Horst Seemann

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Horst Seemann (born April 11, 1937 in Pyhanken , Czechoslovak Republic (today: Běhánky , Czech Republic ); † January 6, 2000 in Egling-Thanning , Upper Bavaria ) was a German film director , actor , screenwriter and composer . Seemann was considered one of the most renowned film directors in the GDR .

life and work

Early years

Horst Seemann was born as the son of the blacksmith Eduard Seemann and the plasterer Elisabeth, b. Hanisch, born in Pyhanken in the Sudetenland . After the Second World War , his family was forcibly evacuated from the Sudetenland. The sailor settled in Thuringia, where Horst later Greizer attended elementary and high school. His father, who was once Kapellmeister, encouraged his artistic development at a young age, so that he learned to play various instruments such as violin, trumpet and piano as a child. In addition to his love of dance music, Horst Seemann was active as a spokesman for a children's choir and as a child actor at the theater in Greiz. In 1956 he finished his school career with a high school diploma and then went to the National People's Army as a volunteer . During his military service he founded a soldiers' choir, became its leader and was also involved as a programmer for an agitprop troupe that performed in public institutions. During his military career , he took part in a course for prospective conductors and choir directors, which he finished as a projectionist.

After his military service, Seemann studied directing at the University of Film and Television Potsdam- Babelsberg from 1958 to 1962 and directed a. a. together with his fellow students Siegfried Kühn and Celino Bleiweiß short documentaries . Assistant director for Sergei Gerassimow's Menschen und Tiere and Günter Reisch's The Thief of San Marengo rounded off his training. He finished his studies with the diploma film The Curse of Evil Deed ( GDR 1962, " Stacheltier " series) with Brigitte Krause and Christine Laszar in the leading roles.

Start of a career

After completing his studies, in 1963 he made two more spiny animal short films , which later went up with another contribution by Karlheinz Carpentier in the episode film Engel, Sünden and Verkehr (author: Wolfgang Roeder ) and were shown in the GDR cinemas. His last work for the humorous short film series, Love Needs No PS , also dates from 1963. Two years later, Seemann developed the script for his first feature film, the tragic comedy Steig aus dem Sarg, Liebling , but the project was in favor of the film musical wedding night in Regen (alternative title: Liebe im Galopp , 1966/67) canceled by DEFA . The musical was produced at an enormous expense for 1.7 million marks by the DEFA group "Johannisthal" and despite the prominent cast with pop singer and occasional actor Frank Schöbel , comedian Herbert Köfer and Seemann's later wife Traudl Kulikowsky, it received negative film reviews. For example, the FDJ newspaper Junge Welt criticized an “I-related worldview”.

His second full-length feature film Shots under the Gallows , an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Kidnapped , was received favorably by the film critics. The next film adaptation followed in 1969 with Zeit zu Leben , but this time a politically pathetic flick that was to be characteristic of his later works and was performed on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the GDR and later received several awards. In this film, which was a great success with audiences in the GDR with over two million admissions, Seemann tried to combine the plot of the film with ideological elements: work was an essential element, as was friendship with the Soviet Union and a commitment to the GDR. Seemann himself put it this way in 1972: "Bringing private interests into harmony with social and collective interests is how the developed socialist society is characterized."

1970s

In the early 1970s , the next contemporary films followed, with a declaration of love to GT , Reife Kirschen and Suse, liebe Suse , in which the director lets his film heroes act in exceptional emotional situations. Even within the state film production company DEFA, Seemann's works were sometimes violently attacked, while the GDR audience appreciated the highly emotional films.

After DEFA prematurely ended the planning for his next film, a biography of Karl Marx , in 1976 he filmed Beethoven - Tage aus einer Leben, a historical artist biography with Donatas Banionis in the lead role. The film became a commercial success and finally secured Seemann's breakthrough as a director, but also as a screenwriter together with Günter Kunert . His next two film projects failed already in the planning phase. A film adaptation of Klaus Schlesinger's scenario about the poet Heinrich von Kleist failed, as did a work about Albert Einstein , which he did not want to realize due to its size. Instead, he directed the two-part Fleur Lafontaine, a television film for GDR television that addressed the social conflicts in Berlin in the 1920s. Angelica Domröse played the title role of Fleur Lafontaine .

In 1979 he began shooting his most famous work, Levins Mühle , based on the novel of the same name by Johannes Bobrowski , which he produced in the DEFA studio for feature films “Gruppe Berlin”. The film is about the young Jewish mill owner Levin, played by Christian Grashof , who was expelled from West Prussia in 1875 by the rich German mill owner Johann, played by Erwin Geschonneck . After Fleur Lafontaine , this was only Seemann's second literary film adaptation , which was filmed on original locations with actors like Fred Düren , Kurt Böwe and Eberhard Esche . Seemann composed a ballad especially for this film, which is still one of DEFA's most important film scores.

1980s until death

In 1982 he received the National Prize of the GDR, 2nd class for art and literature. After the three-part television film Hotel Polan and his guests , an adaptation of Jan Koplowitz ' Bohemia, mein Schicksal , he staged his last major film with doctors based on the play of the same name by Rolf Hochhuth , which met with widespread public interest in GDR cinemas. The international co-production, which was staged at great expense by DEFA standards, was performed at the Berlinale in 1984 , but was not particularly well received by the public. His films Visiting Van Gogh and Vera - The Difficult Path of Knowledge fared similarly - the audience categorically rejected the work.

With the turnaround and the collapse of the GDR, Seemann directed Zwischen Pankow and Zehlendorf for the last time. Like almost all of his later works, however, the film received little attention. He ended his work as a filmmaker for DEFA with the reunification, which, in addition to directing and scenarios, also included music compositions and occasional appearances as an actor.

Horst Seemann died at the age of 62 as a result of a serious and protracted illness in Upper Bavaria.

His written estate is in the archive of the Academy of Arts in Berlin.

Private

Horst Seemann was married three times and has two children. After his first wife Christine, he married the actress Traudl Kulikowsky , then the advertising specialist Hildegund. Like him, his son Jakob is now studying at the Konrad Wolf Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

  • 1982: National Feature Film Festival of the GDR : National Film Prize and Special Jury Prize for Levin's Mill
  • 1985: Prize of the film critic of the GDR "Big mouth" for women doctors in the category "Best Film"

literature

Web links

swell

  • Dieter Wolf: Horst Seemann. With an eye on emotionality and effectiveness ; In: Rolf Richter (ed.): DEFA feature film directors and their critics , Henschel Verlag Berlin 1981, pages 150 to 173

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Seemann Archive Inventory overview on the website of the Academy of the Arts in Berlin.
personal data
SURNAME Sailor, Horst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film director, actor, screenwriter and composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 11, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Pyhanken , Czechoslovak Republic (today: Běhánky , Czech Republic )
DATE OF DEATH January 6, 2000
Place of death Egling-Thanning , Upper Bavaria