Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky (1995)

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Sebastian Andrae (writer)
Henrick Heckmann (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

28 November 1995 (Germany)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

A rare gem of cinematic storytelling that weaves docudrama, fictional reenactment, and experimental photography into a powerful...

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Stefan Barber	...	Ringkampf boxer
Wiebke Bayer	...	Italienischer Bauerntanz dancer
Nadine Buettner	...	Gertrud Skladanowsky
Mehmet Ali Ceyhanli	...	Ringkampf boxer
Daniele Drobny	...	Acrobat
Florian Gallenberger	...	Himself
Larissa H. Gomez	...	Italienischer Bauerntanz dancer
Lucie Hürtgen-Skladanowsky	...	Herself
George Inci	...	Russian dancer / Ringkampf boxer
Jürgen Jürges	...	Himself
Leon Jürges	...	Acrobat
Marianna Kawka	...	Josephine Skladanowky
Udo Kier	...	Max Skladanowsky
Lali Kovacz	...	Acrobat / Ringkampf boxer
German Kral	...	Himself
Angelika Kraml	...	Boxer versus kangaroo
Michael Krauss	...	Komisches Reck comedian
Otto Kuhnle	...	Emil Skladanowsky
Bodo Werner Lang	...	Postman
Ludwig Lichl	...	Louis Lumière
Christoph Merg	...	Eugen Skladanowsky
Hans Moser	...	Baron
Brygida Ochaim	...	Mademoiselle Ancion
Diego Patschenko	...	Komisches Reck comedian
Barbara Rohm	...	Herself
Romeo	...	The boxing kangaroo
Thomas Rosié	...	Dorn
Lena Rüssman	...	Acrobat
Alfred Sczczot	...	Der Spion
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Hochradfahrer
Wim Wenders	...	Milkman / Coalman / Himself
Manfred Wopalka	...	Auguste Lumière
Rolf Zacher	...	Max Skladanowky (voice)

Directed by
Wim Wenders

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Sebastian Andrae		writer
Henrick Heckmann		writer
Veit Helmer		writer
German Kral		writer
Barbara Rohm		writer
Alina Theodorescu		writer
Wim Wenders		writer

Produced by
Veit Helmer	....	producer
Wolfgang Längsfeld	....	producer: HFF

Original Music by
Laurent Petitgand

Cinematography by
Jürgen Jürges

Film Editing by
Peter Przygodda

Production Design by
Andreas Schroll		(as Andreas H. Schroll)
Michael Wildt

Costume Design by
Katrin Kath
Inez Raatzke		(first part)

Makeup Department
Jens Bartram	....	makeup artist
Sigrid Groppler	....	makeup artist
Heide Haß	....	makeup artist
Nicola Herrmann	....	makeup artist
Tatjana Luckdorf	....	makeup artist
Julia Schlotke	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Benedikte Baumann	....	unit manager
Florian Gallenberger	....	unit manager
Veit Helmer	....	production manager
Stefan Kornatz	....	unit production manager
German Kral	....	post-production supervisor
Oliver Lüer	....	unit manager
Stefan Mohr	....	unit production manager
Nikolaus Prediger	....	production supervisor
Ralph Remstedt	....	production manager
Barbara Rohm	....	post-production supervisor
Kathrin Rohm	....	unit manager (as Katrin Rohm)
Gabi Scheiger	....	production manager (as Gabriele Scheiger)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Carlos Álvarez	....	assistant director
Sebastian Andrae	....	assistant director
Sorin Dragoi	....	assistant director
Peter Fuchs	....	assistant director
Carsten Funke	....	assistant director
Florian Gallenberger	....	assistant director
Markus Hansen	....	assistant director
Henrick Heckmann	....	assistant director
Veit Helmer	....	assistant director
German Kral	....	assistant director
Björn Kurt	....	assistant director
Bodo Werner Lang	....	assistant director (as Bodo Lang)
Matthias Lehmann	....	assistant director
Eva Munz	....	assistant director
Stephan Puchner	....	assistant director
Barbara Rohm	....	assistant director
Britta Sauer	....	assistant director
Marcus Schmidt	....	assistant director
Alina Theodorescu	....	assistant director

Art Department
Birgit Dunkel	....	assistant art director
Kaspar Falkenroth	....	constructor
Axel Garbrecht	....	constructor
Klaudia Gössel	....	constructor
Susanne Grossart	....	assistant art director
Lali Kovacz	....	artistic advisor
Bodo Werner Lang	....	assistant art director (as Bodo Lang)
Marco Minierski	....	assistant art director (as Marco Miniersky)
Mauro Podini	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Jörg Diernberger	....	assistant sound
Hartmut Eichgrün	....	sound re-recording mixer
Florian Gallenberger	....	assistant sound
Heino Herrenbrück	....	sound mixer
Anne Schnee	....	sound editor
Christian Wegner	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Carlos Álvarez	....	still photographer
Silvia Beck	....	first assistant camera
Klaus Bieling	....	gaffer
Sorin Dragoi	....	electrician
Jost Engel	....	gaffer
Bernd Fischer	....	electrician
Carsten Funke	....	electrician
Andreas Giesecke	....	first assistant camera
Oliver Haas	....	electrician
Oliver Haas	....	lighting technician
Sönke Hansen	....	electrician
Henrick Heckmann	....	electrician
German Kral	....	second assistant camera
Björn Kurt	....	electrician
Matthias Lehmann	....	electrician
Michael Muller	....	best boy electric
Stephan Puchner	....	electrician (as Stefan Puchner)
Barbara Rohm	....	second assistant camera
Britta Sauer	....	still photographer
Peter Steuger	....	first assistant camera
Bjoern Susen	....	electrician (as Björn-Yves Susen)
Carsten Thiele	....	second assistant camera
Jutta Tränkle	....	electrician

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Petra Kather	....	assistant costume designer

Editorial Department
German Kral	....	assistant editor
Eva Munz	....	assistant editor
Barbara Rohm	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Sabine Andert	....	musician: cello
Ulrich Bartel	....	musician: violin
Marco Birkner	....	music recording
Daniel Favre	....	assistant to Laurent Petitgand
Daniel Favre	....	musician: percussions
Michael Krayer	....	musician: cello
Laurent Petitgand	....	arranger
Laurent Petitgand	....	musician: keyboards and saxophone
Jörg Straßburger	....	musician: accordion

Other crew
Sebastian Andrae	....	script supervisor
Jolanda Darbyshire	....	production coordinator
Manfred Durhak	....	traffic controller
Andrea Gebert	....	production administrator
Sigrid Hoerner	....	production assistant
German Kral	....	script supervisor
Eva Munz	....	script supervisor
Tanja Rohmann	....	production coordinator
Barbara Rohm	....	script supervisor
Kathrin Rohm	....	researcher (as Katrin Rohm)
Johannes Schorch	....	production assistant (as Jo Schorch)
Anke Steinbacher	....	production assistant
Martina Suckow	....	production administrator
Spiro Taraviras	....	student mentor (as Spiro N. Taraviras)
Alina Theodorescu	....	script supervisor (as Alina Teodorescu)
Bernadette Werrelmann	....	production assistant

Thanks
Catherine Coste	....	special thanks
Jolanda Darbyshire	....	special thanks
Nadja Engel	....	special thanks
Conrad F. Geier	....	special thanks
Agnès Godard	....	special thanks
Kurt Grusser	....	special thanks
Leon Jürges	....	special thanks
Gunther Kortwich	....	special thanks
Barbara Kupferer-Cordts	....	special thanks
Hans-Joachim Rabs	....	special thanks
Markschieß van Trix	....	special thanks
Donata Wenders	....	special thanks
Frau Winkler	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) (collaboration)
• Bundesministerium des Inneren (BMI) (collaboration)
• Filmförderungsanstalt (collaboration)
• Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München (HFF)
• Veit Helmer Filmproduktion
• Wim Wenders Productions

Distributors

• Les Films du Losange (1997) (France) (theatrical)
• Bac Vidéo (????) (Germany) (DVD) (2 DVDS : Chambre 666 & Les Lumière de Berlin)
• Kinowelt Home Entertainment (2006) (Germany) (DVD)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2009) (Finland) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Futureffects

Other Companies

• Askania  vintage camera (Askania Z. Handkurbelkamera)
• Berliner Ensemble  special thanks
• Bundesfilmarchiv  special thanks
• Carlos Catering  catering
• Conseil Régional de Bourgogne  special thanks
• DEBIS  special thanks
• Dead Chickens  special projector
• Deutsches Institut für Filmkunde  special thanks
• Die ersten 100 Jahre Kino in Berlin  special thanks
• Filminstitut des Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf  special thanks
• Filmmuseum Düsseldorf  special thanks
• Filmmuseum Potsdam  special thanks
• Gasthaus "Die Henne"  special thanks
• HFF Potsdam-Babelsberg  special thanks
• Institut Lumière  special thanks
• Intervision Cinerent  special thanks
• Kostüm und Requisiten Fundus Studio Babelsberg  special thanks
• MCC  special thanks
• Moser & Rosié Film  special thanks
• Optronic  special thanks
• Road Music Wim Wenders Musikverlag  music publishing company
• Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Preussischer Kulturbesitz  special thanks
• Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek  special thanks
• Stiftung und Gärten Berlin Brandenburg  special thanks
• Team Dainat  catering
• Tritonus Tonstudio  music recorded at
• Ville de Châlon-sur-Saône  special thanks
• Zur letzten Instant  special thanks

Also Known As:

A Trick of Light (International: English title)
A Trick of the Light
Brothers Skladanowsky

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

Germany

Language:

German

Color:

Black and White | Color

Certification:

Brazil:Livre | Finland:K-3

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)

Trivia:

When Wim Wenders accepted to teach cinema at the Hochschule für Fernesehen und Film where he himself had been a student from 1967 to 1969, he decided to make a film with his students paying homage to the pioneers of the moving pictures, invented a hundred years before. The film made on a very tight budget became "Die Gebrüder Skldanowsky".

Movie Connections:

Features La sortie des usines Lumière (1895)

A Visit to Cinematic Beginnings

This biopic of the Skladanowsky brothers, who were some of the first to invent cinema, began as a project for Wim Wenders' students and evolved into a feature-length film released during the centennial of the cinema's invention. Also for 1995, Wenders was one of the filmmakers who paid homage to the Lumière brothers by making their own 50 or so seconds long films for 'Lumière et compagnie.' The Skladanowsky brothers' Bioskop film projector premièred on 1 November 1895--nearly two months before the Lumière brothers' first program. It should also be noted, however, (and it's not in this film) that a few other inventors have earlier claims than do even the Skladanowsky brothers, including the Latham's and Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat. To count projected drawn animation or the projection of films to non-paying audiences would add a few more names. Regardless, they were among the firsts, and this film, 'A Trick of Light,' is a fun little tribute to their invention.

Wenders interweaves various forms of narration and film technique to tell the story. First, there are fictional scenes (and not entirely historically accurate) of the brothers and one of their daughters working on the Bioskop and their films, which they eventually show to a paying audience. This part is photographed with a silent era hand-cranked camera and two characters provide voice-over narration at different times. Second, there is a documentary interview with 95-year-old Lucie Skladanowsky, daughter of the late Max Skladanowsky. Fictional elements are further interweaved with the interview, including via trick photography. The little girl from the previous fictional episode, for example, enters the interview undetected, as does the spy who was trying to steal the Skladanowsky's invention. All of this makes for an uneven picture. That Wenders and his students made the film over three or so years probably didn't help the film's consistency, either.

Nevertheless, it's an entertaining and sometimes interesting (although not too enlightening due to taking liberties with historical facts and the mixing of fiction with nonfiction) look at one largely forgotten group of cinema's inventors and their system of projection. Reenactments of the films are even shown. Yet, one wonders if they had shown what's left of the Skladanowsky brothers original films, or if Wenders hadn't taken as many liberties with history overall, or if the interview were not interrupted by fiction, 'A Trick of Light' may have been better. Still, not many have given this part of film history any attention, so this was a unique project and worth watching.