Section: Homeland | Domownja | Domizna

DIE seltsame Historia von den Schiltbürgern

THE peculiar tale of the Gothamites

Johannes Hempel
GDR, 1961, 73 Min

A house without windows, quadrangular wheels and uphill somersaults; this opulent, theatrical puppet production based on the legend of the Schildbürger was once the cause of great controversy for the DEFA film studio.

Deutsche Kinemathek - Museum für Film und Fernsehen

The film was in fact the first major animation undertaken by the DEFA Studio for Animated Film, the result being a feature-length work that made use of CinemaScope and quadraphonic sound. Although the puppets might appear somewhat clumsy to today's audiences, the elaborately composed music and choreographed movements of the puppets represent remarkable achievements by anyone's standards. This tribute to a people's foolish ingenuity was perceived as an affront by party officials, as a consequence of which the director was never again to work for DEFA. A real rarity! GL

Filmformat
HDFile | Farbe / colour
Drehbuch
Evelyn Matschke
Kamera
Werner Kohlert, Wolfgang Schiebel
Schnitt
Anita Beyer-Maucksch
Musik
Wolfgang Hohensee
Produzent
DEFA-Studio für Trickfilme
Produktion
DEFA-Studio für Trickfilme
Kontakt
Deutsche Kinemathek
- Museum für Film und Fernsehen
Potsdamer Straße 2
10785 Berlin
Germany
Tel.: +49.30.30.09 030
info@deutsche-kinemathek.de
www.deutsche-kinemathek.de

Johannes Hempel - born 1917 in Bautzen, died 1998 in Dresden, Germany. He studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts and later went on to work as a background artist and set designer, In 1955, the state-owned DEFA film studio gave him the opportunity to co-found the Dresden-based DEFA Studio for Animated Film. His rift with DEFA was complete in 1963 and he was forced to make ends meet with the production of films for the industrial sector.

Movies
FRAU HOLLE (1953, anim)
TILL EULENSPIEGEL ALS TÜRMER (1955)
SPUK IM ATELIER (1956, anim)
FIPS DER STÖRENFRIED (1957, anim)
ALS ES NOCH WASSERMÄNNER GAB (1991, anim)
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