Volker Koepp

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Volker Koepp (born June 22, 1944 in Stettin , Pomerania ) is a German documentary film director.

life and work

Koepp first attended school in Berlin and graduated from high school in Dresden in 1962 . He then completed an apprenticeship as a machine fitter, which he completed in 1963 with a skilled worker certificate in the turbine factory in Dresden. Koepp was able to continue studying at the Technical University of Dresden until 1965 .

From 1965 to 1969 he was given the opportunity to study at the German Academy for Film Art in Potsdam-Babelsberg . But in 1968 Koepp was on the verge of exmatriculation because he was friends with Thomas Brasch, who had protested in leaflets against the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops in the ČSSR. In stark contrast to this, however, is the perception of Koepp's former fellow students at the film school, who saw him in 1968 as a member of the FDJ management and in this capacity as a driving force in the de-registration of fellow students who were excluded from studying under false, politically motivated accusations were. Initially he was supposed to "prove himself in production", but his reference to his skilled worker training was granted and instead Koepp was able to make an exercise film with We have already built a whole city in 1968.

In 1970, despite everything, he got a permanent position in the DEFA studio for documentary films as a director, but he was increasingly under surveillance by the state security. His SED membership during this time and his privilege with a visa for West Berlin at a time when GDR citizens who campaigned for freedom of travel were exposed to severe reprisals appear as strange biographical contrasts. Koepp later worked as a freelance director, writer and producer.

In 1975 he began making a number of films about Wittstock , which he produced over several years. He became internationally known with the film Mr. Zwilling and Mrs. Zuckermann (1999) and the follow-up documentary This year in Czernowitz (2003/2004).

In 1993 Koepp held a visiting professorship at the University of Film and Television Potsdam and a teaching position at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. In 1996 he became a member of the Academy of the Arts in Berlin and Brandenburg and in 2010 he was appointed honorary professor of the State of Brandenburg.

Memberships

  • 1992: Chairman of the board of “Filmkunsthaus Babylon e. V. “in Berlin
  • 1992: Member of the board of trustees in the House of Documentary Films in Stuttgart
  • 1996: Member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin and Brandenburg

reception

“ Koepp's skill is shown in making the story of half a life believable as the story of a smile: a smile that discovers, that passes and that finally seems to be absorbed in that melancholy, mild look at the end [...] . "

- Stefan Reinecke on "Wittstock, Wittstock", Filmbulletin, April 18, 1997

“ Koepp's microphones are always open to the sounds of the wind, trees, birds and insects. Cinema viewers have not listened so closely since they were children and everything about them is new and exciting. And so a past is conjured up for him too, which was full of miracles. "

- Andreas Platthaus , 2004

“ With impressive films such as B. Kalte Heimat or Mr. Zwilling and Mrs. Zuckermann, places and regions in Eastern Europe from East Prussia to Chernivtsi are brought out of oblivion and placed in a new context. The films are characterized by a very individual aesthetic and a sensitive, deep understanding of the subject. "

- from the laudation on the occasion of the Georg Dehio Culture Prize 2005

Filmography

  • 1967 summer guests at Mayakovsky
  • 1968 We have already built a whole city
  • 1970 The role of the master in the system of socialist business administration
  • 1970 October came
  • 1971 debtor
  • 1971/72 Treffpunkt Kino - 12 episodes for GDR TV
  • 1972 Music in Discs
  • 1973 Greetings from Sarmatia (For the poet Johannes Bobrowski)
  • 1973 Teddy
  • 1973 Gustav J.
  • 1974 From my childhood (scenario)
  • 1974 Slatan Dudow film essay on a Marxist artist
  • 1975 He couldn't be silent today
  • 1975 girls in Wittstock
  • 1976 Back in Wittstock
  • 1976 The wide field
  • 1977 I still remember
  • 1977 Hütes film
  • 1978 Wittstock III
  • 1979 On the river
  • 1979 day after day
  • 1980 house and yard
  • 1981 Living and Weaving
  • 1982 In Rheinsberg
  • 1982 DEFA cinema box
  • 1983 All animals are beautiful there
  • 1984 lives in Wittstock
  • 1983/1985 Afghanistan 1362 - memory of a trip
  • 1985 on the Unstrut
  • 1986 The F 96 - DEFA with Krüger Filmproduktion for NDR
  • 1988 Tierra del Fuego
  • 1989 Märkische bricks
  • 1989 Arkona-Rethra-Vineta - A journey to sunken places - DEFA with Krüger Filmproduktion for NDR, WDR, and LA SEPT
  • 1990 Märkische Heide, Brandenburg sand
  • 1991 Märkische Gesellschaft mbH
  • 1991 In Karlshorst - Austrian film production for WDR
  • 1991 In Grünberg - for the ARD program “The First Summer”, Austrian film production
  • 1992 News in Wittstock DEFA with LA September.
  • 1993 hodgepodge - an East Elbe cultural film
  • 1993 Die Wismut - Austrian film production with WDR
  • 1995 Kalte Heimat - Dok-Babelsberg with WDR and MDR
  • 1996 Fremde Ufer - Brandenburger Filmbetrieb 96 with WDR, SWF, MDR
  • 1997 Wittstock, Wittstock - Kruschke film and television production with BR, ORB, SFB
  • 1998 Beautiful Earth Motherland
  • 1998 The Gilge - in-house production of the SWR
  • 1999 Mr. Zwilling and Mrs. Zuckermann - Vineta film with MDR, WDR, SFB
  • 2001 Kurische Nehrung - Thomas Geyer-Filmproduktion / Vineta Film with SWR / ARTE (IFF Berlin 2001)
  • 2002 Uckermark - Vineta Film with SWR, WDR, ORB
  • 2003 Eternal Places
  • 2004 This year in Chernivtsi - Vineta film with SWR, WDR, RBB, MDR
  • 2004 Frankfurter Tor - Chronicle TV for RBB
  • 2005 Schattenland - trip to Masuria - SWR with Vineta Film
  • 2005 Pommerland - SWR with Vineta Film
  • 2007 Sons - Thomas Geyer Film with Vineta Film, SWR / WDR
  • 2007 Elderflower - Vineta film with SWR / RBB
  • 2008 Memelland - SWR with Vineta Film
  • 2009 Berlin-Stettin - Vineta film with SWR / RBB
  • 2010 Im Wind - documentary film for rbb
  • 2011 Livonia - SWR with Vineta Film
  • 2013 In Sarmatia - SWR with Vineta Film
  • 2016 Landstück - Vineta film with RBB.
  • 2017 return - trips to Johannes Bobrowski, rbb
  • 2018 seascape. Documentary about the Baltic Sea.

Work show

  • 1987 Munich Film Festival
  • 2000 Diagonale Graz
  • 2004 Leipzig Documentary Film Week
  • 2006 “Volker Koepps Sarmatian Films” - Kino Krokodil, Berlin
  • 2010 Documentary Film Festival Munich
  • 2010 Paris

Awards

  • 1974 Silver Dragon / Documentary Film Festival Kraków for Gustav J.
  • 1976 Silver Dove / Documentary Film Festival Leipzig for The Wide Field
  • 1978 Main Prize at the Oberhausen Film Festival for Hütes-Film
  • 1980 Best Documentary / Film Festival Tampere (Finland) for In Rheinsberg
  • 1984 Silver Dove / Leipzig Documentary Film Festival for Life in Wittstock
  • 1984 Foundlingspreis / National Festival of Documentary Film of the GDR in Neubrandenburg for life in Wittstock
  • 1989 Main prize and film ducats / International Film Week Mannheim for Märkische Bricks
  • 1992 Golden Dove / Leipzig Documentary Film Festival for something new in Wittstock
  • 1993 Federal Film Prize nomination for something new in Wittstock
  • 1993 German Film Critics' Award ( Die Wismut )
  • 1993 German Documentary Film Award / Documentary Film Festival Duisburg for Die Wismut
  • 1993 German Critics' Prize for his complete works
  • 1994 Hessian Film Prize for Die Bismut
  • 1994 German Critics' Prize for Die Bismut
  • 1995 Prize of the audience jury / Vision Réel Nyon (Switzerland) and gold film tape for camera at the documentary film festival Nyon for Cold Home
  • 1996 Gold film tape: Thomas Plenert for the camera in Kalte Heimat
  • 1997 Special prize of the jury at the documentary film festival Nyon for Wittstock, Wittstock
  • 1997 German Film Critics' Award ( Wittstock, Wittstock )
  • 1997 German Documentary Film Award / ARTE (Documentary Film Festival Duisburg) for Wittstock, Wittstock
  • 1997 Main Prize at the Bornholm Film Festival for Wittstock, Wittstock
  • 1999 Grand Prix / Vision du Réel Nyon (Switzerland) for Mr. Zwilling and Ms. Zuckermann
  • 1999 German Film Prize 1999 / nomination for Mr. Zwilling and Mrs. Zuckermann
  • 1999 European Documentary Film Award 1999 / nomination and Prix ARTE for Mr. Zwilling and Ms. Zuckermann
  • 1999 Artur Brauner Prize for Mr. Zwilling and Mrs. Zuckermann
  • 2002 "Freedom Award" from the American Cinema Foundation, Los Angeles
  • 2003 Prize of the DEFA Foundation for the promotion of German film art
  • 2005 Georg Dehio Culture Prize (main prize)
  • 2007 Grand Prix Visions du Reel Nyon / Switzerland for sons
  • 2008 Grand Prix “Cinema du reel” Paris for elderflower
  • 2008 Grand Prix (Festival die populi) Florence for elderflower
  • 2008 main prize at the Milan Documentary Film Festival for elderflower
  • 2008 Prize of the German Film Critics ( Elderflower )
  • 2009 German Documentary Film Award / City of Ludwigsburg Award for elderflower
  • 2014 Heimatfilmfestival , Prize of the City of Freistadt
  • 2014 Cross of Merit 1st class

literature

  • Ralf Schenk: "I'm not saying what it means ..." The documentarist Volker Koepp - sketches for a portrait. In: film service . Volume 57 No. 3/2004, pp. 62-64, ISSN  0720-0781 .
  • Peter W. Jansen : Eastward. It continues beyond the horizon. The films of Volker Koepp. in: by the way: Film 2004; Red .: Ralf Schenk, edited by the DEFA Foundation, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-929470-29-2 , pp. 110–128.
  • Caroline Moine: Gaps in the Shadow of History. Volker Koepp's cinematic memories of Chernivtsi. In: Kirstin Buchinger (ed.): European memory spaces. Campus, Frankfurt am Main, New York 2009, ISBN 978-3-593-38865-6 , pp. 164-180.
  • Andrea Rota: reunion with the family, reunion at home. SONS by Volker Koepp. In: Erhard Schütz, Elena Agazzi (eds.): Homecoming: a central category of the post-war period. History, literature and media. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, pp. 257-268. ISBN 978-3-428-53379-4 .
  • Short biography for:  Koepp, Volker . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Grit Lemke: Under high skies. The Universe Volker Koepp . Bertz + Fischer Verlag , Berlin 2019. ISBN 978-3-86505-416-6 .

swell

  1. ↑ “The Story of a Smile. The Wittstock films by Volker Koepp "
  2. ↑ “Miracle Workers through Proof” , FAZ , February 9, 2004.
  3. ↑ Georg Dehio Culture Prize 2005 goes to documentary filmmaker Volker Koepp and the Czech citizens' initiative »Antikomplex« . On kulturforum.info.
  4. ↑ Award ceremony for the Day of German Unity . On October 1st, 2014 on bundespraesident.de.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Koepp, Volker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German director for documentaries
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Szczecin