Horst Knietzsch

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Horst Knietzsch (born January 5, 1927 , † January 16, 2005 ) was a German film critic and author. He was considered one of the most influential film critics in the German Democratic Republic .

Life

After his return from the Second World War, he began to write for newspapers in his home town of Lutherstadt Eisleben and in Halle (Saale) . He has been writing for New Germany since the mid-1950s . In addition to his journalistic activities for the New Germany and the Filmspiegel , he has published the cinema and television almanac Prisma , which is published annually by Henschel-Verlag since 1970 , and has published some of his own books. Knietzsch worked for a long time in the international film critic organization, whose GDR section he headed for years. Among other things, he was chairman of the feature film jury of the GDR National Feature Film Festival. After 1990 he only occasionally published commentaries and interviews on cultural policy, especially on the work of the Goethe Institute .

In his daily reviews of the New Germany he often took partisan positions in which films and filmmakers who dealt too critically with the reality of the GDR were reprimanded. This can be seen in particular in the controversies surrounding the films Insel der Schwans (1983), Appearance Obligation (1984) and Spring Takes Time (1965). In his book publications, on the other hand, he opened up a view of international productions far beyond the offerings of the GDR cinema.

His private archive with numerous documents from German and foreign filmmakers is in the possession of the Filmmuseum Potsdam .

Works

  • Film - yesterday and today. Thoughts and dates on seven decades of the history of film art, Urania-Verlag; Leipzig Jena Berlin; 1963 2nd, improved and expanded edition. 573 pages,
  • Film: yesterday and today. Thoughts and dates on seven decades of film history , Leipzig [u. a.]: Urania-Verl., 1967 3rd, revised. u. exp. Ed.
  • Film history in pictures / selection and commentary by Horst Knietzsch , Berlin: Henschel, 1984 1st edition of the heavily edited. and exp. Output
  • Wolfgang Staudte Berlin: Henschelverl., 1966

swell

  • Felix Rutzen: Film as a Mirror of Social Conflicts. Audio-visual intention and press reception of the feature film "Island of the Swans". Munich 2011, p. 43ff
  • Dagmar Schittly: Between direction and regime. Berlin 2002
  • Ralf Schenk: Horst Knietzsch . In: Film-Dienst 2005, issue 9, p. 18
personal data
SURNAME Knietzsch, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film critic and author
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1927
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 2005