Markus Schleinzer

Directing

Markus Schleinzer

Born November 8, 1971 · Vienna, Austria (age 54)

Markus Schleinzer (born 8 November 1971; Vienna) is an Austrian film director, screenwriter, casting director, and actor. He is best known his feature films Michael (2011) and Rose (2026). Before establishing as a filmmaker, Schleinzer built a long career as a casting director, working on more than 60 Austrian film and television productions and collaborating with directors including Michael Hane…

Known For

The Piano TeacherThe Piano Teacher · 2001
The Piano Teacher
★ 7.32001
MovieDramaRomance
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
The ConferenceThe Conference · 2022
The Conference
★ 6.72022
MovieHistoryWar
On January 20, 1942, the Wannsee Conference takes place in Berlin, a meeting that had only one item on the agenda: The Final Solution, the organization of the systematic mass murder of eleven million European Jews.
Chess StoryChess Story · 2021
Chess Story
★ 6.82021
MovieHistoryDrama
1938. While the Nazi troops march into Vienna, the lawyer Josef Bartok hastily tries to escape to the USA with his wife but is arrested by the Gestapo. Bartok remains steadfast and refuses to cooperate with the Gestapo that requires confidential information from him. Thrown into solitary confinement, Bartok is psychologically tormented for months and begins to weaken. However, when he steals an old book about chess it sets him on course to overcome the mental suffering inflicted upon him, until it becomes a dangerous obsession.
The White RibbonThe White Ribbon · 2009
The White Ribbon
★ 7.52009
MovieDramaMystery
An aged tailor recalls his life as the schoolteacher of a small village in Northern Germany that was struck by a series of strange events in the year leading up to WWI.
RoseRose · 2026
Rose
★ 7.72026
MovieDramaHistory
In the early 17th century, a soldier arrives at an isolated Protestant village in Germany claiming to be the heir to an abandoned farmstead. Even though he proves to be a good man, the villagers’ suspicions about his identity grow and they force a reckoning.
The CounterfeitersThe Counterfeiters · 2007
The Counterfeiters
★ 7.42007
MovieDramaWar
The story of Jewish counterfeiter Salomon Sorowitsch, who was coerced into assisting the Nazi operation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.
The Rays and ShadowsThe Rays and Shadows · 2026
The Rays and Shadows
★ 7.52026
MovieDramaHistory
Jean and Otto, a French newspaperman and a young German Francophile, are fighting for peace in Europe. Jean’s daughter, Corinne, is launching a brilliant acting career in the film world, but war breaks out and France is occupied. The two friends have a major role to play in this new France. Jean becomes a big press baron and an ardent advocate of collaboration with the occupying forces, while Otto becomes the Reich’s ambassador in Paris. Corinne, meanwhile, finds herself thrown into the lion’s pit.
Sisi & ISisi & I · 2023
Sisi & I
★ 6.22023
MovieDramaHistory
After an elaborate application process, Empress Elisabeth of Austria hires Countess Irma as her new lady-in-waiting and takes her to her summer residence on Corfu. As the two women become closer there, this soon leads to tensions back in Vienna.

Filmography

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Rammbock: Berlin UndeadRammbock: Berlin Undead · 2010
Rammbock: Berlin Undead
★ 5.92010
MovieHorrorThriller
When lovelorn Michael arrives in Berlin to return a set of keys to his ex-girlfriend, Gabi, as an excuse to see her again, he finds her apartment empty save for a couple of plumbers making repairs to the central heating. Just as Michael learns from the plumber’s apprentice, Harper, that Gabi has popped out for a while but will return soon, the apprentice is attacked by his boss who has unexpectedly and inexplicably transformed into a raging madman. Together, Michael and Harper manage to bundle the crazed plumber out of the apartment and barricade themselves safely inside. Within minutes, they find themselves trapped in apartment block under siege from a horde of similarly insane people, apparently hungry for human flesh.

Casting

HinterlandHinterland · 2021
Hinterland
★ 6.22021
MovieThrillerDrama
Vienna, 1920. The Austro-Hungarian Empire has collapsed. Peter Perg returns home from the Great War, after years of captivity. But the Vienna he comes home to is nothing like the place he once knew. The new Austrian Republic thrives on social and artistic freedom, but anti-democratic movements and unemployment loom overhead. A stranger in his hometown, his life takes a turn for the worse when one of his former comrades is murdered. Suddenly the mysterious killings of veterans are mounting. Personally connected to the victims, Perg decides to bring the killer to justice. He finds an ally in the cool-headed forensic doctor Theresa Körner, with whom he has a deeper, shared history. Their investigation leads them into the darkest corners of the city, as they confront a brutal and systematic killer and intrigues from within the police force. But when the killer’s net closes around Perg himself, he faces the moral dilemma of his life.

Pickpocket

Eine Liebe für den Frieden – Bertha von Suttner und Alfred NobelEine Liebe für den Frieden – Bertha von Suttner und Alfred Nobel · 2014
Eine Liebe für den Frieden – Bertha von Suttner und Alfred Nobel
★ 5.32014
MovieDramaTV Movie
Bertha Kinsky works as a governess in the Suttner household and has an affair with Arthur Suttner, the son of the house, who is a few years younger than her. When the affair is discovered, she is forced to leave the house and gets a job with Alfred Nobel. Nobel has become very rich thanks to the invention of dynamite. The somewhat reclusive Nobel and the prudent Bertha quickly take a liking to each other. But one day, Arthur Suttner appears on the doorstep, having broken with his family in order to marry Bertha. Bertha marries him and life drives the penniless couple to Russia, where they are confronted with the horrors of war. This experience turned Bertha von Suttner into a successful author on pacifism. She continued to cultivate a close friendship with Alfred Nobel. Nobel detested the war, but gradually realized that he could go down in the history books as a "warmonger" thanks to the invention of dynamite.