Ernst Gossner

Ernst Gossner is an Austrian film director, screenwriter and producer best known for writing and directing the 2007 film South of Pico as well as 2014 film The Silent Mountain

Gossner grew up in Tirol and had his first stage appearance at the age of 15. Aftergraduating from Business School in 1992, Gossner worked at various jobs before he turned to acting full-time.

Within the next seven years Ernst appeared in many plays in Austria, Germany and Italy. He also wrote and directed several stage plays and made his short film debut FLUCHT. The film became an internet phenomenon and in 1999 Ernst was accepted to the Directing Program at the AFI Conservatory in Los Angeles. His AFI thesis filmBAR TIME was one of only five AFI alumni films ever released on DVD by the American Film Institute.

After graduating from AFI Conservatory Ernst founded his Los Angeles based company Vent Productions. His first feature South of Pico (SOP), a character driven drama co-developed with his long-time collaborator Richard Marcus was shot in Los Angeles and premiered at the 2007 American Black Film Festival where it won all three awards it was nominated for. South of Pico went on to win seven international Awards in the U.S., Europe and China and was released in the US and Europe.

Ernst followed up with the documentary Global Warning which he co-created with Robert Narholz. This documentary lead to Ernst's second feature film The Silent Mountain with William Moseley, Eugenia Costantini and Claudia Cardinale. The Silent Mountain was released in March 2014 and became a box-office-hit in Ernst’s native Austria. The film went on to become an international bestseller and sold to more than 60 countries worldwide.

Currently Ernst has secured the rights to Fred Mayer’s story, the true story of the real Inglorious Bastard. Ernst will turn Fred’s story into a TV mini series as well as a feature film.

Ernst also directed the feature-film segments of 2017 TV-co-production Maria Theresia - Majestät und Mutter (ORF, ARTE, ZDF, Cesky Televize). Watched in total by more than 1,1 Million viewers in Austria.

• USA Film Festival
  • 2002 - Special Jury Award, Bar Time
• American Black Film Festival
  • 2007 - Best Feature, South Of Pico
• American Black Film Festival
  • 2007 - Red Star Award for Originality, Innovation and Vision, South Of Pico
• Pan-African Film Festival
  • 2008 - Best First Feature, South Of Pico
• Drehbuchverband Austria (Writer's Guild)
  • 2008 - Thomas Pluch Screenplay Award, South Of Pico
• Innsbruck Film Festival
  • 2008 - Audience Award, South Of Pico
• Beijing Film Festival
  • 2008 - Best Feature, South Of Pico

• "Die Praesidentinnen" Tiroler Landestheater (1998)
• "Parzival," Bergfestspiele Seefeld, Austria (2002)
• "Elektrika," Winner European Union Grant (2005)