Titel Kino 2/2001(2 Alternativ) - German Films

Muratti & Sarotti
MURATTI & SAROTTI – HISTORY OF GERMAN ANIMATION
60
Using a variety of camera and graphic techniques, this unique animated documentary traces
the development of animation as an art – and commercial – form in Germany. The camera
roams through a surrealist archive, with animated file drawers that open to reveal the stories
and films of such artists as Hans Richter, the noted surrealist, and Walter Ruttmann, whose
Berlin, Symphony of a City, started the documentary ”city poem“ movement. Towering above
the rest of them is the brilliant Oskar Fischinger, whose marvelously animated musical shorts
influenced Norman McLaren, and inspired Walt Disney to make Fantasia. In a near encyclopedic
approach, director Gockell finds the time to survey the accomplishments of lesserknown,
but exceptional talents like Peter Sachs and Oskar Fischinger’s younger brother Hans.
Moving from the heady days of the Weimar Republic through the Nazi period and into the
post-war era with its divided German states, Muratti & Sarotti demonstrates that an art,
once envisioned, can survive any political regime.
Genre Art, History, Educational Category Animation/
Documentary Cinema Year of Production 2000
Director Gerd Gockell Screenplay Gerd Gockell,
Kirsten Winter, Susanne Höbermann Director of
Photography Thomas Bartels Editor Wolf-Ingo Römer
Music by Arthur Honegger, Hanns Eisler Production
Design Holger Jaquet, Ute Heuer, Susanne Höbermann
Producers Gerd Gockell, Kirsten Winter Production
Company anigraf, Hanover Studio Shooting anigraf,
Hanover Length 80 min, 2189 m Format 35 mm, color,
1:1.66 Original Version German/English Subtitled
Version English Sound Technology Dolby SR Stereo
International Festival Screenings World Film
Festival Montreal 2000, Hot Docs Toronto 2000, Ottawa
Animation Fest 2000, Hiroshima 2000 With backing
from Filmförderung NDR German Distributor
Edition Salzgeber, Berlin
World Sales: please contact
anigraf · Gerd Gockell, Kirsten Winter
Bödekerstr. 92 · D-30161 Hanover
phone +49-5 11-66 01 65 · fax +49-5 11-66 73 27
www.muratti-und-sarotti.de · email: whats-her-name@t-online.de
Scene from ”Muratti & Sarotti“ (photo © anigraf)
Gerd Gockell, born in 1960 in Darmstadt,
studied Graphic Design and Film in Brunswick.
After working as a freelance animator for the
Hessische Rundfunk in Frankfurt, he moved to
London in 1988 and produced several animated
short films. Back in Hanover, he co-founded
anigraf-Filmproduktion in 1990. Since 1992, he
has been teaching Experimental Animation at
the Brunswick College of Fine Arts. In 2000, he
became a visiting professor in the Animation
Department at the Kassel Art College. His films
include: Crofton Road SE 5 (1990) – winner
of the Main Prize and Film Critics' Prize at
the Oberhausen Short Film Festival 1990,
Busy Body (1991), Miles, So What
(1993), Tossing Pies (1995), and The
Innocents Abroad (1998). Muratti &
Sarotti is his first feature film.