The illicit practice of astronomy

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Movie
Original title The illicit practice of astronomy
Country of production Germany
original language German
Publishing year 1967
length 12 minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director Peter Schamoni
script Max Ernst
Peter Schamoni
production Peter Schamoni film
music Hans Posegga
camera Petrus Schloemp
Peter Rosenwanger
cut Peter Schamoni

The illegal exercise of astronomy , also Maximiliana - The illegal exercise of astronomy or Max Ernst - The illegal exercise of astronomy , is a German short documentary by Peter Schamoni from 1967.

action

"He had genius, but no diploma," is how Max Ernst sums up the fate of the amateur astronomer Ernst Wilhelm Leberecht Tempel (1821–1889). In 1960, Max Ernst found a poem in the Temple entitled The Hunchback , which he recited while wandering the streets of Seillans in southern France with his dog . At that time the painter commissioned the Russian Dadaist Iliazd to research the life of Tempel. Iliazd completed his research two years later. Max Ernst found one of the most interesting personalities of the 19th century in Tempel and dedicated his graphic book Maximiliana to him . Tempel had given the same name to the first planet he discovered, but another astronomer claimed its discovery 70 years after Tempel.

Max Ernst now tells the biography of Tempel, which as an amateur astronomer was always underestimated despite his abilities because he did not have a diploma. He went to Venice and Marseille. It was only late and only after he had discovered comets, planets and a reflection nebula in the Pleiades that he found employment at an observatory. When his astronomical lithographs also attracted increasing interest, photography came into fashion and thus a more precise representation than drawings could provide. Tempel complained that the art of seeing was increasingly being lost through technology, and died a short time later in 1889. Max Ernst sees a similar phenomenon in art: through the many works that art has produced, direct, genuine vision is lost went. The few who can still do it are the true revolutionaries in painting. At the same time as his portrayal of the temple's biography, Max Ernst can be seen working on his work Maximiliana .

production

The unlawful exercise of astronomy is dedicated to Max Ernst, who not only wrote the script, but also acted as the speaker in the film. Other speakers were Johannes Schaaf and Rolf Illig .

The film had its premiere in April 1967 at the West German Short Film Festival in Oberhausen and was shown in cinemas on July 5, 1967.

Awards

At the West German Short Film Festival in Oberhausen, The Illegal Practice of Astronomy received the main prize in 1967. Also in 1967 the film was awarded the Silver Film Ribbon as the best production at the German Film Prize in the “Short Cultural Films” category. It received the rating “particularly valuable” from the film evaluation board .

The illegal exercise of astronomy ran in 1967 at the Cannes Film Festival in the short film competition for the Palme d'Or .

literature

  • Maximiliana - The Illegal Practice of Astronomy . In: Hilmar Hoffmann (Ed.): Peter Schamoni. Film Pieces . Arnoldsche Art Publishers, Stuttgart 2003, pp. 14-17.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. See deutsche-filmakademie.de ( Memento from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  2. See festival-cannes.fr