Anton Kolm was an Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n photographer who became one of the first film director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

s and film producer

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

s in the history of Austrian cinema

Cinema of Austria

Austria has had an active cinema industry since the early 20th century. Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky was among the Austrian pioneers of this art. Several Austrians pursued a career in pre-Nazi Germany and later in the United States, among them Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, Fred...

.

A skilled photographer, he started to make short films privately from as early as 1906, but these were not intended for cinemas. On the basis of his preparatory work he founded in 1910, together with his wife, Luise Kolm, and Jacob Fleck

Jacob Fleck

Jacob Fleck was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, film producer and cameraman.-Biography:...

, the Erste österreichische Kinofilms-Industrie, which at the end of the following year was renamed Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie, and remained for a long time the leading film production company of Austro-Hungary. Kolm occupied himself principally with the finances and the direction of the business, and was only actively involved in a part of the firm's productions, while his wife, one of the earliest female film directors, was responsible for the creative work.

In 1919, with his wife and with financial support from the Depositenbank, he re-founded the Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie as Vita-Film

Vita-Film

Vita-Film was founded in 1919 as the successor company to Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie by Anton and Luise Kolm.By 1923 Vita-Film had built the Rosenhügel Film Studios in the Vienna suburbs, which still stand and are still used for film production...

. Work immediately began on the construction of the Rosenhügel Film Studios, which were already in use before their completion in 1923. Vita-Film produced a number of films there, such as the epic

Epic film

An epic is a genre of film that emphasizes human drama on a grand scale. Epics are more ambitious in scope than other film genres, and their ambitious nature helps to differentiate them from similar genres such as the period piece or adventure film...

 Samson und Delila (1922), but like many other European film-related businesses was forced into bankruptcy in 1924 by the flood of cheap American films, with which the European film industry was mostly unable to compete.

Anton Kolm however had disposed of his interest in the company in 1922, after disputes over financial matters. He died on 11 October 1922 and did not see the closure of Vita-Film. His wife Luise and his business partner Jacob Fleck moved to Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, where they married the following year.

Anton Kolm's son by Luise, Walter Kolm-Veltée, was also involved in the film industry, and among other things established a film academy at the University of Vienna

University of Vienna

The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...

.

Filmography

Kolm also shot a great quantity of early newsreel footage now of great historical value.

• Von Stufe zu Stufe (1908) (producer)
• Die böse Schwiegermutter (1910) (director)
• Die Glückspuppe (1911) (director, together with Jacob Fleck, Luise Kolm and Claudius Veltée)
• Hoffmanns Erzählungen (1911) (director, together with Jacob Fleck, Luise Kolm and Claudius Veltée)
• Der Müller und sein Kind (1911/I) (producer)
• Der Müller und sein Kind
  Der Müller und sein Kind
  Der Müller und sein Kind, a silent film made in 1911, is the oldest Austrian drama film to survive in its entirety. It was produced by the Österreichisch-Ungarische Kinoindustrie, which later in 1911 changed its name to become the Wiener Kunstfilm-Industrie...
  
  (1911/II) (producer)
• Die Volkssänger (1911) (director)
• Karl Blasel als Zahnarzt (1912) (director)
• Trilby
  Trilby
  A trilby hat is a type of fedora. The trilby is viewed as the rich man's favored hat; it is commonly called the "brown trilby" in England and is much seen at the horse races. It is described as a "crumpled" fedora...
  
  (1912) (director, together with Jacob Fleck, Luise Kolm and Claudius Veltée)
• Mit Herz und Hand fürs Vaterland (1915) (producer)
• Sommeridylle (1916) (producer)
• Mir kommt keiner aus (1917) (producer
• Die Jüdin (1918) (producer)
• Die Zauberin am Stein (1919) (producer)
• Die Ahnfrau (1919) (producer)
• Der Ledige Hof (1919) (producer)
• Der Tanzende Tod (1920) (producer)
• Winterstürme (1920) (producer)

External links