEU Campus, in the CEU café.
The festival was organized by the staff members of Verzió Film Foundation and Visual Studies Platform at CEU in close cooperation with CEU Community Engagement Office and Belvedere21.