Richard Rossmann

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Richard Rossmann (born 1971 in Saalfelden ) is an Austrian documentary filmmaker .

life and work

Rossmann completed a degree in economics in Vienna . During his studies he worked as a delivery driver and as a chauffeur for a film production, which aroused his interest in the film industry. He went to a Hamburg production company as a volunteer and learned to make television there. He then worked as a freelance production manager for international television and advertising film productions.

In 2009 Rossmann made his debut as a director and producer with the independent documentary Ski Heil - The two boards that mean the world . "After 15 years in production, I finally wanted to tell my own stories". His debut film related to popular sports, the competitive discipline and the tourist attraction skiing , its history and its darker sides during the Nazi era . Rossmann's father, Richard Rossmann , and his colleague “ Eberhard Kneisl had traveled to Garmisch-Partenkirchen as members of the Austrian Olympic team, but after several training runs, they were completely unexpectedly unable to compete. The official reason: The Austrians would not be amateurs in the Olympic sense because they earned their living as ski instructors. “The real reason,” said Rossmann Sr., “was that the Germans saw that they wouldn't have had a chance against us. We would have won everything. ”“ The film tells the story of four Austrian boys - Rossmann Sr., Kneisl, Karl Koller and Guzzi Lantschner - who 80 years ago "thundered down the snow-covered mountains on self-made ash boards", at first sporting it Brought successes and thus became co-founders of a mass movement. The film won awards in Paris and the USA.

In 2011 the filmmaker made a documentary about his grandmother Thresl Handl - day in, day out - who had run Harhamhof near Saalfelden since her husband's death in 1958, although her son Hans had been pushing for the handover for decades. During the shooting, the film hero approached her 100th birthday. “In Rossmann's film time seems to stand still. Thresl Handl is, so to speak, mistress of a timeless world. ”The film is characterized by long tracking shots and slow pans, it tells of willpower and the dignity of old age. “The day I stop, I'm dead.” That is the grandmother's motto in life. The "premiere audience in Salzburg was enthusiastic and touched by this film of the quiet tones".

In 2013, Rossmann presented his third major oeuvre, Max and the Others , a film about freedom , hope , love and unhappiness . The protagonists of the film are Max, Oberleutnant (* 1952), Jan, doctor (* 1963) and Dima, philologist (* 1976). The latter comes from the Ukraine, Max and Jan are in early retirement - due to their HIV infection. Rossmann tells "the true story of intimate relationships in a subculture in which identity and sexuality seem to be increasingly blending together." The film has been shown at a number of independent festivals in Rome , Nyon , Buenos Aires , Mexico Ciudad , Sheffield , San Luis Potosí , La Paz , Leeds , Thessaloniki , Caracas , Chicago , Berlin , Oldenburg , in Ecuador , Madrid and finally in Kiev . There, at the renowned Molodist Festival - due to the portrayal of a gay man from Ukraine - there were tumults, the screening had to be broken off and the filmmaker had to be brought to safety through a back exit.

Richard Rossmann lives in Pinzgau and Berlin . He is also involved in civil society issues, for example in the personal committee against injustice , which “ no longer wants to silently accept the behavior of official Austria towards refugees ”.

Creed

“I try to tell everyday life in my films, and through long-term observation of my protagonists, to place their stories in a socio-political context. The decelerating representation plays an essential role for me. It is an exciting stylistic device to show realism. A kind of de-manipulation. I would like to leave it to the viewer to form their own picture, and ideally, the nuances create a constructive dialogue. "

- Richard Rossmann : Interview on the occasion of receiving the ÉCU Best European Documentary Award, conducted by Verena Jirgal, 2013

Filmography

  • 2009 Ski Heil - The two boards that mean the world
  • 2011 day in, day out
  • 2013 Max and the others

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Rossmann - Winner 'Best European Documentary' ÉCU 2009 , interview with the filmmaker
  2. ↑ Angelika Hager : Ski Heil: Documentation illuminates the brown period in white sport , in: Profile , March 18, 2009
  3. ↑ a b Richard Rossmann , website
  4. ↑ a b Doris Maier: 100 Years of Quiet Tones , Platzhirsch, accessed on November 12, 2013
  5. ^ Sturmschaden , Profil, November 10, 2014, 70f
  6. ^ For a Human Refugee Policy , accessed on November 11, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Rossmann, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian documentary filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Saalfelden , Austria