Das weiße Band Attracts 100,000 Viewers

Das weiße Band (The White Ribbon), the unexpected hit by Austrian Michael Haneke, has recently passed the 100,000 mark for tickets sold, according to the Österreichisches Filminstitut. Widely regarded as a masterpiece, the film has topped the attendance charts not only in Austria, but also ranked high in over 20 countries worldwide.

The movie, which was awarded the Palm d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2009, represents the unexplainable and partly supernatural events in a fictitious village in Northern Germany at the eve of World War I.

Following its honors at Cannes, the stark, black-and-white drama instantly scored immense success worldwide and was later awarded the Golden Globe for the best foreign language film and two Academy Award nominations including best cinematography and best foreign language film.

The currently increasing Austrian presence on prestigious film festivals around the globe continues the growing reputation of Austrian national cinema that began in 2007 with the Oscar to Stefan Ruzowitzky for his film, The Counterfeiters.