A Documentary on Haus-des-Meeres

I had a wish to make a film documentation of Haus des Meeres.The management supported this project and with Mr. Manfred Christ -the maker of many UNIVERSUM documentations (an Austrian TV documentation-series)- we found the perfect partner.This project was a co-production with Dr.Hermann Sternath from ORF (Austrian Broadcasting) Vienna,which started after the planning phase of two years.

Despite all the energy spent and promises made,eventually all finances were practically done by Haus-des-Meeres - However the producer ORF provided the historical footage from its archive and broadcasted it initially on the 23rd of April 2005. The documentation was highly rated and a number of over half a million of spectators,was even surprising for ORF. A main motivation of this documentation was to show the contemporary witnesses of the foundation in 1957 - the university professors Dr.Rupert Riedl and Dr.Ferdinand Starmühlner - as well as the pioneers of the second and third epoch (Emmerich Schlosser and Erich Brenner).The documentary also contains footage that wasn't published by then,showing Emmerich Schlosser, Mag.Heribert Rath and Werner Binder on multiple expeditions throughout the world; all of which were required at that time,for capturing animals for the zoo. Through reports and weekly news from ORF archives,a better insight was provided to the atmosphere of that time, which makes this period in the history of Haus-des-Meeres more understandable from the current point of view. The activities of the staff members and the management are also covered in the documentary. This film with length of 45 minutes-including bonus material from three decades-is available at the cashiers of Haus-des-Meeres. Mayor Dr. Michael Häupl visited us in June 2005, and expressed his enthusiasm about the exhibition; "it has been even better than shown in the documentary".

Other TV productions are regularly made in Haus des Meeres too. To mention a few: "Forscherexpress" and "Tom Turbo", two productions for children presented by Thomas Brezina; and the periodical invitations to Dr. Mitic to "Österreichbild" (an Austrian TV News show) should not be forgotten. Furthermore, beside TV productions, we have a strong profile in print-media.

One of the most deserving co-workers, Mr. Kamenko Boharevic left us on his own choice after 25 years of working for Haus-des-Meeres. He began in the era of Erich Brenner in 1980, and was his assistent until the end of his life. Later on, Mr. Boharevic also became the secretary of the exhibition.

We would like to thank him for all his much appreciated work for Haus des Meeres, and wish him all the best for the future!