ELLA HOCHLEITER
Documentary Filmmaker. Director. Cinematographer. Photographer.
Ella Hochleitner is one of Austria's most distinctive independent documentary filmmakers. Trained in photography in Rome and filmmaking in Dortmund, she has developed a deeply personal, subjective visual language that finds the universal in the intimate. Her films confront flight and self-empowerment (WENN GOTT WILL), the power of early childhood therapy (A BOX OF SURPRISES), and long-buried family silence (IN DER KURVE, TROG) - a saga her newest film, SONGS FOR ELISA, continues. She is known internationally for an unflinching closeness to her protagonists that never tips into spectacle. She is a mother of three daughters and lives in Salzburg.
Mieze Medusa / © Claudia Rohrauer, Residenz Verlag
“It is important to embrace what is foreign in order to gain a better understanding of what is foreign within oneself.”
COMMENTS ON THE FILMS
“TROG is one of the finest documentaries in recent Austrian cinema – in it, Ella Hochleitner weaves together form and content, people and images, to the highest standard.” – Nora Bruckmüller, Oberösterreichische Nachrichten
“There are more tragic twists in TROG than in three series of a Netflix show.” – Michael Omasta, Falter
“It is the creative power of Ella Hochleitner’s films that awakens a special, individual integrity in people.” – Hans Höller
“What she does demand, however, is closeness to the protagonists.” – Đorđe Cenić
“I can look back on a whole series of films I’ve made myself – and with each new film, it’s always a fresh start, with all the doubts and obstacles that entails.”
