Roland Wehap was born in Graz, Austria. From an early age, he was drawn to music and studied violin and piano. During his school years, he also discovered his passion for film. After finishing school, however, he decided against attending film school and instead studied German language and literature as well as geography. During his studies, he spent his holidays traveling extensively, mainly through Asia. There, he filmed documentaries and spent the rest of the year touring Austrian schools with a kind of traveling cinema. That’s how he earned his first money with film. This experience encouraged him, after graduating, to turn his long-time hobby into a profession – and he founded rowe productions, a film production company, which he continues to run to this day.
Hi Roland, nice to meet you and thanks for granting us this interview.
How was your passion for the world of cinema born?
It literally started with my first roll of Super-8 film. I was fascinated by the magic of capturing something with a camera and shaping a story through editing – back then with scissors and glue. It was hard work, but it gave you a much deeper connection to your footage. You could actually touch it – it was a tactile experience. Since it was reversal film, you had to handle it carefully: every fingerprint, every scratch, every speck of dust would show up on screen. It was a treasure made of celluloid, and you treated it like one. Today, scratches and imperfections are often added digitally – probably because that tactile experience is missing. The smell of the film glue – strange as it sounds – I loved that. And no, I didn’t sniff it! Hahaha.
What was your first movie?
Looking back, I wouldn’t call my first attempts real films. They were early experiments – technical exercises. You don’t just learn the language of cinema; you also learn how to handle the medium itself. And the technical challenges, especially with Super-8 film, which was popular among amateurs, were considerable. What can be done with one mouse click today was back then almost impossible – even a simple dissolve, for example.
My first real short film was a satire. This genre seems to suit me well; in all my films, even those with a serious background, I’ve always included satirical or humorous elements. That first film was called “Schweinz City” – it’s about a small Austrian village named Schweinz, which actually exists. The name “Schweinz” contains the German word “Schwein” (pig) – and that alone is funny, because apart from pig farming there isn’t much there. I made a portrait of this place but added a commentary that sounded like it was describing a bustling metropolis such as New York. The humor comes from the contrast between image (village) and narration (big city style).
The film was well received: I won an award with prize money and even managed to sell it to ORF, Austria’s public broadcaster – and that, despite it being shot on Super-8 and made with the simplest means. In the end, it all comes down to the idea and the story.
Tell us about “A Film by Roland Wehap“.
I call myself – and am often seen by others – as a “solo filmmaker.” That doesn’t mean I literally do everything alone, but I handle the main creative tasks such as writing, directing, cinematography, and editing myself. Since I mainly produce documentary films – even my commissioned work for clients follows that style – this approach works quite well.
One day, I wondered whether it would be possible to make a fiction film in the same way. Apart from a few clumsy early attempts, I had never done anything like that before. So I
needed a topic I knew well and felt comfortable with. What could be more fitting than telling my own story – which is also, at the same time, the story of many others in this profession: the life, the ups and downs, the hopes and dreams of an indie filmmaker.
Then I thought: If you’re going to do it, do it properly. Do it all yourself. So it became not just a film but also an experiment – including acting in front of the camera, even though I had no acting experience whatsoever. I really did everything: from building the film’s website to designing the poster.
And yes, I truly followed through – except for two things:
I wanted a professional Dolby Atmos sound mix, which was done by Klaus Kobald, a longtime collaborator of mine. And for the voice-over of the director’s role, I didn’t want to use AI – the dialogue was too complex. That part was brilliantly performed by British actor Howard Nightingall.
Apart from that, it really was – as the end credits show – a one-man show.
What is, for you, the main difficulties to produce a comedy film?
The biggest challenge is finding the right balance between comedy, tragedy, and slapstick. Of course, that’s largely a matter of taste, but in my view, a good comedy should combine these three elements in a balanced way. Slapstick is needed because it speaks to the child within us. Comedy as well – but it should be intelligent and blend with the tragic aspects in such a way that the tragic once again becomes funny.
Personally, I’m very fond of British humor, and “A Film by Roland Wehap” follows that direction. In Austria, there’s also a tendency to make comedies in that style, but I often find local productions difficult in that respect, as slapstick tends to dominate too much. Perhaps that’s also the reason why “A Film by Roland Wehap” resonates much better internationally than it does at home.
You created a production company in 1993. What do you think about the evolution of cinema since then?
Back then, the biggest obstacle was money. Equipment was so expensive that very few people could afford it. I was lucky – in the beginning, I had access to cameras and gear for free or at very low rental costs. Otherwise, I probably would have stayed stuck with Super-8 and all its limitations. Professional video formats like Betacam were completely unaffordable for ordinary people.
But that disadvantage was also an advantage: there wasn’t as much content, so it was easier to be noticed. Today, you can make almost anything with relatively little money – and as a result, there’s an overwhelming amount of film content out there. You could call that democratization: it’s no longer the wallet that decides, but talent. That’s true to a point – but only to a point.
Today, every wannabe director can make a film with minimal effort – often with questionable results. I don’t envy festival selection committees for having to deal with the sheer flood of submissions. Finding the real gems among them must be an enormous challenge nowadays.
Maybe that sounds a bit fatalistic, but I believe that a certain amount of struggle is essential for creativity. When things become too easy, you lose yourself in endless possibilities. Whether it’s drone shots, CGI, or AI – less is more.
You have explored different genres during your career, do you think you’ll try making an AI film one day?
I started writing the screenplay for A Film by Roland Wehap about eight years ago and kept working on it whenever I could find the time alongside my other projects. Over that period, the script changed several times, as the technical possibilities for solo filmmakers constantly evolved and improved.
When the first AI tools appeared three or four years ago – even before the big hype – it was, of course, a major thing for this film, and I immediately began experimenting with them. Except for the main role, all the voices are AI-generated, as are some of the actors. The technology improved so quickly that I replaced those parts several times during the production process.
For a film that had to be made with an almost zero budget, that was obviously a fantastic opportunity. But I’ve also realized that AI still can’t match human qualities. Apart from humanitarian, social, and environmental concerns – which are not minor arguments against an uncritical use of AI – I believe that as artists, we don’t need to fear it. We should simply see it as another creative tool.
What advice would you give an aspiring filmmaker?
Do your thing. Don’t wait for the next better camera or the next better AI tool. Get it done – now. Live your dreams and do what you enjoy. But don’t give up if it doesn’t work right away. Work hard, give up certain things if it serves your vision, and be creative when money is tight.
I’ve made films that weren’t financially successful on their own, but they opened doors to other projects that were. Fame and fortune shouldn’t be the goal – the goal should be to make a damn good film. The rest will follow naturally.
What are your future projects?
For now, I’m still quite busy with A Film by Roland Wehap – I honestly underestimated how much work it would be. So far, the film has received 11 awards and numerous nominations. All of that needs to be communicated and followed up properly, so that the film will hopefully find its audience one day. And all this happens alongside my commissioned work, which finances my living.
Film festivals often ask me: “Will you be submitting another film next year?”
My answer is: Definitely not. The world doesn’t need a new film from me every year. I like to take my time and let things settle.
Of course, if a producer called me tomorrow and asked whether I had a script for a feature film I’d like to direct – who would say no to that? One can still dream.
Any final thoughts at the end of this interview?
After spending more than an hour answering these questions, let’s see how AI would respond: ‘Roland Wehap is currently processing… please wait for rendering to complete.’
Film website: https://a-film-by-roland-wehap.com/
Production company website: https://rowe.at/
Trailer of “A Film by Roland Wehap”
Audience feedback video
RFA