Axel Corti, one of Austria’s
most important theater and
film directors and journalists,
was born in Paris in 1933.
Spending his childhood in
France, Italy, Switzerland,
England, Germany, and
Austria, he was educated
at 13 different schools, and
while in university he focused
on German and Romance
languages and literature,
although he was also schooled
in agriculture. At the end of World War II, the Corti family moved to Austria, where Corti began work at the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) in the late 1950s.

Corti’s work as in the theater began in 1958. Two years later he was invited to the Vienna Burgtheater, where he began as assistant to many of Austria’s leading stage directors. Within a few years he was writing and directing major productions in Austria and throughout Europe. Corti began directing for television and film in the 1960s and is best know outside of Austria for the sweeping and groundbreaking film trilogy Where to and Back (God Does Not Believe in Us Anymore; Santa Fe; Welcome in Vienna) produced between 1982 and 1987, and the critically acclaimed feature A Woman’s Pale Blue Handwriting.

In 1968 Corti launched a weekly news and opinion radio program to which he was dedicated until he died. Well known and respected, but not always loved, for his regular commentaries on domestic politics and the arts, Corti was a leading figure on the Austrian cultural scene for over thirty years in a career that included television, radio, and film writing and directing, opera production, championing modern Austrian drama and literature, and teaching. Corti was the recipient of many prestigious awards and prizes for these and other works. He died of leukemia in 1993.

“A filmmaker whose restless, intelligent camera eye is always fixed on the fresh and illuminating phrase, gesture, moment.”
– John Powers, L.A. Weekly

“A committed and often controversial purveyor of uncomfortable home truths.”
– Ian Traynor, The (London) Guardian

“For decades, Axel Corti fought with words and pictures for humanity and tolerance, and against hate, racism and shutting people out. With numerous films, he made a considerable contribution to the fight against forgetfulness, falsification and denial of Austrians’ responsibility for the horrific deeds of Nazism.”
– Austrian Culture Minister Rudolf Scholten upon Corti’s death

Back to Top

The National Center For Jewish Film Brandeis University, Lown 102, MS053, Waltham MA 02454 P: (781) 899 7044, F: (781) 736 2070

 

Axel Corti
1933 - 1993