Born in 1964 in Vienna, he is a writer, curator and film historian. He was the director of the Viennale – Vienna International Film Festival (1992 – 97) and the Austrian Film Museum (2002 – 17). He curated the documenta 12 film program (2007) and many other projects in the film and art world. His essays and books have, among other topics, addressed subjects such as Josef von Sternberg, Ruth Beckermann, Guy Debord, Austrian avant-garde cinema, Film Curatorship, and the American cinema of the 1960s and 70s. He is a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and teaches Film History at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. ‘Henry Fonda for President’ (2024), his first film, premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival.