Three of many
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Three of many |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1988/1961 (shooting) |
| length | 32 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jürgen Böttcher |
| script | Jürgen Böttcher |
| production | DEFA , Joop Huisken production group |
| music | Gerhard Rosenfeld |
| camera | Christian Lehmann |
| cut | Charlotte Beck |
Three of Many is a German short documentary film by Jürgen Böttcher from 1961, which was banned and only screened in 1988. An alternative title of the DEFA documentary is 3 Arbeiter .
action
The film introduces three workers from Dresden who met eight years ago in a painting group at the adult education center and have been friends since: Peter Herrmann , Peter “Grabe” Graf and Peter Makolies , known as “Mac”.
Peter Graf is a truck driver and supplies major construction sites in Germany with his G5 . He likes classical jazz and painting, although he mainly works with coal. He likes to draw his G5, but also does portraits. Among other things, he gets inspiration from the Elbe not far from the Blue Wonder . Peter Makolies was originally a stonemason in the VEB sandstone industry. Here he worked on the reconstruction of the Dresden Zwinger , the Leipzig Opera House and the construction of the Sachsenhausen Memorial . He now works as a stone sculptor and is currently reconstructing the facade figures of the Catholic Court Church that have been destroyed . He's also creative at home; because he believes that others could do the same, he plans to set up a drawing circle in his company. Peter Herrmann, in turn, works as a chemigrapher . In his free time he paints in oil, mostly with landscapes in the foreground. Occasionally he includes current political events in his works and, for example, thematizes the murder of Patrice Lumumba in 1961 in a painting . After some hesitation, the work of the union official Herrmann is also supported by his colleagues;
Graf, Herrmann and Makolies meet at Ralf Winkler's to prepare an exhibition. This is followed by detailed shots of the works, such as Herrmann's pictures of the homeless and a massacre in Africa, Makolies' sculptures and a picture of his wife as well as Graf's landscapes with a truck. The speaker concludes that none of the three see themselves as real artists, but rather see themselves as "three of many" [workers].
production
After studying painting at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts, Jürgen Böttcher studied directing at the Film and Television Academy . After completing his studies, he came to DEFA-Studio for newsreels and documentaries in 1960, where his first film Three of Many was made by 1961 . According to other sources, the film was made as the final thesis of his film studies; filming took place from July to August 1961. In the film, Böttcher dedicated himself to Peter Makolies, Peter Graf and Peter Herrmann, whose teacher he had been at the Volkshochschule Dresden. The result was a portrait of the life and work of the three artists, with Böttcher student AR Penck (as Ralf Winkler) also being presented. In addition to work, the men's private life is also examined. Scenes in Dresden show, among other things, the bird meadow and the blue wonder. The film's spokesman is Manfred Krug , the music was played by Jazz Optimists Berlin . Neither Penck nor Krug are mentioned in the opening credits.
The film was completed in 1961, but was banned "although - or precisely because - the film captures the hope of something new in a socialist world". In addition to the changed political situation in the course of the construction of the Berlin Wall, one reason for the film ban can also be seen in a controversial academy exhibition by Böttcher in 1961, which exposed him to violent attacks. Three of many was Böttcher's first film for DEFA and one of the first documentary films to be banned in the GDR.
The world premiere of Three Of Many took place in October 1988 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival . German premiere was on April 20, 1990 in the special program forbidden films at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen . The film has since been shown at various festivals, including the Viennale in Vienna in 2002 . In 2014, the film was part of the anniversary exhibition almost at the moment on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Dresden University of Fine Arts.
Web links
- Digitized film Three of many at Progress Film-Verleih (with watermark)
- Three of many in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Three of many at filmportal.de
- Three of many at the DEFA Foundation
Individual evidence
- ^ Ines Walk: Jürgen Böttcher . defa.de, accessed on February 20, 2014.
- ↑ Three of many . In: Lucius Grisebach (Ed.): First Phalanx Nedserd . Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Nuremberg 1991, p. 82.
- ↑ Matthias Flügge, Susanne Greinke, Dietmar Rübel: downright momentary. An exhibition essay for the 250th anniversary of the Dresden Art Academy . Booklet for the exhibition, February 7 to June 15, 2014, p. 9.
- ↑ Three of many . In: Lucius Grisebach (Ed.): First Phalanx Nedserd . Verlag für Moderne Kunst, Nuremberg 1991, p. 85.
- ^ The painter and filmmaker - Jürgen Böttcher / Strawalde . goethe.de, 2005, accessed on February 20, 2014.
- ↑ Three of many , viennale.at, accessed on February 20, 2014.