Columbia College Hollywood Grad Wins “Best Feature” Award at 21st California Independent Film Fest

Alexander Peter Lercher, a 2012 graduate of Columbia College Hollywood, won the “Best Feature” award for his film “The Salzburg Story” at the 21st California Independent Film Festival (CAIFF), which was held in San Francisco.  “The Salzburg Story”, which was written/directed by Lercher and starred Tony winner and “Gilmore Girls” lead actress Kelly Bishop, premiered as the Festival’s opening night film.

“Not only was it exciting to win the ‘Best Feature’ prize at CAIFF, it was also a thrill to have been presented the award by ‘The Shape of Water’ star Doug Jones,” says Lercher, who will be be screening “The Salzburg Story” at the Orlando Film Festival in October and presenting its European debut in Vienna in 2019.  “The prize and the recognition will help the film gain distribution around Europe and the U.S., and also help my next project to get off the ground.”

Lercher grew up in Graz, Austria and developed an interest in film as a teen.  In his junior year of high school, he attended San Lorenzo Valley High School in Felton, CA as an exchange student.  He returned to Austria and graduated high school in 2009.

He wanted to attend film school and looked at colleges in Austria, Germany, and the U.S., and ultimately chose to enroll at Columbia College Hollywood in 2009.  In 2012, Lercher graduated from the school with a BFA degree in Cinema Directing.

“CCH was awesome:  it was very hands-on and the small class sizes were super beneficial,” says Lercher, whose debut feature film “Vor. Seit. Schuss!” – which he wrote, directed, and produced – won the Emerging Filmmaker Award and Best Film at the Hollywood Film Festival in 2015.  “The faculty is fantastic because they’re actively involved in the industry and you can really learn from their experience. I’m still in touch with many of my professors, and some actually provided feedback on my script for ‘The Salzburg Story’ which really contributed to the success of the film.”

“The Salzburg Story” will be licensed for television airing around the world by Munich-based Beta Film GmbH, which is an international distributor of TV programming.  Lercher is currently living in Munich and is working on his next project, which will be a German language feature.

About Columbia College Hollywood

Founded in 1952, Columbia College Hollywood is a nonprofit, regionally accredited liberal arts college with a focus on creative media.

Columbia College Hollywood educates students in the art and science of communications and the diverse media of contemporary storytelling within an exploration of the liberal arts.

Columbia College Hollywood is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) to offer Bachelor of Fine Arts and Associate of Fine Arts degree programs in Cinema with an emphasis in acting, cinematography, directing, editing and visual effects, new media, producing, sound, and writing.