Goetz Spielmann's rural drama of guilt and revenge Revanche was awarded the Diagonale Grand Prix for Best Austrian Feature Film 2007/2008 at this year's showcase of Austrian filmmaking in Graz at the weekend.

In addition, the film's DoP Martin Gschlacht received the award for best cinematography in a feature film. Revanche had its world premiere at the Berlinale in February and is handled internationally by The Match Factory.

The Diagonale's award for Best Documentary went to Marko Doringer's ironic self-portrait of the thirtysomething generation Halbes Leben and the award for Best Cinematography in a documentary to Joerg Burger for Der Weg Nach Mekka, while other prizes included Best Editing for Ulrich Seidl's Import Export and the Audience Award to Katharina Weingartner's Sneaker Stories.

The Diagonale provided the platform for a new acting award in recognition of outstanding achievement in Austrian cinema, which was presented to Karl Markovics, the lead actor in Stefan Ruzowitzky's Oscar-winning The Counterfeiters, on the festival's opening evening.

This year's edition of the Diagonale was the last one under the direction of Birgit Flos. Her successor is the curator and writer Barbara Pichler who has been appointed as the new festival director for the next three festivals from 2009.

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