Archive 2009
Portrait Gerd Gockell - Programme
Muratti & Sarotti - Geschichte des Deutschen Trickfilms 1920-1960
Director: Gerd Gockell, D 1999, 80 min, 35mm/DigiBeta, colour, GV
Previously ignored fragments of film history are tracked down on a journey through a surreal archive. Using various animation techniques, original documents and animated interview collages, the film shows the work of German Animation Filmmakers since the 1920s.
In addition to works by animation pioneers such as Oskar Fischinger and Walter Ruttmann, the film also documents the work of less famous filmmakers such as Peter Sachs, Rudolf Pfenninger and Herbert Seggelke, who also had a lasting impact on cinematic history.
Crofton Road SE.5
Director: Gerd Gockell, D 1990, 5 min, 16mm, colour
A street, houses, tube tunnels - the atmospheric picture of a part of London. Using photography as a medium, movement is stripped down into individual images and reconstructed into collage-like flows of movement via the camera.
Busy Body - Das Interesse am Nachbarn war nie größer
Director: Gerd Gockell, D 1991, 5 min, 16mm, bw
An abstract compilation based on the PERFORMANCE FÜR WEST-DEUTSCHLAND by Sabine Buerger - with an animated background by the painter Ute Heuer.
Miles! So what?
Director: Gerd Gockell, D 1993, 4 min, 35mm, colour
Animierte Bildcollagen dokumentieren biografische Stationen im Leben des Jazz Trompeters Miles Davis.
Tossing Pies
Director: Gerd Gockell, D 1995, 3 min, 35mm, colour
From just a few seconds of “Battle of the Century” starts a game between abstraction and perceptibility.
The Innocents Abroad
Director: Gerd Gockell, D 1998, 10 min, 35mm, colour
Loosely based on Samuel L. Clemens satirical travelogue, this film uses photo-collages and watercolors to poke fun at the intolerance and ignorance towards other cultures portrayed in the book. Whether they are confronted with Michelangelo's masterpieces, the Colombo statues in Genua or ancient Egyptian pharaohs' mummies, these 'innocents' know no bounds.
Restored Weekend
Director: Gerd Gockell/Kirsten Winter, D 2004, 5 min, 35mm
A fictitious discovery based on Walter Ruttmann’s audio play ”Weekend” from 1930 – the first ever abstract sound collage. Conceived originally as a sound collage with the simultaneous projection of black film, in its ”restored” version the film documents the traces of time. The question as to whether Walter Ruttmann ever thought about adding pictures to his sound collage remains open.
Optical Percussion
Director: Gerd Gockell, D 2008, 4:20 min, 35mm, colour
OPTICAL PERCUSSION is a ficticious reconstruction of a film by John Cage and Oskar Fischinger.
In 1937 Fischinger and the then unknown Cage met to develop a film project with music composed by Cage. Although this project was never been realized due to an accident, Fischinger’s ideas about sound had a deep influence on Cage’s later work as a composer. Whether this reconstruction comes close to Fischinger’s and Cage’s intention remains open.
Kampf dem Kino
Director: Gerd Gockell/Ute Heuer, D 2002, 5 min, 35mm, colour
A wicked educational- and propagandafilm about the damage inflicted by visiting the cinema.
7 Trailer für das filmfest Braunschweig
Director: Gerd Gockell, D 1990-2001, 7x1 min, 35mm, colour
Gerd Gockell has been closely connected to Braunschweig International filmfest. Between 1990 and 2001 he created seven festival trailers which on this occasion return to the screen.