Wolfgang Kohlhaase

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Wolfgang Kohlhaase, 2009
Karlovy Vary Film Festival

Wolfgang Kohlhaase (born March 13, 1931 in Berlin ) is a German screenwriter , director and writer . He is considered "one of the most important scriptwriters in German film history". Directors and film connoisseurs equate his "diverse linguistic wit" and his "precise ability to observe individual milieus" with the skills of Erich Kästner and Billy Wilder .

life and work

Kohlhaase, 1955
Wolfgang Kohlhaase, 1971

Wolfgang Kohlhaase is a son of the machinist Karl Kohlhaase and his wife Charlotte. He grew up in Berlin-Adlershof and attended elementary and middle school. He began to write while still at school and in 1947 became a volunteer and editor at the youth magazine Start . A copy of Start with an article by Kohlhaase also reached the Soviet prisoner-of-war camp where Kohlhaase senior was in 1947. His father increased his reputation with the prison administration, he received more food and easier work and was thus able to survive the camp. The son later became an employee of the FDJ newspaper Junge Welt . From 1950 to 1952 he worked as a dramaturgy assistant at DEFA in Potsdam-Babelsberg . Kohlhaase has been a freelance screenwriter and writer since 1952.

His first films were based on the style of Italian neorealism , which he implemented primarily with his friend Gerhard Klein . The social drama Berlin - Ecke Schönhauser… (1956/57) with Ekkehard Schall as a rebellious and orientation-seeking leading actor was officially accused of having “too big a concession” to neorealism and too negative a view. In 1965 her film project Berlin was around the corner after the resolutions of the XI. Plenary session of the Central Committee of the SED ended prematurely and banned. In this feature film, the main venue was the factory, where Kohlhaase's father had worked as a fitter. (The film was finished in 1987). After that, he temporarily withdrew from screenwriting and switched to writing. In the mid-1960s he worked again with the director Konrad Wolf . Several internationally award-winning feature films emerged from their joint work, including Ich war Nineteen (1968) and Solo Sunny (1980).

After reunification he stayed in the film business, among other things he drew with Volker Schlöndorff "the sensitive chapter of the exile of RAF members in the GDR in a sensitive way" ( Die Stille nach dem Schuss , 2000). After the turn of the millennium, he worked three times with the director Andreas Dresen : Summer in front of the balcony (2005), Whiskey with Vodka (2009), As we dreamed (2015). What he particularly appreciates about Dresen is his “friendly”, “almost affectionate” way of seeing and dealing with the actors and their characters. Dresen in turn confirmed that he and Kohlhaase share the same “view of the world and people”. Kohlhaase's art always has something to do with partnership and friendship.

To this day, his films deal with stories from everyday life and are interested in a differentiated, realistic depiction of the protagonists and their respective living conditions. In the style of his script dialogues, “a short, laconic tone” is valued, a “dialogue joke” that appears “wise to life” and “melancholy, sometimes even bitter”. On the occasion of the awarding of the Honorary Golden Bear for his life's work at the Berlinale 2010 , the jury praised Kohlhaase's "feeling for authenticity in his characters and in his stories, his laconic , very economic language and his fine irony."

He gives courses on script writing at various universities.

Kohlhaase has been a member of the PEN Center Germany since 1970 , in 1972 he became a member of the Academy of the Arts of the GDR and in 1991 he was accepted into the Academy of the Arts Berlin-Brandenburg . The Association of German Scriptwriters ( VDD ) made him an honorary member at the 2011 Berlinale .

On April 8, 2011 he received the Lola for his life's work from the German Film Academy . In his acceptance speech he said: “I am not only delighted, but also encouraged. And you need that at any age. "

He lives in Berlin and Reichenwalde and is married to the dancer and choreographer Emöke Pöstenyi .

Filmography

script

Director

  • 1979: Solo Sunny book; Co-director with Konrad Wolf
  • 1992: Inge, April and May - book; Direction with Gabriele Denecke
  • 1998: Victor Klemperer - My life is so sinfully long - written and directed with Ullrich H. Kasten

Books

  • Alarm in the circus. Berlin 1954.
  • A Berlin romance. Berlin 1956.
  • Four fish. in: Hörspiele 9 , Henschelverlag Berlin 1969, pp. 99–145.
  • Ask for a photo. in: Radio plays 10 , radio plays, Henschelverlag Berlin 1970, pp. 9–42.
  • A trumpeter comes. in: Das Modell , radio plays, Henschelverlag Berlin 1972, pp. 112–156.
  • Nail to the coffin. Stories. Berlin 1976.
  • New Year's Eve with Balzac and other stories. Berlin 1977; Edition Schwarzdruck, Berlin 2003, ISBN 978-3-935194-15-0 ; Berliner Taschenbuch Verlag BVT 2006, ISBN 978-3-8333-0450-7 ; Berlin Verlag , Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-8333-0450-7 .
  • The green stone variant. A story in memory of stories told by Ludwig Turek. Radio plays. Berlin 1980, pp. 19-48.
  • Four fish. A morality report on a highly deplorable affair in 1838 and in the Märkischen near Neuruppin. Munich 1981.
  • The break - the book about the film. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1989, ISBN 3-404-13221-1 .
  • Summer in front of the balcony. With interviews by Regine Sylvester . Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verlag , Berlin 2005, Ill., ISBN 3-7466-2189-5 .

literature

Radio plays

  • Fish for four - a report on a highly deplorable affair in 1838 and in Märkischen near Neuruppin , together with Rita Zimmer, director: Günther Rücker , music: Reiner Bredemeyer , dramaturgy: Wolfgang Beck , with I. Keller, M. Traute, E Grube-Deister and F. Düren, original broadcast: August 25, 1968, Berliner Welle / Rundfunk der DDR.
  • Questions for a photo , director: Hellmuth Hellstorff, dramaturgy: Wolfgang Beck with K. Böwe, G. Naumann, G. Andreae u. R. Quednor, original broadcast: September 14, 1969, Radio DDR I.
  • Four fish , together with Rita Zimmer, director: Gert Westphal , with A. Seeck, E. Wiedemann, G. Zoch and R. Lauffen, first broadcast: October 5, 1970, Hessischer Rundfunk.
  • Fisch for four , together with Rita Zimmer, director: Robert Bichler, music: Emil Moser, with R. Schäfer, L. Westphal, A.-M. Blanc, K. Schwarzkopf, DRS 1971.
  • A trumpeter is coming , director: Fritz-Ernst Fechner, music: Rolf Kuhl, dramaturgy: Wolfgang Beck , with ES Klein, H. Drinda, M. Wünscher, R. Glöss, F. Düren, G. Thies and E. Kahler, Ursendung : October 14, 1970; Radio DDR I.
  • Fish for four , together with Rita Zimmer, director: Klaus Gmeiner , with H. Mikulicz, S. Sutter, G. Zoch, M. Heltau and J. Frank, ORF / SFB 1972.
  • A trumpeter is coming , director: Otto Düben, music: Peter Zwetkoff, with E. Jacobi, P. Striebeck, H. Anders, U. Herwig, H. Korte, KM Vogler, first broadcast: July 2, 1973, Hessischer Rundfunk.
  • The Grünstein variant - a story in memory of stories told by Ludwig Turek , director: Günther Rücker and Barbara Plensat , music: Tilo Medek , dramaturgy: Wolfgang Beck , with K. Böwe (Grünstein), R. Ludwig (Lodek) , H. Hiemer (Greek), W. Dissel (prison director), H. Gärtner (student), P. Poschniezew (warden), original broadcast: December 25, 1976, voice of the GDR.
  • The Grünstein variant - a story in memory of stories told by Ludwig Turek , director: Günther Rücker and Barbara Plensat , music: Wolfgang Bayer, dramaturgy: Wolfgang Beck , with K. Böwe (Lodek), W. Greese (Grünstein) , H. Hiemer (the Greek), H. Hauser (prison director) and R. Christoph (warden), first broadcast: May 8, 1977, Radio DDR I. also on record Litera 865 432, on magnetic cassette in Cotta's Hörbühne , Klett-Verlag , Stuttgart 1988 and as an audio book from Der Audio Verlag 2002, ISBN 978-3-89813-176-6 .
  • Fisch for four together with Rita Zimmer - artificial head version - director: Horst Liepach , music: Reiner Bredemeyer , dramaturgy: Wolfgang Beck with L. Tempelhoff, H. Kipp, M. Bendokat and J. Holtz, first broadcast: August 21, 1981, Berliner Rundfunk .
  • Fish for four , together with Rita Zimmer, director: Horst Sachtleben , music: Ernst August Quelle, with Edda Seippel , L. Im, E. Endriss, H. Korte and E. Hallhuber, first broadcast: December 8, 1986, BR.
  • Invention of a language , arrangement and direction: Barbara Meerkötter, music: Martin Daske, with S. Icks, B. Zamani, R. Dittrich, L. Liebold, first broadcast: April 29, 2008, SWR2 .

Awards

Wolfgang Kohlhaase (right) receives the FDGB Art Prize , 1989
Star by Wolfgang Kohlhaase on the Boulevard der Stars in Berlin

Documentaries

  • Wolfgang Kohlhaase - screenwriter. Talk, Germany, 2015, 30:15 min., Moderation: Jörg Thadeusz , director: Thomas Neuner, production: Räuberleiter GmbH, rbb , series: Thadeusz, first broadcast: February 3, 2015 by rbb, summary by rbb, ( memento from 8 February 2015 in the web archive archive.today ).
  • Life in Stories - Wolfgang Kohlhaase. TV documentary, Germany, 2006, 45 min., Script and director: Lutz Pehnert, production: cine film, arte / rbb , first broadcast: August 18, 2007 in arte, summary by arte, ( Memento from July 21, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ).
  • Interview with contemporary witnesses: Wolfgang Kohlhaase. Long version. Talk, Germany, 2001, 252 min., Moderation: Ralf Schenk , film data from Progress Film-Verleih .
  • A certain freedom. Wolfgang Kohlhaase - screenwriter. Documentary film, Germany, 1989, 40 min., Script and director: Dorothea Neukirchen, production: WDR , film data from ARD .

Web links

Commons : Wolfgang Kohlhaase  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Interviews

Individual evidence

  1. a b Susanne Beyer ; Martin Wolf: A man of intermediate size. (PDF; 362 kB) In: Der Spiegel , August 31, 2009, No. 36, pp. 132–134, here p. 132; ( online ).
  2. Torsten Hilscher: Gifted man of the word: Wolfgang Kohlhaase. For my 80th birthday. In: Potsdamer Latest News , March 12, 2011: “In the opinion of film buffs, film scholars and directors, only two scriptwriters in German film history had such a diverse wit and such a precise ability to observe individual milieus: Billie (Billy) Wilder (1906– 2002), who had to leave the country in 1933, and Erich Kästner (1899–1974). "
  3. ^ Fe: Wolfgang Kohlhaase. In: Munzinger Archive , August 4, 2015, accessed April 7, 2016.
  4. ^ Regine Sylvester : How a Berlin screenwriter and narrator has made films and made a name for himself since his youth. In: Berliner Zeitung , March 13, 2001.
  5. In: Life in Stories - Wolfgang Kohlhaase. ( Memento from July 21, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ). In: arte / rbb , August 18, 2007.
  6. ^ Berlin - corner of Schönhauser. Feature film DEFA 1957. In: ARD , August 7, 2010 and table of contents by RBB (abridged). ( Memento from January 25, 2015 in the web archive archive.today ).
  7. Wolfgang Kolhaase on July 1, 1994 about his radio play work and the dramaturge Wolfgang Beck , broadcast: July 19, 1994 on MDR Kultur .
  8. a b Press release: Honorary award for Wolfgang Kohlhaase at the German Film Prize 2011. In: German Film Prize , February 22, 2011, video of the 2011 award ceremony.
  9. Audio interview on whiskey with vodka. In: Drehbuchautoren.de , 38:32 min. (Comments on Dresen towards the end of the interview)
  10. a b Andreas Dresen : Love, Death and Weather. A homage. In: Die Zeit , February 11, 2010, No. 7.
  11. ^ Ines Walk: Wolfgang Kohlhaase. Defa Foundation, accessed December 24, 2019 .
  12. cf. Press release. In: berlinale.de , December 3, 2009, accessed on September 19, 2018.
  13. Wolfgang Kohlhaase. In: filmportal.de. German Film Institute , accessed on April 7, 2016 .
  14. Photo: German Film Prize 2011. In: SZ , April 8, 2011 and in faz.net .
  15. after his radio play Questions to a Photo , Rundfunk der DDR 1969, reprinted in: Neue Deutsche Literatur , 1970, No. 1.
  16. after his radio play Die Grünstein -variant , Rundfunk der DDR, 1976
  17. This version received the Prix ​​Italia for radio drama in Venice in 1977.
  18. Cay Dobberke: Excellent Berliners. In: Der Tagesspiegel , October 5, 2007.
  19. ^ Dpa : Honorary award of the film art festival MV for screenwriter Kohlhaase. In: Die Welt , February 25, 2015.