ABOUT THE IDEA OF THE FILM

When the curator of the upcoming exhibition about Philipp Otto Runge in the Hamburger Kunsthalle asked me to make a film about the artist, the museum was in conflict with the Hamburg senate about founding. At the end of long discussions to find a satisfactory solution for both sides, the museum was under pressure to find a way to survive and ultimately the director decided to close down two floors of the museum’s contemporary section.

I was shocked by this decision and as a film-maker, my reaction was to express something which would show the passion of work by an artist like Runge and also the passion for work of the museum’s active stuff in putting on an exhibition and finally to pay homage to a big artist.

I decided to integrate the artist and the exhibition system in the same film.  Taking into consideration the curator‘s and director‘s wishes, a part of the film should include the new results discovered in the restoration studio about Runge‘s paintings. In my research about him, I discovered that Runge himself showed the lines of construction in his paintings and drawings. So it was important for me to work in the same way and to show the process of thinking and developing the concept of the exhibition, just like Runge‘s construction lines on his canvas. We are behind the frame, inside the canvas, behind the scene of the exhibition…


COSMOS RUNGE

The Dawn of romanticism

Trailer auf You Tube


Featuring: Hubertus Gassner, Jenns Howoldt, Patrick Kragelund, Paul Runge, Ursula Sdunnus, Gudrun Hildebrandt, Pastor Christian Ohm, Viola Moeckel, Andreas Stolzenburg, Mark Bertsch and Silvia Castro

Sung by Steffen Wolf,  spoken by James Sanderson with music by Henry Altman performed by Vladislav Sendecki (piano),  Turo Grolimund (flute) and Henry Altmann (bass, glockenspiel).



Concept & realisation: Nathalie David 

Written by Nathalie David and Ulrike Cappenberg 

Camera: Nathalie David, Oliver Lammert 

Lighting: Oliver Lammert

Production manager: Ulrike Cappenberg 

Sound: Madeleine Dewald, Lucie David

Voice recording: Carsten Dane, Voice in TIme Hamburg

Music and vocals recording: Matthias Schwarz-Tkotz, Milchkette Musik 2.0 

Sound mixing: Clemens Endreß 

Post-production: DOCK 43, Hamburg


93 Min. DVD  colour, 16:9,  Language: German with english subtitles,available in Blue Ray

On behalf of the Hamburg Kunsthalle, sponsored by the Philipp Otto Runge Foundation and the Hamburg Ministry of Culture

With the support of: Museum Wolgast, Pomeranian State Museum, Museum of Arts and Crafts, Hamburg Museum, Studio Andreas Heller |architects & designers and State Art Library in Copenhagen.




The quiet, poetic tones of this film about Philipp Otto Runge (who is, with Caspar David Friedrich, the most important painter of German Romanticism) are brought to words. Nathalie David takes us into his mind through spoken and sung excerpts from his letters and poems. We meet the artist in his correspondence with family members and close contemporaries, in his reflections on himself, his art and his life. The author immerses us in long, quiet picture settings in the style of Philipp Otto Runge, while close-ups bring to the eye details which usually remain hidden to the sight of the beholder. The film visits places which were of major influence in the life and work of the artist, follows discussions with art historians about the life of the painter and takes the observer through the course of Runge’s life to help perceive the many facets of his work. The viewer is taken behind the scenes of the museum world, which are otherwise hidden. In many different ways, the film provides insight into the works of Runge through the perspective of the  conservators and the curators.

Nathalie David shows with her film that the spirit of  Romanticism has remained intact up to the present day. 


© 2010 PITCHOUN PRODUCTION and the Hamburger Kunsthalle

© 2010 PITCHOUN PRODUCTION and the Hamburger Kunsthalle

© Ulrike Cappenberg

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