Films
Miss Universe 1929
Lisl Goldarbeiter - a Queen in Wien
Lisl Goldarbeiter's cousin, amateur filmmaker Marci Tenczer came from Szeged. He studied in Vienna, where he saved even his money for the tram to buy a camera and film and to pursue from time to time his passion for making films. It is through him that this bittersweet twentieth-century Austro-Hungarian life and family story has come down to us.
Lisl, who grew up in Vienna in modest circumstances, first won the title of Miss Austria in 1929 at the Austrian beauty contest, finishing ahead of 600 other contestants. She finished second at the Miss Europe beauty contest in Paris, where the first Hungarian beauty queen, Böske Simon won. That year the beauty queens of the world set sail to the United States to compete against the American beauties in Texas. This is where Lisl was voted the first Miss Universe by a unanimous decision of the jury! Lisl, now suddenly world famous, received various invitations and an offer from Hollywood, and her company was sought after by many celebrities. She traveled extensively and, having rejected numerous suitors, finally married Fritz Spielmann, heir to a silk necktie fortune in Vienna. Marci Tenczer faithfully recorded it all on film. These golden years in Vienna came to an end when Hitler's Germany annexed Austria. They lost nearly everything in the war, and the adventure of suffering and life continued…
Credits
2006 - 70 minutes - Video
Director • Péter Forgacs
Director consultant • András Forgách
Editor • Péter Sass
Music • Lászlo Melis
Sound Engineer • Tamás Zanyi
Producers
Cesar Messemaker, Ralph Wieser
Additional producer
Peter Forgacs
Production studios
Lumen Film / Mischief Films / For-Creation Bt.
Supported by
VPRO-televisie, ZDF-arte, ORF, YLE, Filmfonds Wien, Fernsehfonds Austria, MTFA, MTV Zrt, MMA.
back to top>Director consultant • András Forgách
Editor • Péter Sass
Music • Lászlo Melis
Sound Engineer • Tamás Zanyi
Producers
Cesar Messemaker, Ralph Wieser
Additional producer
Peter Forgacs
Production studios
Lumen Film / Mischief Films / For-Creation Bt.
Supported by
VPRO-televisie, ZDF-arte, ORF, YLE, Filmfonds Wien, Fernsehfonds Austria, MTFA, MTV Zrt, MMA.
Awards
2007 • Special Mention • Hungarian Film Week • Budapest
back to top>Festivals
2007 • Tribeca International Film Festival, New York • World Documentary Feature Competition
2007 • Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival • Spotlight On program back to top>