Sebastian Brauneis

Sebastian Brauneis (born Sebastian Carl Brauneis, 1978, Vienna) is an Austrian film director, screenwriter, producer, lecturer, and DJ.

Life and education Brauneis was born in Vienna in 1978. He studied film studies and medicine in Vienna.

His father, Carl Brauneis, worked as a war correspondent and cameraman. Brauneis has also long worked as a DJ in Vienna.

Career In 1999, Brauneis joined the independent Viennese television channel TIV, where he worked with Wolfgang Kopper on the programme Schwerpunkt Allgemeines.

From 2002 onward, he directed more than forty episodes of the ORF programme Sendung ohne Namen. He later collaborated with Christoph Grissemann and Dirk Stermann on Willkommen Österreich and also worked on formats including Demokratie. Die Show.

In 2014, he directed the ORF/Superfilm satire Bösterreich, starring Nicholas Ofczarek and Robert Palfrader.

His debut feature film, Zauberer, based on a story by Clemens J. Setz and co-written with Setz and Nicholas Ofczarek, premiered at the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis in Saarbrücken in 2018 and had its Austrian premiere at the Diagonale. For the screenplay, Brauneis received the Thomas Pluch Screenplay Prize (Jury Special Award) in 2018.

His later feature films include 3freunde2feinde (2020), 1 Verabredung im Herbst (2021), and Die Vermieterin (2023). Die Vermieterin was discussed in the press in connection with Vienna's housing crisis and Brauneis’ own experiences searching for an apartment.

In late 2024, he began shooting AMS – Arbeit Muss Sein, a feature film about Austria's Arbeitsmarktservice (AMS). The film premiered at the Diagonale in 2026.

Brauneis has taught at the Max Reinhardt Seminar since 2014, where he has led courses in camera acting, and has also taught at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.

In 2025, ORF FM4 journalist Christian Fuchs included Brauneis among a group of contemporary filmmakers he described as an "Austrian New Wave".

Awards 2018 – Thomas Pluch Screenplay Prize – Jury Special Award for Zauberer

Filmography 2005 – Sunshine Airlines (TV show) 2007 – Willkommen Österreich (TV show) 2008 – Cien w futrach (short film) 2012 – Sendung ohne Namen (TV show) 2012 – Willkommen Baku (TV show) 2014 – Bösterreich (TV series) 2014 – Liebes Tagebuch, … (TV show) 2018 – Zauberer (feature film) 2020 – 3freunde2feinde (feature film) 2021 – 1 Verabredung im Herbst (feature film) 2022 – Polizeiruf 110: Das Licht, das die Toten sehen (TV episode; screenplay) 2023 – Die Vermieterin (feature film) 2026 – AMS – Arbeit Muss Sein (feature film)