Interview Ron Holloway with Felix Neunzerling
ZOOM Medienfabrik Berlin, 30 January 2007
on occasion of Berlinale Kamera Award (16 February 2007)
ZOOM
Your career as a film journalist is directly connected to international
festivals. How long have you been associated with the „Berlinale“?
My first visit to the Berlinale was in 1965. At the time I will
spending a summer at the Cinematheque Francaise, „pirating“ rare film
prints from New York distributors to Henri Langlois for his archive.
Langlois gave me a courtesy pass to all Cinematheque screening. One
day, Lotte Eisner at the Cinematheque suggested that I visit the
Berlinale and see what the young German filmmakers were up to. So I
took an Air France flight to Tegel, at that time a barn instead of a
terminal, and spent a week at the Zoo Palast as an accredited
journalist for Film Society Review in New York.
ZOOM
When did you visit the Berlinale together with the „star“ of many
German movies, Dorothea Moritz?
That was 1968. I was a Rockefeller Fellow with a two year grant to live
and write in Paris. But the Student Revolution, first at Cannes,
then at the Sorbonne, drove me out of the city. I met Dorothea that
year at the Karlovy Vary film festival, held in June to accommodate
Western journalists swarming all over Prague. Of course, Alexander
Dubcek and „Prague Spring“ were the primary reasons, but „Czech New
Wave“ was just as interesting Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos´s. The Shop on
Main Street and Jiri Menzel´s Closely Watched Trains were recent Oscar
winners. Dorothea and I spent a lot of time together at the festival´s
Forum Roundtable discussions. It was an exciting time. So we agreed to
meet again a week later at the Berlinale. We saw Jean Marie Straub´s
Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach (The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach)
(1968) and Werner Herzog´s Lebenszeichen (Signs of Life) (1968). I
remember saying to Dorothea that Lotte Eisner was right. Anyway, to
make a long story short, Dorothea and I married in September of 1968.
ZOOM
Is that why you moved to Berlin to work at the Berlinale Love at first
sight?
When Wolf Donner was appointed the new director of the Berlinale in
1976, he asked me to join his selection committee. At that time he was
living in Hamburg and writing for Die Zeit. I think he was one of
Germany´s best film critics. I had just received my Doktor Theologie at
the University of Hamburg, when Variety in New York asked if I would be
interested to replace the late Hans Höhn as correspondent from Berlin.
The offer was too good to pass up: I was given Germany and Eastern
Europe as my territory to cover. So when Donner asked if I would join
him at the Berlinale as a member of the selection committee, I jumped
at the chance and worked as a selector during Donner“s three“year
tenure at the Berlinale. He also asked me to head the Info Schau, the
forerunner of today´s Panorama. Dorothea came with me to Berlin. Wolf
Donner was pleased, too, because he wanted her to screen films for the
new festival sections. For the next 19 years she remained on the
Berlinale selection committee for the Children“s Film Festival and did
the overtalk for young audiences.
ZOOM
Who joined you on the Berlinale selection committee?
It was pretty evenly divided between men and women. Regina Ziegler,
Jeanine Mehrapfel, Christel Märker, Michael Weinert, Kraft Wetzel, Wolf
Donner, and myself with Bodo Fründt, Jane Dawson, and Werner Gondolf
in the front office. Jane Dawson joined us from London, where she
edited the BFI Monthly. Bodo Fründt was, and is, a top journalist on
American and European Independent Cinema. Florian Hopf flew in from
München to handle chores on a daily Berlinale Journal. Together, under
the visionary Wolf Donner, we helped to launch an international film
festival with many attractions for the Berlin audience. Of course,
there was the International Forum of Young Cinema as well, but this
only made it more challenging and rewarding for all. After all, this
was the heyday of New German Cinema, a „movement moniker“ I coined in
Variety to embrace all the creative energy let loose in German cinema
at that time.
ZOOM
Is that also when you founded “KINO German Film“?
No. That was later, in 1978. To launch my idea for a German Film Tour
in the USA, Dorothea and I founded „KINO German Film“ to promote what
we consider the best in German cinema.
This year´s Berlinale issue,
KINO 88, is still supported by generous advertisers and the Goethe
Institute. I like to think that this example of press independence was
one of the reasons why I received the Bundesverdienstkreuz.
ZOOM
Did you have a hand in the 1977 Golden Bear for Larisa Shepitko´s
Aufstieg „The Ascent“?
If I did, then I am very proud of having supported that film with all
the possibilities at my disposal at that time. While viewing Soviet
films in Moscow at Goskino, Wolf Donner and I had to wrestle with Film
Minister Filipp Yermash to win his approval for this Berlinale entry.
Yermash, of course, wanted us to take a socialist realist Party film.
We won the argument by pointing out that we, too, would have a
difficult time at the Berlinale promoting a Russian film in which the
German Wehrmacht appeared to be less than human in dealing with
partisans in Belorussia. In retrospect, the only dilemma we faced at
the festival was a split jury. Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Derek
Malcolm, among others, supported the Robert Bresson entry. The tide was
turned when I asked Jerry Rappoport, the „Jack Valenti for Eastern
Europe,“ to introduce Larisa Shepitko to Ellen Burstein. She ended up
casting the deciding vote. For Dorothea and myself, it was an exciting
Berlinale, perhaps the best in its distinguished history.
ZOOM
When did you interview Sergei Parajanov for your documentary Parajanov,
A Requiem?
During the Filmfest München in July of 1988, when the Sergei Parajanov
Retrospective was programmed by Klaus Eder. Parajanov agreed to an
interview on the spot because we had spent time together in Baku the
year before, when he was editing Ashik Kerib, his last film. The
screenings were filled with Parajanov admirers, although many in the
press didn´t know what to make of him. So a documentary was planned.
The financing came out of own pocket. Kora Zeretelli, Parajanov´s close
friend, helped with the translation. Parajanov also took an instant
liking for Thomas Schwan, our cameraman. Dorothea´s presence was
another major confidence builder during the shooting. Our nephew,
Christoph Sedlag, drove me nightly to the Geyer Lab in München to copy
the 19 excerpts from his films used in the documentary. Everyone lent a
hand.
ZOOM
Why did it take so long to release Parajanov, A Requiem?
First of all, because Parajanov and I had agreed that this interview
would form the first half of a 90 minute documentary. The second half
would be made while he was shooting his autobiographical film, to be
titled Confession, the following spring in April of 1989. But he could
only complete a day of shooting, then was rushed to a hospital to have
a lung removed. I visited him at the hospital in Moscow to boost his
spirits a bit. Friends arranged for him to see more doctors in Paris.
All in vain , he died in 1990. After that setback, it took us four more
years to find the financing for the postproduction. The German TV
stations showed little or no interest; a puzzle to me to this very
day, for Parajanov ranks with Eisenstein and Tarkovsky as an
outstanding creative master in the history of cinema. It wasn´t until
Frank Löprich and Katrin Schlösser at Ö´film stepped in to help us
complete the film in 1994. Gordian Maugg helped, too, with the
postproduction, as did our editor Monika Schindler. Indeed, I can´t
tell you how many people helped in the meanwhile. The reward for this
long wait was an invitation to present Parajanov, A Requiem at the
Venice festival, followed by invitations to 30 more international film
festivals. When Planet TV, the French Documentary Cable Channel,
programmed the film, the French press responded enthusiastically,
particularly the critic at Le Monde. Currently, Don Krim at Kino
International in New York, is distributing DVDs of our documentary.
ZOOM
Any other special memories?
Just one. When Dorothea and I were invited last summer to attend the
Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan, we had the
oportunity to visit the Parajanov Museum. Two floors of collages,
painting, art objects of every sort from the life and times of Sergei
Parajanov. It takes your breath away. Later, at the Union of Armenian
Filmmakers, we were presented with a „Sergei Parajanov Museum Medal“ in
recognition of our documentary. It was, indeed, a proud moment.
ZOOM Medienfabrik Berlin, 30 January 2007
on occasion of Berlinale Kamera Award (16 February 2007)
 |
In photo (left to right): Dieter Kosslick, Dorothea Moritz, Ron Holloway Photo courtesy Fumiko Matsuyama. |
ZOOM
Your career as a film journalist is directly connected to international
festivals. How long have you been associated with the „Berlinale“?
| RON HOLLOWAY |
My first visit to the Berlinale was in 1965. At the time I will
spending a summer at the Cinematheque Francaise, „pirating“ rare film
prints from New York distributors to Henri Langlois for his archive.
Langlois gave me a courtesy pass to all Cinematheque screening. One
day, Lotte Eisner at the Cinematheque suggested that I visit the
Berlinale and see what the young German filmmakers were up to. So I
took an Air France flight to Tegel, at that time a barn instead of a
terminal, and spent a week at the Zoo Palast as an accredited
journalist for Film Society Review in New York.
ZOOM
When did you visit the Berlinale together with the „star“ of many
German movies, Dorothea Moritz?
| RON HOLLOWAY |
That was 1968. I was a Rockefeller Fellow with a two year grant to live
and write in Paris. But the Student Revolution, first at Cannes,
then at the Sorbonne, drove me out of the city. I met Dorothea that
year at the Karlovy Vary film festival, held in June to accommodate
Western journalists swarming all over Prague. Of course, Alexander
Dubcek and „Prague Spring“ were the primary reasons, but „Czech New
Wave“ was just as interesting Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos´s. The Shop on
Main Street and Jiri Menzel´s Closely Watched Trains were recent Oscar
winners. Dorothea and I spent a lot of time together at the festival´s
Forum Roundtable discussions. It was an exciting time. So we agreed to
meet again a week later at the Berlinale. We saw Jean Marie Straub´s
Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach (The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach)
(1968) and Werner Herzog´s Lebenszeichen (Signs of Life) (1968). I
remember saying to Dorothea that Lotte Eisner was right. Anyway, to
make a long story short, Dorothea and I married in September of 1968.
ZOOM
Is that why you moved to Berlin to work at the Berlinale Love at first
sight?
| RON HOLLOWAY |
When Wolf Donner was appointed the new director of the Berlinale in
1976, he asked me to join his selection committee. At that time he was
living in Hamburg and writing for Die Zeit. I think he was one of
Germany´s best film critics. I had just received my Doktor Theologie at
the University of Hamburg, when Variety in New York asked if I would be
interested to replace the late Hans Höhn as correspondent from Berlin.
The offer was too good to pass up: I was given Germany and Eastern
Europe as my territory to cover. So when Donner asked if I would join
him at the Berlinale as a member of the selection committee, I jumped
at the chance and worked as a selector during Donner“s three“year
tenure at the Berlinale. He also asked me to head the Info Schau, the
forerunner of today´s Panorama. Dorothea came with me to Berlin. Wolf
Donner was pleased, too, because he wanted her to screen films for the
new festival sections. For the next 19 years she remained on the
Berlinale selection committee for the Children“s Film Festival and did
the overtalk for young audiences.
ZOOM
Who joined you on the Berlinale selection committee?
| RON HOLLOWAY |
It was pretty evenly divided between men and women. Regina Ziegler,
Jeanine Mehrapfel, Christel Märker, Michael Weinert, Kraft Wetzel, Wolf
Donner, and myself with Bodo Fründt, Jane Dawson, and Werner Gondolf
in the front office. Jane Dawson joined us from London, where she
edited the BFI Monthly. Bodo Fründt was, and is, a top journalist on
American and European Independent Cinema. Florian Hopf flew in from
München to handle chores on a daily Berlinale Journal. Together, under
the visionary Wolf Donner, we helped to launch an international film
festival with many attractions for the Berlin audience. Of course,
there was the International Forum of Young Cinema as well, but this
only made it more challenging and rewarding for all. After all, this
was the heyday of New German Cinema, a „movement moniker“ I coined in
Variety to embrace all the creative energy let loose in German cinema
at that time.
ZOOM
Is that also when you founded “KINO German Film“?
| RON HOLLOWAY |
No. That was later, in 1978. To launch my idea for a German Film Tour
in the USA, Dorothea and I founded „KINO German Film“ to promote what
we consider the best in German cinema.
This year´s Berlinale issue,
KINO 88, is still supported by generous advertisers and the Goethe
Institute. I like to think that this example of press independence was
one of the reasons why I received the Bundesverdienstkreuz.
ZOOM
Did you have a hand in the 1977 Golden Bear for Larisa Shepitko´s
Aufstieg „The Ascent“?
| RON HOLLOWAY |
If I did, then I am very proud of having supported that film with all
the possibilities at my disposal at that time. While viewing Soviet
films in Moscow at Goskino, Wolf Donner and I had to wrestle with Film
Minister Filipp Yermash to win his approval for this Berlinale entry.
Yermash, of course, wanted us to take a socialist realist Party film.
We won the argument by pointing out that we, too, would have a
difficult time at the Berlinale promoting a Russian film in which the
German Wehrmacht appeared to be less than human in dealing with
partisans in Belorussia. In retrospect, the only dilemma we faced at
the festival was a split jury. Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Derek
Malcolm, among others, supported the Robert Bresson entry. The tide was
turned when I asked Jerry Rappoport, the „Jack Valenti for Eastern
Europe,“ to introduce Larisa Shepitko to Ellen Burstein. She ended up
casting the deciding vote. For Dorothea and myself, it was an exciting
Berlinale, perhaps the best in its distinguished history.
ZOOM
When did you interview Sergei Parajanov for your documentary Parajanov,
A Requiem?
| RON HOLLOWAY |
During the Filmfest München in July of 1988, when the Sergei Parajanov
Retrospective was programmed by Klaus Eder. Parajanov agreed to an
interview on the spot because we had spent time together in Baku the
year before, when he was editing Ashik Kerib, his last film. The
screenings were filled with Parajanov admirers, although many in the
press didn´t know what to make of him. So a documentary was planned.
The financing came out of own pocket. Kora Zeretelli, Parajanov´s close
friend, helped with the translation. Parajanov also took an instant
liking for Thomas Schwan, our cameraman. Dorothea´s presence was
another major confidence builder during the shooting. Our nephew,
Christoph Sedlag, drove me nightly to the Geyer Lab in München to copy
the 19 excerpts from his films used in the documentary. Everyone lent a
hand.
ZOOM
Why did it take so long to release Parajanov, A Requiem?
| RON HOLLOWAY |
First of all, because Parajanov and I had agreed that this interview
would form the first half of a 90 minute documentary. The second half
would be made while he was shooting his autobiographical film, to be
titled Confession, the following spring in April of 1989. But he could
only complete a day of shooting, then was rushed to a hospital to have
a lung removed. I visited him at the hospital in Moscow to boost his
spirits a bit. Friends arranged for him to see more doctors in Paris.
All in vain , he died in 1990. After that setback, it took us four more
years to find the financing for the postproduction. The German TV
stations showed little or no interest; a puzzle to me to this very
day, for Parajanov ranks with Eisenstein and Tarkovsky as an
outstanding creative master in the history of cinema. It wasn´t until
Frank Löprich and Katrin Schlösser at Ö´film stepped in to help us
complete the film in 1994. Gordian Maugg helped, too, with the
postproduction, as did our editor Monika Schindler. Indeed, I can´t
tell you how many people helped in the meanwhile. The reward for this
long wait was an invitation to present Parajanov, A Requiem at the
Venice festival, followed by invitations to 30 more international film
festivals. When Planet TV, the French Documentary Cable Channel,
programmed the film, the French press responded enthusiastically,
particularly the critic at Le Monde. Currently, Don Krim at Kino
International in New York, is distributing DVDs of our documentary.
ZOOM
Any other special memories?
| RON HOLLOWAY |
Just one. When Dorothea and I were invited last summer to attend the
Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan, we had the
oportunity to visit the Parajanov Museum. Two floors of collages,
painting, art objects of every sort from the life and times of Sergei
Parajanov. It takes your breath away. Later, at the Union of Armenian
Filmmakers, we were presented with a „Sergei Parajanov Museum Medal“ in
recognition of our documentary. It was, indeed, a proud moment.