WER WAR ARNOLD FANCK?
WER WAR ARNOLD FANCK?
Hans Jürgen Panitz
Germany / 1989 / 94'
WER WAR ARNOLD FANCK?
Hans Jürgen Panitz
Germany / 1989 / 94'

A peculiar triad that lies in no-man's-land between art and politics is personified by Arnold Fanck, the pioneer of mountain filming who died in 1974. He invented original filming techniques and a was a fussy film-maker who helped to launch Trenker and Riefenstahl. Fanck was the first to assert the idea of drama in alpine nature and exalt it in his work. He achieved great success with films such as "Das Wunder des Schneeschuhs" ("The mountain of destiny), "Der heilige Berg" (The sacred mountain) and "Die weisse Hoelle vom Piz Palu" (The Tragedy of Piz Palu). With his famous "Freiburg School" he was creator of a heroic design that was adopted and distorted by nazism. The film is a portrait of Arnold Fanck with contributions by Trenker and Riefenstahl. The author tries to assess the Franck legend and emphasize the persisting influence of his ideas on film artists.

Director

Hans Jürgen Panitz

Hans Jürgen Panitz was born at Ludwigshafen am Rhein. After completing his high school studies he worked at the Bayerischer Rundfunk until 1965, in the programme acquisition and international relationship departments. Since 1968 he has been producer, director and screenwriter for Omega Film and has also been in charge of the acquisition and sale of movies and television rights. In 1970, he met Luis Trenker. From then until the death of the great German director he devoted himself to making his work known through both cinema and television. He wrote a biography of Trenker with Notteboh titled Fast ein Jahrhundert. In 1989, in Trento, he presented a film about Arnold Fanck’s life, the pioneer of the mountain cinema, titled Wer war Arnold Fanck. He also participated at the TrentoFilmfestival in 1996 with Luis Trenker Project: I am a movieman and in 1999 with the movies Matterhorn - Das ist der Gipfel and In Eis und Schnee.