Vlado Kristl Movies, TV Shows, and Filmography
Vlado Kristl
Directing
Biography
Vladislav "Vlado" Kristl (24 January 1923, Zagreb, Croatia – 7 July 2004, Munich, Germany) was a filmmaker and artist, best known for his animations and short films. Vladislav "Vlado" Kristl was born 24 January 1923 in Zagreb, Croatia.[citation needed] Kristl first came to international prominence for his formally challenging and rigorous animations, particularly Don Kihot (freely inspired by Cervantes' Don Quixote). The film is a "graphical and abstract masterpiece which went beyond all existing conventions" and was awarded the main prize at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. Kristl regarded this film, which was not his first, as the one where he "was finally given a free rein". In 1962 Kristl made General i resni clovek (The General and the real man), a satirical live action short film which got him into trouble with the board of censors. He died in 2004, aged 81, in Munich, Germany. With his partner Jelena he had two children, Madeleine (b. 1966) and Pepe Stephan (b. 1968). He published two books of poetry: Neznatna lirika (Insignificant lyrics, 1959), and Pet bijelih stepenica (Five white steps, 1961) in Croatian, and several books in German.
Filmography Movies
Acting
The Dam
In The Dam, although it is an experimental film, Kristl eschews the necessary earnestness in addressing his subject. The manufactured, unambiguously humorless profundity proffered up by other German contemporaries is absent here. Laughter is allowed. Kristl takes the dreadful liberty of tomfoolery, sending up himself, the characters, the action, "tragedy," and everything else, including the audience, that might be held sacred. Within the framework of the action, we recognize a love triangle, one of the simplest of dramatic configurations. Not only the basic idea, but also numerous particulars, both in subject and style, are reminiscent of the films of Roman Polanski, which Kristl doubtless saw and holds in esteem. We meet two men: one is meant to embody the outsider, the artistic, intellectual, individualist. The other looks like the embodiment of the well-to-do man, the burgher, the functionary, the capitalist. The two battle for the favor of an indecisive and domineering girl.
Poor People
Kristl was a member of the prestigious Zagreb Studio of Animation and his early works as painter and filmmaker had brought him instant acclaim and instant censorship. He fled Croatia and lived in Germany; he died there in 2004. Poor People, a “collective scream” of Cold War fear, was produced just after he left his country.
The Letter
T. finds a letter. Instead of just dropping it in a mailbox, he decides, conscientious as he is, to deliver it personally. He wanders the entire world, discovers astounding forms of existence, but cannot be hindered from his duty and keeps looking until he finally finds the address. There, he finds out that he has delivered his own judgment.
Car Race
Short film about car racing.
Neuer Deutscher Film Report
Interview film with the protagonists of the New German Cinema in 1966.
The General
Kristl plays a prisoner who can smile only when he sees The General.
...Geist und ein wenig Glück
Documentary about the current state of German cinema. Produced for German television.
The Pot
Allegory of a man who leads the people to destruction and then is reborn to recommence the cycle.
Production
Don Quixote
"Don Kihot" is a satirical, Klee-esque meditation about Don Quijote in the contemporary militaristic and regimentistic world.
The Dam
In The Dam, although it is an experimental film, Kristl eschews the necessary earnestness in addressing his subject. The manufactured, unambiguously humorless profundity proffered up by other German contemporaries is absent here. Laughter is allowed. Kristl takes the dreadful liberty of tomfoolery, sending up himself, the characters, the action, "tragedy," and everything else, including the audience, that might be held sacred. Within the framework of the action, we recognize a love triangle, one of the simplest of dramatic configurations. Not only the basic idea, but also numerous particulars, both in subject and style, are reminiscent of the films of Roman Polanski, which Kristl doubtless saw and holds in esteem. We meet two men: one is meant to embody the outsider, the artistic, intellectual, individualist. The other looks like the embodiment of the well-to-do man, the burgher, the functionary, the capitalist. The two battle for the favor of an indecisive and domineering girl.
The Dam
In The Dam, although it is an experimental film, Kristl eschews the necessary earnestness in addressing his subject. The manufactured, unambiguously humorless profundity proffered up by other German contemporaries is absent here. Laughter is allowed. Kristl takes the dreadful liberty of tomfoolery, sending up himself, the characters, the action, "tragedy," and everything else, including the audience, that might be held sacred. Within the framework of the action, we recognize a love triangle, one of the simplest of dramatic configurations. Not only the basic idea, but also numerous particulars, both in subject and style, are reminiscent of the films of Roman Polanski, which Kristl doubtless saw and holds in esteem. We meet two men: one is meant to embody the outsider, the artistic, intellectual, individualist. The other looks like the embodiment of the well-to-do man, the burgher, the functionary, the capitalist. The two battle for the favor of an indecisive and domineering girl.
School of the Postmodern
Postmodernism also has to be seen as a system, one that is acknowledged, one with which one can create houses, locomotives, films, everything... That has nothing to do with art. That is just a parlour game. - Vlado Kristl
Art Is Only Outside Human Society
Vlado Kristl rejected the word anarchy. Nor did he like the word utopia, nor the term experimental film. As a matter of fact, he didn't like any words if they weren't freed from the conventional ways of thinking. Following the shooting of "Kunst ist nur ausserhalb der Menschengesellschaft" he was only pleased when hardly anything he expressed in his poems performed, thrown and hurled against any hostile and alien environment by Carola Regnier was understood. - Markus Nechleba
The Last Clone
The Academy of Arts in Hamburg destroys all art and all artists. It seems as if a military unit has lined up for the final solution, it looks as if the whole of mankind has been assigned to carry out the liquidation of art. Is art dead? Yes. Art is definitely dead. All that is left to a human being is his 'I'.... - Vlado Kristl
Conference of the Homeless
Delegations of the homeless from all over the world march in. This is a film in which there is nothing to see. - Vlado Kristl
When People Were Still Living for Personal Reasons
The friends of humanity: the painter, the musician, the poet and the prima ballerina - and all others are the enemies of humanity. -Vlado Kristl
One Half of Wealth for One Half of Beauty
Anything that complies with standards is a wasted effort to Vlado Kristl: 'I believe in only doing those things that decompose and tear conventional systems apart.' Kristl's métier are borderlines. His paintings and animated films are interspersed with clear dividing lines, only for him to blur and mess them up. His graphics are scribbled over and over again until the whole surface becomes black. His oil paintings, unless someone buys them in time, are painted over and over again. He destroys any form that begins to grow. -Thomas Brandlmeier
Poor People
Kristl was a member of the prestigious Zagreb Studio of Animation and his early works as painter and filmmaker had brought him instant acclaim and instant censorship. He fled Croatia and lived in Germany; he died there in 2004. Poor People, a “collective scream” of Cold War fear, was produced just after he left his country.
Gallery
