Konrad Kotowski

Konrad Kotowski , occasionally also Kotowsky (* March 20, 1940 in Berlin ; † November 4, 2008 there ) was a German cameraman and lecturer for camera work.

Life

Konrad Kotowski grew up in Leningrad , Berlin and Ulm . His father, as a German radio specialist at Telefunken, was forcibly relocated to the Soviet Union by the Russians after 1945 with the family of eight to help them set up their radio technology.

After graduating from high school in Ulm, Kotowski became enthusiastic about the French " Nouvelle Vague ". He went to Paris in 1960 , took part in the “Cours de Civilization francaise” and submitted his thesis on “A comparison between the medieval mystery play and the cinema” at the Sorbonne University . He then studied camera from 1961 to 1963 at the renowned Parisian film institute IDHEC and had his student room just minutes away from the Cinemateque, which he regularly attended and acquired a profound knowledge of film history. Professional opportunities to stay in France and work with your favorite directors, above all Éric Rohmer , were subject to complex laws for foreigners at the time. He became Alain Derobe's assistant for the German director Peter Fleischmann and his film “Hunting Scenes from Lower Bavaria”. Courted by Fassbinder early on for “Love is colder than death”, which did not arise due to overlapping times, he later shot “The Morals of Ruth Halbfass” with Senta Berger for Volker Schlöndorff in 1972 . Since his hopes were dashed that the "Nouvelle Vague" would find their congenial colleagues with similar demands and skills in Germany, he preferred to go to Cameroon as a lecturer and train the next generation of cameras there, as well as in Kuwait , Oman , and later in Afghanistan , Montenegro , Serbia and later at German institutes, the dffb in Berlin, Dortmund and Munich . With Jürgen Karl Klauß he made the first feature film with Martina Gedeck "In the cold of the sun", 1986.

In 40 years Konrad Kotowski made over a hundred documentaries and documentaries, numerous feature films, won the camera prize for “Domino” by Thomas Brasch in 1983 at the 36th Festival in Locarno . Reluctantly, he took over work for television, was and still is an insistent cinema cameraman. He acquired special skills in his industrial and advertising films, where there is hardly anything, from architecture to large-scale representations, from medicine to automobile construction, that he would not have photographed. He has mastered a wide variety of genres, for many years was the cameraman of the current series “ 1000 Masterpieces ”, filmed with many national and international directors and was never too good to work with young, inexperienced directors. He was always skeptical of commercializing developments, especially when they assumed mainstream character. Judith Kaufmann and Michael Wiesweg of his former assistants are now among the most successful cameramen in Germany.

Filmography

• 1964: Afternoon, directed by Eckardt Schmidt
• 1965: Escape, directed by Eckardt Schmidt
• 1969: Hunting scenes from Lower Bavaria , director: Peter Fleischmann (only camera assistant)
• 1969: Happening in Weiß, directed by Gunter Sachs
• 1970: Supertramp, directed by Haro Senft
• 1970–1971: Terra Africa: Cameroon and Chad
• 1971: The Rectory Comedy , Director: Veit Relin
• 1971: The Moral of Ruth Halbfass , directed by Volker Schlöndorff
• 1974: Pashupatinath Abenddraga, director: August Rieger
• 1975: One way or another life is , director: Veit Relin
• 1979: On the Landstrasse, directed by M. Scieker
• 1978: Midnight Sounds, director: August Rieger
• 1979: Martina, director: Wilma Kottusch
• 1981: Witzleben, directed by Hellmuth Costard
• 1982: The Momskys or Never Again Sauerkraut, directed by Philipp Sonntag
• 1983: Domino, director: Thomas Brasch
• 1985: Farewell in Berlin, directed by Antonio Skarmeta
• since 1985: 1000 masterpieces
• 1985: Va banque, directed by Diethardt Küster
• 1986: In the cold of the sun, director: Jürgen Karl Klauß
• 1987: Shuar, directed by Lisa Fässler
• 1988: Der Rosenhain, director: Jürgen Karl Klauß
• 1989: Last Booty, directed by Lisa Fässler
• 1989: Stocker and Stein, director: Jürgen Karl Klauß (TV series)
• 1990: L'Amitié, director: Jürgen Karl Klauß (TV series)
• 1992: Motzki, director: Thomas Nennstiel (TV series)
• 1995: Blauvogel, German-Canadian TV series, director: Jeff Authors (TV series)
• 1996: Zuba Meta, director: Reiner E. Moritz
• 1996: Pierre Soulage, directed by R. Moritz
• 1998: Hostage ride to paradise , director: HE. Viet
• 1998: Edvard Grieg, director: T. Olofsson (TV)
• 1999: Majesty need sun , directed by Peter Schamoni
• 2003: The Officer's Hour , Director: HE. Viet (TV)
• 2004: Music festival in Kuhmo, director: Reiner Moritz

Awards

• Camera Prize 36th Locarno Film Festival

Web links

• Konrad Kotowski in the Internet Movie Database (English)