Peter Konlechner

Born in Vienna in 1936, Peter Konlechner studied communications engineering at the Vienna University of Technology, where he founded the student film club "Cinestudio" as well as the film section of the Austrian Student Union (HTU) in 1961. Alongside regular film evenings, he organized special events such as the "International Short Film Week" in 1962. His film criticism appeared in newspapers including Neues Österreich and Film.
 
In 1964, he co-founded the Austrian Film Museum together with Peter Kubelka and, until 2001, organized the cinema's retrospectives as well as retrospectives for the Viennale and Wiener Festwochen. In addition, he was the editor of many of the Film Museum's publications. After the Film Museum joined the Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF) in 1964, Konlechner served as a member of the "Comité Directeur" and "Commission Préservation" for many years. Together with Peter Kubelka, he co-directed the Film Museum until late 2001.
 
Beginning in 1988, as the Film Museum's collections and library were established and developed, he introduced his own homemade computer programs for cataloguing and archiving.
 
Konlechner was a consultant to the film department of the Österreichischer Rundfunk from 1969 to 1985, a member of the film subsidies commission of the Federal Ministry for Education and Arts from 1973 to 1977, and a jury member for the Grand Austrian State Prize for Film Art in 1980. Beginning in 1988, he was a lecturer in the Department of Communications of the University of Vienna and he gave countless talks about subjects related to film, including at the Venice Biennale, the Festival de Barcelona and the National Film Archive, London.
 
In 1990, the French Minister of Culture Jack Lang made him a "Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres." In 2002, Konlechner received the Goldene Verdienstzeichen des Landes Wien and the official title of "Professor" from the Republic of Austria. In 2006, he was made an honorary member of FIAF.
 
In May 2014, to celebrate its first 50 years, the Film Museum devoted a major "Carte Blanche" to its co-founder.
 
Peter Konlechner passed away on December 18, 2016 surrounded by his family in Vienna. He was 80 years old.