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Image Movement

03. September 2013 - 20.30h | September 3rd, 2013 - 8.30 p.m.
Oranienburger Strasse 18 I 10178 Berlin-Mitte

(curated by Andreas Reihse)



Werkschau | Michael Brynntrup – FilmVideo

Michael Brynntrup ist ein experimenteller Filmemacher und Medienkünstler. Mit Kurzfilmen, häufig auf Super 8 gedreht, wurde er zum Posterboy des deutschen Undergroundfilms. In einer Variante eines Cinema of Transgression stellt er meist sich selbst in den Mittelpunkt seiner Arbeit und thematisiert dabei Themen wie Tod, Geburt, Narzissmus, aber auch Kritik der Medien und das Medium Film selbst. Brynntrup ist regelmässig Gast auf internationalen Filmfestivals, sein filmisches Werk wurde mehrfach ausgezeichnet. 2006 wurde er als Professor für Film/Video an die HBK Braunschweig berufen. – Bei Image Movement wird eine Auswahl aus Michael Brynntrups umfangreichem Filmschaffen gezeigt und durch ein Gespräch mit ihm ergänzt.
(Programmtext Image Movement Berlin, Juli 2013 - Andreas Reihse)

Michael Brynntrup is an experimental film-maker and media artist living in Berlin. With short movies, shot mostly on super 8mm, he became the poster child of German underground cinema in the 1980s. Soon he moved on to his personal version of a Cinema of Transgression,self-obsessive and self-abusive, focussing on issues like death, birth, narcissism, while simultaneously commenting on mass media and the medium of film itself.Brynntrup is a regular guest on international film festivals,where his films have won numerous prices. Since 2006 he is also a professor of film and video at HBK Braunschweig. – At Image Movement we will present a selection of work from Michael Brynntrup’s huge oeuvre, and speak with him regarding his practice as a film-maker.
(program notes Image Movement Berlin, July 2013 - Andreas Reihse)

[english]   [deutsch]




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FilmVideo-Programm | Film Video Program

NY 'NY 'n why not
NY 'NY 'n why not
4 min | 1999 | 35mm | col | stereo [MBCFILM#53]
(Musikfilm) | (music film)
BLUE BOX BLUES (die Inszenierung einer Fotografie)
BLUE BOX BLUES (Staging a Photo Shoot)
7:40 min | 2004 | DV | col | stereo [MBCFILM#63]
(Fotofilm) | (photo flick)
ZAUBEREI, das - Totentanz 5
MA(EGG)IC - Death Dance 5
4 min | 1989 | Super8 + 16mm | col | sound [MBCFILM#29]
PLÖTZLICH UND UNERWARTET (1.Teil)
SUDDEN AND UNEXPECTED (1st part)
6:20 min | 1993 | 16mm | bw | sound
INTERMEZZO (ZEICHEN UND WUNDER)
INTERMEZZO (SIGNS AND MIRACLES)
2 min | 1991 | 16mm | col | sound [MBCFILM#36]
AIDE MÉMOIRE - ein schwules Gedächtnisprotokoll
AIDE MÉMOIRE - Gay Document For Remembering
16:00 min | 1995 | BetaSP + 16mm | col | sound [MBCFILM#46]
(Dokumentarfilm) | (documentary)
TODESSTREIFEN - ein deutscher Film
THE DEATHSTRIP - A German Film
9 min | 1983 | Super8 + 35mm | col | sound [MBCFILM#02]
(Dreifachprojektion) | (triple projection)
DER RHEIN - ein deutsches Märchen
THE RHINE - A German Fairy Tale
11 min | 1983 | Super8 + 16mm | col | sound [MBCFILM#05]
(Heimatfilm) | (home movie)
IMAGEFILM_101010
IMAGEFILM_101010
1:35 min | 2010 | DV + flash | bw+col | stereo [MBCFILM#73]
(quadratischer Film) | (square film)
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UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL: MICHAEL BRYNNTRUP

Being used to a certain aesthetic presented in mainstream TV and cinema, people often find experimental short films strange and hard to digest. However the personal works of Michael Brynntrup, one of the most profilic German filmmakers working mainly on the underground circuit, are regarded as small jewels of cinematic culture that are very appealing and attract enthusiastic audiences.

Michael Brynntrup often performs the leading role in his movies. Yet his films are different than the films originating from an autobiographical filmmaking tradition in North America who use private lives as a form of artistic expression. When Michael Brynntrup exposes his subjectivity, it's not a one-to-one representation and he addreses always the human being in general. His films can be seen as experimental reflections of a narcissistic artist who presents himself as a man portraying himself to others who are supposed to recognise themselves in him.

"I see cinema, in essence, not as mass media, but as an individual experience that takes place in the mind of each viewer." (Michael Brynntrup) He leaves the audience to decide on the ambivalence of his work and to reflect on themselves while identifying with the exposed character in the film. As an experimental and independent filmmaker who sees his work as a medial self-reflection (film as metafilm) and working from a gay male perspective, he tries to direct his films to different contextual and technical limits. How well can reality be presented? What limits do morals and the media set? Despite his preoccupation with heavy existential themes of death and personal identity in his work, his vision is often ironic. He is able to integrate a personal diaristic strategy using humour and pathos to subvert, to create films which are both intimate and visually stunning.

(Tampere International Short Film Festival, catalogue March 2004 - Maarit Jaakkola)





Michael Brynntrup
Short-Biography


Born in Münster, Germany, 1959. Studied in Freiburg, Rome and Berlin. Master degree Fine Arts at the Braunschweig School of Art in 1991. Experimental poems, texts, paintings, photography, fotocopies, performances, installations and exhibitions since 1977. Over 70 experimental short films and videos since 1981, three feature films. Digital art in interactive media since 1995 (CD-ROM, DVD and internet).

Film exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art New York (1987, 1992 and 1999). Numerous international exhibitions and film awards. Organisation of avantgarde and gay film events for museums, institutions and international film festivals. Publications on Super8 and Off-Off-Cinemas. Guest lecturer on Experimental Film and Interactive Media (e.g. at Merz Akademie Stuttgart and at Beijing Normal University Zhuhai/China). Since 2006 Professor for Film/Video at Braunschweig University of Art. - The artist lives and works.


Personal notice: As an independant 'experimental' film-maker who sees his task in particular in a medial self-reflection (film as metafilm) I try to lead films in all its different forms to contextual and technical borders. (And naturally I make the viewers come along to these borders). I comprehend film in its essence not as a mass media but as an individual experience which takes place in the head of each viewer.




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Michael Brynntrup
Kurz-Biografie


Geboren 1959 in Münster/Westfalen, Studium Kunstgeschichte und Philosophie in Freiburg und Rom. Seit 1982 in Berlin, 1987-91 Studium Freie Kunst (Filmklasse der HBK Braunschweig, Prof.Büttenbender/Hein), 1991 Meisterschüler. Diverse Künste und Copyart seit 1977. Über 60 Filme und Video (drei Langfilmprojekte) seit 1981. Digitale Künste in interaktiven Medien seit 1995 (CD-ROM, DVD und internet).

'Film Exhibition' im Museum of Modern Art New York (1987, 1992 und 1999). Zahlreiche Werkschauen, viele Filmpreise, Organisation und Präsentation von Experimentalfilm-Reihen im In- und Ausland. Stipendiat des Kunstfonds e.V. Bonn (1993). Publikationen zu den Themen Super-Acht und Berliner Off-Off-Kinos. Gastdozenturen für experimentellen Film und interaktive Medien (u.a. an der Merz Akademie Stuttgart und an der Beijing Normal University Zhuhai/China). Seit 2006 Professor für Film/Video an der Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig. - Der Künstler lebt und arbeitet.


Persönliche Anmerkung: Als unabhängiger 'experimenteller' Filmemacher, der seine Aufgabe vor allem in einer medialen Selbstreflektion sieht (Film als Metafilm), versuche ich, Film in allen seinen Erscheinungsformen an dessen inhaltliche und technische Grenzen zu führen. (Und selbstverständlich nehme ich den Zuschauer immer mit an diese Grenzen). - Ich begreife Film in seinem Wesenskern nicht als Massenmedium, sondern als individuelles Erlebnis, das sich vor allem in den Köpfen jedes einzelnen Zuschauers abspielt.