Dr. Arnold Fanck, a legendary celebrity in the film world and unjustly forgotten, has been given a place in the Cinema Museum in Munich whichwas left a legacy by his heirs in 1995. The museum dedicated an important exhibition to Dr. Fanck in 1997. The name Arnold Fanck dies not mean much to most people, but when his films are metioned and Leni Riefenstahl and Luis Trenker (both discovered by Fanck) speak about him, then the name of this cinema pioneer returns to the limelight. In 1920, Arnold Fanck made his first film on skiing, "The Marvels of Skiing", after having already given the public views of the Monte Rosa glaciers in 1913. Other unforgettable fiction films followed like "The Mountain of Destiny", "The Mountain of Love", "The Tragedy of Piz Palù", "Storm on Mont Blanc", "White Breeze" and "SOS Iceberg". The best German cameramen, such as Sepp Allgeier, Albert Benitz, RIchard Angst and Hans Schneeberger, come for his actors as he expected them to be able to do everything. Despite offers from America and Japan, where he made the film "The Daughter of the Samurai", Fanck always remained loyal to his homeland where he began his career in 1913. The film makes use of a rich photographic and film documentation to tell us the story of Fanck's work, also with pictures that fascinated millions of viewers in his time.
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.