Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein (21 February 1939 – 21 August 2023) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

cinematographer The cinematographer or director of photography (sometimes shortened to DP or DOP) is the person responsible for the recording of a film, television production, music video or other live-action piece. The cinematographer is the chief of the camera ...

. He has collaborated with director

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; né Stipetić; born 5 September 1942) is a German filmmaker, actor, opera director, and author. Regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusu ...

on a number of projects. Among his many collaborations with other directors, Schmidt-Reitwein is known for shooting Alan Greenberg's acclaimed 1982

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

and death of

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

, '' Land of Look Behind''.

Biography

Early life and family

The son of painter Karl Schmidt-Reitwein, Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein was raised in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

. His mother Barbara was the niece of

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

s patron Max Linde and painters Hermann Linde and Heinrich Linde-Walther.

Early career

After attending

Waldorf school Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical ski ...

, Schmidt-Reitwein studied physics for a few semesters in

, before moving to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1959 to pursue a career in film. His career stalled when he was arrested in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

after being falsely accused of attempting to smuggle his girlfriend to West Berlin. Sentenced to five years imprisonment, he was released after three years when the West German government negotiated his freedom against 84,000 DM worth of butter.

Career as a cinematographer

Following his release from prison, Schmidt-Reitwein worked as a camera assistant in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. In 1969

offered him the chance to work on a documentary feature film as director of photography. The film '' Fata Morgana'' was widely praised by critics. Schmidt-Reitwein worked with Herzog on 17 more movies and documentary films. He also worked with several well known directors including

Douglas Sirk Douglas Sirk (born Hans Detlef Sierck; 26 April 1897 – 14 January 1987) was a German film director best known for his work in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. However, he also directed comedies, westerns, and war f ...

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Herbert Achternbusch Herbert Achternbusch ( Schild; 23 November 1938 – 10 January 2022) was a German film director, writer and painter. He began as a writer of avant-garde prose, such as the novel ''Die Alexanderschlacht'', before turning to low-budget films. He h ...

, Josef Bierbichler, H.C. Blumenberg,

Werner Schroeter Werner Schroeter (7 April 1945 – 12 April 2010) was a cinema of Germany, German film director, screenwriter, and opera director known for his stylistic excess. Schroeter was cited by Rainer Werner Fassbinder as an influence both on his own work ...

, Alan Greenberg, Valie Export, Doris Dörrie, , Markus Fischer, Douglas Wolfsperger and Andre Heller. He earned two German Film Prize trophies awarded in gold for his light speciality on two films he collaborated with Werner Herzog. Schmidt-Reitwein had worked in the Ludwigsburg Film Academy and the Film Academy of the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; ) is a Higher education in the Philippines#State universities and colleges, state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by List of Philippine laws, Re ...

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as a Lecturer. He also worked for TV, shooting commercials for Nike, DHL, MasterCard, Swiss Com and Mercedes-Benz.

Personal life

Schmidt-Reitwein was the father of five children. From his first marriage with Erika Kaul he is the father to his oldest daughter Iris Maria (b. 1966), from his second marriage with Susanne Rupprecht to son Tobias and daughters Lara and Lisa. Together with his third wife he has raised his youngest daughter Ana. At the end of his life he lived on a remote farm near Münchham, Ering,

Lower Bavaria Lower Bavaria (, ; ) is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of the state. It consists of nine districts and 258 municipalities (including three cities). Geography Lower Bavaria is subdivided into two ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Filmography (incomplete)

* '' Fata Morgana'' * '' The Great Ecstasy of Woodcarver Steiner'' * '' The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser'' * ''

Nosferatu the Vampyre ''Nosferatu the Vampyre'' () is a 1979 gothic horror film directed and written by Werner Herzog. The film serves as both a remake of the 1922 film ''Nosferatu'' and an adaptation of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel ''Dracula''. Herzog’s film is set i ...

'' * '' Heart of Glass'' * ''

Woyzeck ''Woyzeck'' () is a stage play written by Georg Büchner. Büchner wrote the play between July and October 1836, yet left it incomplete at his death in February 1837. The play first appeared in 1877 in a heavily edited version by Karl Emil F ...

'' * '' Land of Look Behind'' * '' Where the Green Ants Dream'' * '' Marmorera'' * '' Wie zwischen Himmel und Erde'' *'' Land of Silence and Darkness''

Awards

* 2 Federal Film Awards (Film ribbon in gold) * 2 nominations for the German Camera Prize * 1 nomination for the Festival de l image de Film (Chalon sur Soune) * Jury member Cameraimage 2001 * First Prize for DOP work on FANTASY FILM FESTIVAL 2007 in Málaga (Spain) * Honorary Award of the 11th edition of the Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote, 2018

References

External links

*
Official site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt-Reitwein, Joerg 1939 births Film people from Brandenburg German cinematographers 2023 deaths People from Königs Wusterhausen People from the Province of Brandenburg Waldorf school alumni