ORF in memoriam Peter Patzak: “Kottan determined”, artist portrait, Doderer film adaptation and film comedy on TV

Ö1 with radio portrait

Vienna (OTS) – The ORF is changing its program in memory of the Austrian filmmaker, author and painter Peter Patzak, who died yesterday (March 11, 2021).

ORF General Director Dr. Alexander Wrabetz:
“Peter Patzak was one of the country’s outstanding artistic personalities. With him, Austria loses a multi-layered director, painter and author who has engraved himself deeply in television and cultural history. The legendary figure of Major Kottan is Austrian television history and has been a red-white-red cultural asset since it was first broadcast on ORF, which has remained in the collective memory for many generations. But also thanks to numerous other directing work in TV and cinema and not least as a visual artist, Patzak gained recognition and fame far beyond Austria’s borders. Our deepest sympathy goes to the bereaved. “

ORF program director Kathrin Zechner:
“Peter Patzak was and is one of the most important film directors Austria has ever had. With his extensive education, numerous talents, creativity and humor, he was also a kind of force of nature. His cinema and television films have had a major impact on Austria and especially the ORF since the 1970s. His ‘Kottan’ became part of Austrian popular culture, his ‘Kassbach’ a sharp analysis and sustained warning against right-wing extremism, which is as relevant today as it was in 1979. His last ‘Kottan’ film ‘Rien ne va plus’ marked one over four decades of collaboration with ORF. Peter Patzak has received numerous international awards for his cinematic work. My condolences go to his wife and sons. “

The program changes at a glance

After today’s obituaries as part of the current reporting on TV, radio and online, ORF 2 will remind you of the multi-award-winning cult director tomorrow, Saturday, March 13th, starting at 10 p.m. For example, an episode of his legendary series “Kottan Determined” is on the program – a parody of the crime film genre with grotesque situations and slapstick elements, which Peter Patzak created in collaboration with the author Helmut Zenker, who died in 2003. In the 1981 episode “So long Kottan” with Lukas Resetarits in the role of the Viennese Kieberer original Major Kottan, a murder announced by telephone is actually carried out shortly afterwards. Similarly, Kottan is late three more times. The last time he called, he knows the location of the crime all too well:
It’s his own living room. Other roles include Walter Davy, Curt A. Tichy, Bibiana Zeller and Kurt Weinzierl.

Following the “Kottan determined” episode, ORF 2 will show the ORF film portrait “Peter Patzak – A Moment Later”, which was made for the 75th birthday, at 11 p.m. The film focuses primarily on Patzak’s work as a visual artist and author and delves into his profound, humorous and always extremely sensitive, humanistic perspectives on narrative and thoughts. ORF III repeats the documentary on Sunday, March 14th, at 11.55 am, followed by the film “Kottan determined – Rien ne va plus” (12.25 pm) produced in 2010 and co-financed by the ORF as part of the film / television agreement by Jan Zenker based on a story that his father Helmut Zenker had developed. It all starts with a corpse landing on Kottan’s car roof. The trail leads to a circle of business people involved in a grueling pyramid scheme. Lukas Resetarits does not design his Kottan as a wise, mature police major, but still fights against the bureaucracy of the police apparatus in the 21st century under the direction of Peter Patzak.

On March 15th, “KulturMontag” will bring another obituary for Peter Patzak at 10.30 p.m. on ORF 2.

ORF 1 pays tribute to Peter Patzak on Tuesday, March 16, at 12:10 am with the comedy “Hard to take”, shot in 1999. In the humorous, satirical account of the Austrian bureaucracy, Elke Winkens and Gregor Bloéb play an unemployed couple who want to set up their own business. What the two did not expect is the Austrian jungle of paragraphs, in which almost every expedition is doomed to failure: a gauntlet through offices and authorities begins.

Ö1 also commemorates Peter Patzak and will broadcast the program “The filmmaker, painter and author Peter Patzak” from 2018 on Sunday, March 14th at 2:05 pm.

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