Ernst GOSSNER - Writer & Director
Born and raised in Tirol Ernst graduated from Business School in 1992. Worked as Steel-Mill Worker, Head of Programme of a Radio Station and studied Political Science before he turned to the stage.
Ernst acted in dozens of plays and shot his short film debut FLUCHT in 1996. The film was a cult internet phenomenon and the basis of Ernst’s acceptance into the prestigious AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE (AFI) in Los Angeles.
He graduated from AFI after studying directing with masters like David Lynch, Robert Altman or Frank Pierson. His thesis BAR TIME was one of only five Alumni Films ever released on CELEBRATING AFI DVD.
© 2017 Florian Schneider
Ernst founded his L.A. based company VENT PRODUCTIONS. His first feature SOUTH OF PICO (SOP) with Kip Pardue and Christina Hendricks won dozens of awards in the US, Asia and Europe and - after a bidding war - went to Image Entertainment. SOP-scenes with Christina Hendricks have collected more than 14 million hits on Youtube.
2011 Ernst ventured into documentary with GLOBAL WARNING, the fact finding mission for his next feature film THE SILENT MOUNTAIN with William Moseley, Claudia Cardinale and Fritz Karl. The WWI-Drama was a box office success in his native Austria and was sold to a whopping 60 countries worldwide.
Ernst’s currently lenses his documentary "Who will we tell this to" on survivors of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp and he is working on ONE DAY IN MAY, a feature based on an international bestselling novel by Greek writer
Iakovos Kabanellis.
He also directs segments of the wildly popular TV show UNIVERSUM HISTORY. The episode about MARIA THERESIA with Nestroy-Award-Winner Gerti Drassl in the lead became the most successful in the entire history of the series and sells worldwide.
Last but not least Ernst works on international TV mini-series THE RESISTERS about women in the resistance. It is about the spectacular OPERATION GREENUP in WWII, based on the true story of the real Inglorious Bastard Fred Mayer.
"The Silent Mountain" (2014) - Official Trailer 1. Directed by Ernst Gossner and starring William Moseley, Eugenia Costantini.
"Maria Theresia" (2017) - Official Trailer. Reenactments Ernst Gossner.
"South of Pico" - Official Trailer see below. Directed by Ernst Gossner.
Christina Hendricks in "South of Pico" (most watched scene on YouTube).