Paul Poet

Paul Poet, creative maniac and studied subcultural media scientist, is a longtime member of the Vienna Underground music-scene: artist, DJ, music/film critic, underground gig manager, hardcore singer, one founding hand of the legendary Flex-club. DIY-believer, he taught himself directing movies, while working film McJobs from TV-broadcasts to pornography, starting his own creative career head-on in 1996 with his 35mm-debut-short 'Hoch Zeit', starring international noise rock stars from bands like the Melvins and Neurosis as actors and soundtrack contributors. Presented on the renowned Sitges Festival, he toured all over Europe with it and was compared to Kenneth Anger and Derek Jarman. Since 1996 he produces music documentaries and video clips for Austrian Television and companies ranging from Majorlabel Eurodance La La to the more delightful depths of Indiedom Noise Rock and avantgarde dancefloor stylings. The biggest success to happen in that time was the musicvideo "TripHopping in the Planet Drug" for Sardinian TripPosters MUCCA MACCA, made for the label triumvirate Crippled Dick Hot Wax! (Germany), Cinevox (Italy) and Rip Curl (Japan). Despite its DV-origin, a boycott by distributor Warner for unsuitable content and an almost unknown band, the homage to 70s Euro-sleazadelic sexploitation gained international success, gracing several lifestyle mags, appearing worldwide on filmfestivals and music television (VH-1 Europe voting it Newcomer Video Summer 99 and rotating in Italy for an unbelievable two years). Poet also won a Best Musicvideo Directors Award at Italy's Premio Duel Videoclip in Faenza 1999 by Mucca and was presented in RAI prime time as innovator of musicvideo stylings beside stars like Cunningham and Szigismondi. In 2000 he made a break and went to online fame as creator and curator for Austrian-German Internet TV-Site www.webfreetv.com, where his high profile work included directing the first European online film festival, the Webfreetv.com Internet Film Award, with its grand gala celebration in Berlins Sony Center. He designed and curated the Indie-Art program The Indie Channel, a mixture of ARTE and MTV-contents, high and pop culture designed for youth looking for brains again. And he directed the whole online version of the politicised Big Brother-satire "Please love Austria!" by renowned shock director and actionism revivalist Christoph Schlingensief, which developed to the most successful internet art event in Europe so far with over 800,000 unique visitors in a sole week. With the worldwide new economy downfall sadly webfreetv.com changed its face with new owners to a rightwing industrial film-site, so Poet left. Now maverick filmmaker again, he first hooked up with new film company Bonus Film GmbH, a sidestep for arty projects by an established Viennese ad-film producer normally trading for corporate bullies like Panasonic and Mitsubishi. His feature work there is Foreigners out! Schlingensiefs Container (2002), the feature documentary and film version of "Please love Austria!", his best known work so far. The film received rave reviews, got a cinematic release in Germany and Austria and played to a wide festival range of Rotterdam, Max Ophüls Festival Saarbrücken, Rhode Island IFF, Diagobale Graz, Berlinale/German Film Market, Fipatel Biarritz, Ars Electronica Linz, PopKomm Cologne (as Headliner programm on an evening's bill together with rockstars like Phantom Planet and many more), Roma Independent Film Festival. He currently is working on a crosscultural internet platform for dark themed arts called Dark Asylum TV as well as a feature doc (Empire Sabotage) and a feature film (Dolorosa).