Georg Brintrup (born 25 October 1950) is a German-Italian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his non-narrative

film essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

s on poetry and music as well as his

biographical films A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a Nonfiction, non-fictional or History, historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. The ...

Life and career

Georg Brintrup had already made several

underground film An underground film is a film that is out of the mainstream either in its style, genre or financing. Notable examples include: John Waters' ''Pink Flamingos'', David Lynch's ''Eraserhead'', Andy Warhol's '' Blue Movie'', Rosa von Praunheim's '' ...

s between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s before he started his studies in journalism, the history of art and the Romance languages at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...

. Some of the films he made during this period have been shown at

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

theater productions in Münster. In 1973, he started his studies in film and

communication sciences Communication studies or communication science is an academic discipline that deals with processes of human communication and behavior, patterns of communication in interpersonal relationships, social interactions and communication in different ...

at the I.S.O.P. in Rome. Part of his thesis entitled "Literature in Films" (1975) was his short film ''My miracles'', seven poems by

Else Lasker-Schüler Else Lasker-Schüler (née Elisabeth Schüler) (; 11 February 1869 – 22 January 1945) was a German-Jewish poet and playwright famous for her bohemian lifestyle in Berlin and her poetry. She was one of the few women affiliated with the Expressi ...

, which was shown during the

International Short Film Festival Oberhausen The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, founded in 1954, is one of the oldest short film festivals in the world. Held in Oberhausen, it is one of the major international platforms for the short form. The festival holds an International C ...

in 1978 in German. In 1975 he made his first film essay as an independent filmmaker: ''Spielregel für einen Wiedertäuferfilm'' (''Rules For a Film about Anabaptists''), which was shown in 1977 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...

In 1978 he wrote his first

audio play Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine t ...

for the SWF radio station in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

. This special form of an audio play is in the tradition of the "acoustical film" by

Max Ophüls Maximillian Oppenheimer (; 6 May 1902 – 26 March 1957), known as Max Ophüls (; ), was a German-French film director who worked in Germany (1931–1933), France (1933–1940 and 1950–1957), and the United States (1947–1950). He made near ...

. Sounds, noises, words and music are treated and used equally while recording. To date, Brintrup has written and directed about 30 "acoustical films" for various German radio stations. In 1979 he made his first film essay for television ''Ich räume auf'' ('' Putting Things Straight''), based on a polemic pamphlet of expressionistic poet Else Lasker-Schüler. The film's topic is the exploitation and corruption of aesthetic productions. "Poemi Asolani", which tells of the life and work of Italian composer

Gian Francesco Malipiero Gian Francesco Malipiero (; 18 March 1882 – 1 August 1973) was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor. Life Early years Born in Venice into an aristocratic family, the grandson of the opera composer Francesco Malipiero, G ...

, was made in 1985 and was his first "music film essay". This film has also been described as a "Musical without Songs" and has won several awards. The idea of this "music film essay" was to create a more sophisticated soundtrack with the intention to not manipulate or influence the audience on an emotional or subconscious level, which usually happens in motion pictures, but to give the audience the possibility to apprehend music on a conscious plane, comparable to the

estrangement effect The distancing effect, also translated as alienation effect (german: Verfremdungseffekt or ''V-Effekt''), is a concept in performing arts credited to German playwright Bertolt Brecht. Brecht first used the term in his essay "Alienation Effects in ...

in the theatre of

Bertold Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

. In the 1990s and 2000s Brintrup continued to develop this form of a music film essay. In addition to the Italian music films "Raggio di Sole" and "Luna Rossa" he shot a comprehensive music trilogy in Brazil. The first of these films, "Symphonia Colonialis", deals with the origin of largely unknown Brazilian Baroque Music in

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

. In the second film, "O Trem Caipira", no word is spoken. "Pure Brazilian" music, from Brasílio Itiberê da Cunha to Heitor Villa-Lobos to

Radamés Gnattali Radamés Gnattali (27 January 1906 – 3 February 1988) was a Brazilian composer of both classical and popular music, as well as a conductor, orchestrator, and arranger. Biography Radamés Gnattali was born in Porto Alegre (the capital of Rio G ...

, comments on Brazilian everyday life, revealing its own acoustic origins. The third film of the trilogy, "Drums and Gods", penetrates into the musical psyche of the Brazilian. A blind man and a street boy roam the city of Salvador, Bahia in search of the primal sound. Brintrup's style, his "musical eyes" and "viewing ears" differs greatly from that of other essay filmmakers. Recently Brintrup made the music film essays Palestrina - Prince of Music and Santini's Network, in which the visual illustration of

polyphony Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice, monophony, or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords, ...

is given an important role. We can compare eight or twelve independent melodies being played or sung in unison in the films to the course of independent planets which together follow the higher order of gravity in the universe.Virgilio Celletti: "Palestrina dopo 500 anni diventa una star del cinema" in

Avvenire ''Avvenire'' (English: "Future") is an Italian daily newspaper which is affiliated with the Catholic Church and is based in Milan. History and profile ''Avvenire'' was founded in 1968 in Milan through the merger of two Catholic newspapers: '' L ...

12 April 2009 Brintrup is a member of the

European Film Academy The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988. The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soc ...

Films (selection)

(D = Director, E = Editor, S = Screenplay, P = Production, A = Actor) * 2013: Santini's Network – (Santini's Netzwerk) - D, E, S * 2011: Palazzo Ricci - D, E, S * 2009: Palestrina - Prince of Music – (Palestrina princeps musicae) - D, E, S * 2004: Summer Music – (Sommer Musik) - D, E, S, P * 2001-2007: Enzo’s ABC - Enzo Cucchi - D, E, S, P * 2000: Drums and Gods – (Tambores e Deuses) - D, E, S, P * 1999: Red Moon over Naples – (Luna Rossa ) - D, S, P * 1996: A Ray of Sun, Two Brothers on their Journey towards the Unknown,

Roberto Rossellini Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such ...

and Renzo Rossellini – D, E, S, P * 1991: Colonial Symphony – (Symphonia Colonialis) - D, E, S, P * 1989: Deruta – (Deruta oder Der Stein der Weisen) - D, E, S, P * 1987: '' Empedokles'' film by Straub-Huillet - A * 1985: Poems of Asolo – (Poemi Asolani -

) - D, S, P * 1984: ''

Klassenverhältnisse ', known in English as ''Class Relations'', in French as ', is a 1984 film by the French filmmaking duo of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. It is based on Franz Kafka's unfinished first novel, '' Amerika''. The German filmmaker Harun Faro ...

'' film by Straub-Huillet - A * 1983: Strada Pia a Street in Rome – (Strada Pia) - D, S, P * 1981: Penn'a Du – (Penn’a Du - The Pennsylvania Dutch) - D, S * 1979: Putting Things Straight – (Ich räume auf) - D, S * 1976: Rules For a Film about Anabaptists – (Spielregel für einen Wiedertäuferfilm) - D, S * 1975: My Miracles – (Meine Wunder) - D, E, S * 1973: The Park – (Il parco) - D, E, S

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brintrup, Georg 1950 births Living people Film people from North Rhine-Westphalia German male writers People from Münster