- published: 09 Dec 2014
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Bertolt Brecht (German: [ˈbɛɐ̯tɔlt ˈbʁɛçt] ( listen); born Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (help·info); 10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956) was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.
An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner Ensemble – the post-war theatre company operated by Brecht and his wife, long-time collaborator and actress Helene Weigel.
Bertolt Brecht was born in Augsburg, Bavaria, (about 50 miles (80 km) north-west of Munich) to a conventionally-devout Protestant mother and a Catholic father (who had been persuaded to have a Protestant wedding). His father worked for a paper mill, becoming its managing director in 1914. Thanks to his mother's influence, Brecht knew the Bible, a familiarity that would impact on his writing throughout his life. From her, too, came the "dangerous image of the self-denying woman" that recurs in his drama. Brecht's home life was comfortably middle class, despite what his occasional attempt to claim peasant origins implied. At school in Augsburg he met Caspar Neher, with whom he formed a lifelong creative partnership, Neher designing many of the sets for Brecht's dramas and helping to forge the distinctive visual iconography of their epic theatre.
Actors: Larry Groupé (composer), John Scacco (actor), AJ Anable (actor), Matthew Shelton (actor), Sean Mitchell (editor), Angie Lawing (producer), Sean Mitchell (producer), Sean Mitchell (writer), Sean Mitchell (director), Andrew Rink (actor), Bret Grantham (actor), Philip Estrin (actor), Fritz Zimmerman (actor), Helen Jang Mitchell (producer), Tatjana Dzambazova (actor),
Genres: Biography, Drama, History, Short,Actors: Todd Boyce (actor), Martin Sherman (actor), Gabrielle Scharnitzky (actress), Radoslaw Kaim (actor), Robert Eliot (actor), Chris Johnston (miscellaneous crew), Kate Forbes (costume designer), Thorston Manderlay (actor), Katrine Bach (actress), Fredrick Ruth (actor), Joe Grossi (actor), Thorsten Nickel (actor), Chris Rogers (actor), Birgitta Bernhard (actress), Kate Parker (producer),
Plot: The Empty Plan contrasts scenes from Brecht's exile in Los Angeles (1941 to 1947) with productions of his 1931 play The Mother in the late Weimar Republic, New Deal America and post-war East Germany, exploring different modes of performance and their relation to changing historical and political circumstances. The title of the film is taken from Brecht's Messingkauf Dialogues, an unfinished theoretical work written during his exile, which considers the possibilities of 'committed art' and its practical, theoretical and formal limits at a time when revolutionary mass movements had been defeated and theatre was supplanted by Hollywood cinema as the dominant form of popular entertainment. Through the figures of Brecht, his collaborator Ruth Berlau and his wife, the actress Helene Weigel, the film reflects on conflicting personal, artistic and political ambitions, raising questions about the nature of art and the unrealised dream of its supersession through revolutionary practice.
Keywords: art, hollywood-exile, theatreActors: Todd Boyce (actor), Martin Sherman (actor), Gabrielle Scharnitzky (actress), Radoslaw Kaim (actor), Robert Eliot (actor), Chris Johnston (miscellaneous crew), Kate Forbes (costume designer), Thorston Manderlay (actor), Katrine Bach (actress), Fredrick Ruth (actor), Joe Grossi (actor), Thorsten Nickel (actor), Chris Rogers (actor), Birgitta Bernhard (actress), Kate Parker (producer),
Plot: The Empty Plan contrasts scenes from Brecht's exile in Los Angeles (1941 to 1947) with productions of his 1931 play The Mother in the late Weimar Republic, New Deal America and post-war East Germany, exploring different modes of performance and their relation to changing historical and political circumstances. The title of the film is taken from Brecht's Messingkauf Dialogues, an unfinished theoretical work written during his exile, which considers the possibilities of 'committed art' and its practical, theoretical and formal limits at a time when revolutionary mass movements had been defeated and theatre was supplanted by Hollywood cinema as the dominant form of popular entertainment. Through the figures of Brecht, his collaborator Ruth Berlau and his wife, the actress Helene Weigel, the film reflects on conflicting personal, artistic and political ambitions, raising questions about the nature of art and the unrealised dream of its supersession through revolutionary practice.
Keywords: art, hollywood-exile, theatreActors: Raphael Sbarge (actor), Sigourney Weaver (actress), Sewell Whitney (actor), Sewell Whitney (actor), Peter Rodgers Melnick (composer), Scott Beehner (actor), Vaughn Armstrong (actor), Scott Subiono (actor), Margaret Smilow (producer), Kevin Fabian (actor), Robert Maffia (actor), George Alvarez (actor), Kristin Lindquist (actress), Anny Lowery Meza (editor), Lesli Margherita (actress),
Plot: Eight hundred German filmmakers (cast and crew) fled the Nazis in the 1930s. The film uses voice-overs, archival footage, and film clips to examine Berlin's vital filmmaking in the 1920s; then it follows a producer, directors, composers, editors, writers, and actors to Hollywood: some succeeded and many found no work. Among those profiled are Erich Pommer, Joseph May, Ernst Lubitsch, Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, and Peter Lorre. Once in Hollywood, these exiles helped each other, housed new arrivals, and raised money so others could escape. Some worked on anti-Nazi films, like Casablanca. The themes and lighting of German Expressionism gave rise in Hollywood to film noir.
Genres: Documentary,Actors: Josef Bierbichler (actor), Samuel Finzi (actor), Monica Bleibtreu (actress), Jeanette Hain (actress), John Cale (composer), Elfriede Irrall (actress), Jan Schütte (director), Jan Schütte (producer), Ulrich Matthes (actor), Slawomir Holland (actor), Birgit Minichmayr (actress), Klaus Pohl (writer), Ilja Zmiejew (actor), Paul Herwig (actor), Claudius Freyer (actor),
Genres: Biography, Comedy, Drama,Actors: Nils Brandt (actor), Hans Dahlin (director), Hans Dahlin (writer), Bert Sundberg (producer), Palle Granditsky (actor), Olle Björling (actor), Marianne Wallin (miscellaneous crew), Gertrud Fridh (actress), Maria Strid (actress), Gun Arvidsson (actress), Per Waldvik (actor), Eva Lagercrantz (actress), Carl-Henning Wijkmark (writer), Mattias Franzén (actor),
Genres: Drama,