Edgar Reitz (born 1 November 1932) is a German

filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...

and Professor of Film at the

Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung The Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG) is a state art college founded in 1992 in Karlsruhe. It focuses on media art, communication design , product design , exhibition design and scenography, art research and media philosophy with ...

(State University of Design) in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the German States of Germany, state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital o ...

. He is best-known for his internationally acclaimed '' Heimat film series'' (1984-2013).

Early life and education

Reitz was born in Morbach,

Hunsrück The Hunsrück () is a long, triangular, pronounced upland in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the valleys of the Moselle-Saar (north-to-west), the Nahe (south), and the Rhine (east). It is continued by the Taunus mountains, past ...

. His father Robert was a watchmaker and his business in Morbach was later taken over by Reitz's brother Guido. Reitz's interest in acting and producing plays began in his school years in Simmern, where he was encouraged by his German teacher Karl Windhäuser. After taking his

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen yea ...

, he studied

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German ...

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

and theatre studies in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

from 1952. His first experiences in film-making however were not theoretical; he worked as a camera, editing, and production assistant from 1953. His interests in the advancement of new developments in film went as far as he cooperated with

Wolfgang Georgsdorf Wolfgang Paul Georgsdorf (born 10 September 1959 in Linz, Austria) is an Austrian media artist, director, sculptor, musician, author, researcher, and inventor based in Berlin. He was founder and spokesman of Opal-so-nicht which resulted in a suc ...

and his ''

Osmodrama Osmodrama: from the Greek osme (smell) and the ancient Greek dráma (plot), describes the performance of time-based olfactory art using the experimental scent-playing ‘organ’ Smeller 2.0, as well as the festival Osmodrama – Storytelling with ...

'' in 2016 which led to a complete scent synchronisation of his movie “home from home” which premiered as an allegedly well functioned cinema on 17 July 2016.

Institut für Filmgestaltung

In 1963 along with

Alexander Kluge Alexander Kluge (born 14 February 1932) is a German author, philosopher, academic and film director. Early life, education and early career Kluge was born in Halberstadt, Province of Saxony (now Saxony-Anhalt), Germany. After growing up durin ...

he founded the ''Institut für Filmgestaltung'' (Institute for Film Design) which was affiliated to the Ulm School of Design, where he taught

film directing A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and camera theory until the School of Design closed in 1968. As part of the group around Kluge, Reitz was a participant in the Oberhausen Manifesto which was announced at the

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European ...

Short Film Festival of 1962. With this manifesto young German filmmakers demanded nothing less than a new form of cinema: "Der alte Film ist tot. Wir glauben an den neuen." ("The old film is dead. We believe in the new film"). The manifesto is associated with the motto "Papas Kino ist tot" ("Papa's cinema is dead"). Subsequently, the concept of the

auteur An auteur (; , 'author') is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique ...

gained in popularity in Germany, and Reitz played a significant role in shaping this concept in the following years.

Awards

Reitz received one of his first awards for his film ''Mahlzeiten'' which was awarded the prize for best debut work at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

in 1967. In 1971 he founded Edgar Reitz Filmproduktion (ERF) in Munich. He now began to collaborate on films with his former academic colleague

amongst them the 1974 fictitious documentary ''In Gefahr und größter Not bringt der Mittelweg den Tod''. The lavish production costs of the 1979 film '' The Tailor of Ulm'', which portrays the downfall of the aviation pioneer Albrecht Berblinger, caused Reitz's own financial circumstances to suffer. The film was entered into the 11th Moscow International Film Festival. It was during this crisis that the idea for a film project about his homeland, the

, first came to Reitz. What began as an attempt at self-discovery, ultimately broadened out into the '' Heimat'' trilogy (from 1984), which met with critical acclaim, an enthusiastic international audience, and numerous prizes. With this epic and monumental production, Reitz achieved a quite new perspective, an approach, both poetical and realistic, to the past of Germany as it might have played out in the provinces. In 2004 Reitz was awarded the Carl Zuckmayer Medal by the state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

for his life's work. In the same year, he received the Master of Cinema Award of the

International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (german: Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg), often referred to by the German-language initialism IFFMH, is an annual film festival established in 1952 hosted jointly by the citi ...

. Reitz is married to the singer and actress Salome Kammer (who appeared in Heimats 2 and 3) and lives in Munich. He is an atheist.Matteo Galli, ''Edgar Reitz'', Il Castoro, 2006, p. 25.

Selected filmography

* '' Lust for Love'' (''Mahlzeiten'') (1967) * '' Cardillac'' (1970) * '' Trip to Vienna'' (''Die Reise nach Wien'') (1973) * ''

In Danger and Deep Distress, the Middleway Spells Certain Death ''In Danger and Deep Distress, the Middleway Spells Certain Death'' () is a 1974 drama film directed by Alexander Kluge and Edgar Reitz. It is set in Frankfurt and tells the story of two women, one who sleeps with many men and steals their wallet ...

'' (''In Gefahr und größter Not bringt der Mittelweg den Tod'') (1974) (co-director:

) * ''

Zero Hour Zero Hour may refer to: * Midnight, or 00:00 * Zero hour (1945), the capitulation of the Nazi government at midnight May 8, 1945 * Zero Hour (military designation), the scheduled time for the start of some event, especially a military operation ...

'' (''Stunde Null'') (1977) * "Grenzstation" in ''Germany in Autumn'' (''Deutschland im Herbst'') (1978) * ''

The Tailor from Ulm ''The Tailor from Ulm'' (german: Der Schneider von Ulm) is a 1978 West German drama film directed by Edgar Reitz, of ''Heimat'' fame. It is the true story of a German pioneer aviator, Albrecht Berblinger, in the late 18th century. It was ente ...

'' (''Der Schneider von Ulm'') (1978) * '' Heimat'' (1984, TV series) * '' Home from Home'' (''Die andere Heimat'') (2013)

Miscellaneous

* ''

Eight Hundred Times Lonely ''Eight Hundred Times Lonely'' or 800 Times Lonely - One Day with German Filmmaker Edgar (german: 800 Mal Einsam - Ein Tag mit dem Filmemacher Edgar Reitz) is a 2019 German documentary film directed by Anna Hepp about the German film director Edg ...

'' (''800 Mal Einsam – Ein Tag mit dem Filmemacher Edgar Reitz'') (2019), film portrait of Edgar Reitz by the German filmmaker Anna Hepp

Sources

This article is derived principally from the German Wikipedia article of the same name and the sources listed there.

External links

Edgar Reitz's official website
*

(via UC Berkeley)

from

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

Long article about Reitz and Heimat
by Carole Angier, from Sight and Sound, 1991
heimat123.de: substantial archive with information, reports, discussion and material about Edgar Reitz and his films

Heimat fan page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reitz, Edgar 1932 births Living people People from Bernkastel-Wittlich People from the Rhine Province German atheists Mass media people from Rhineland-Palatinate Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin