Gernot Roll (9 April 193912 November 2020) was a German cinematographer, film director and script writer. He collaborated on several films with directors
Edgar Reitz
Edgar Reitz (born 1 November 1932) is a German filmmaker and Professor of Film at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung (State University of Design) in Karlsruhe. He is best-known for his internationally acclaimed '' Heimat film series'' (1 ...
and
Sönke Wortmann
Sönke Wortmann (; 25 August 1959 in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German film director and producer.
Biography
Wortmann's father was a miner. After Wortmann's A-Levels he wanted to become a professional football player and started playin ...
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
and grew up in
Pirna
Pirna (; hsb, Pěrno; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany and capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as ...
. At the age of 14 he began training as a cameraman and then worked at the DEFA Studios in Berlin-Babelsberg. His first film as a camera assistant was the fairy tale film ''
The Singing Ringing Tree
''The Singing Ringing Tree'' (german: Das singende, klingende Bäumchen) is a 1957 children's fantasy film from East German studio DEFA. Directed by Francesco Stefani, the screenplay by Anne Geelhaar is based on a variation of "Hurleburlebutz" ...
''. In 1960 he went to West Germany to work at
Bavaria Film
Bavaria Film is a German film production and distribution company. It is one of Europe's largest film production companies, with some 30 subsidiaries.
History
The studios were founded in 1919, when Munich-raised film producer Peter Ostermayr ...
Tatort
''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed b ...
''. From 1976, he worked as a freelance cinematographer. He was considered an expert in literary adaptations and film biographies. In 1979, he was the cinematographer for '' The Buddenbrooks'', eleven episodes for television of Thomas Mann's novel, directed by Franz Peter Wirth.
Roll's breakthrough came with the celebrated 16-hour TV series ''Heimat – Eine deutsche Chronik'' by
Edgar Reitz
Edgar Reitz (born 1 November 1932) is a German filmmaker and Professor of Film at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung (State University of Design) in Karlsruhe. He is best-known for his internationally acclaimed '' Heimat film series'' (1 ...
in 1984. Among his films were Caroline Link's '' Jenseits der Stille'' and Helmut Dietl's '. He worked with
Sönke Wortmann
Sönke Wortmann (; 25 August 1959 in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia) is a German film director and producer.
Biography
Wortmann's father was a miner. After Wortmann's A-Levels he wanted to become a professional football player and started playin ...
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
-winning '' Nirgendwo in Afrika'' (''Nowhere in Africa''). He also worked with directors including Jo Baier,
Axel Corti
Axel Corti (born ''Axel Fuhrmanns''; 7 May 1933 – 29 December 1993) was an Austrian screenwriter, film director and radio host.
Life
He was born in Paris. His father was a businessman of Austrian and Italian descent, his mother was from Berlin. ...
and Peter Keglevic.
Roll's debut as a director was in the film '. Roll was the director for films including the children's classic ' (''The Robber Hotzenplotz'') in 2006. In 2008, he was the cinematographer for Heinrich Breloer's film '' Die Buddenbrooks''.
Roll was one of the founding members of the Deutsche Filmakademie in 2003.
He was married to the producer Rita Serra-Roll; their son is the actor Michael Roll (born 1961). They lived in the Hunsrück.
Roll died on 12 November 2020 in Munich after a severe illness, at the age of 81.
Filmography
Films for which Roll was the cinematographer include:
Awards
* 1982, 1985, 1993, 2000
Grimme-Preis
The Grimme-Preis ("Grimme Award"; prior to 2011: Adolf-Grimme-Preis) is one of the most prestigious German television awards. It is named after the first general director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Adolf Grimme.
* 1992, 1993, 2002 Deutscher Filmpreis – Best Cinematography
* 1998
* 2013
Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...
* 2014
Bavarian Film Awards
The Bavarian Film Awards (german: Bayerischer Filmpreis) have been awarded annually since 1979 by the state government of Bavaria in Germany for “exceptional achievement in German filmmaking.” Along with the German Film Awards, these are th ...