William Eggleston: Photographer by Reiner Holzemer from DEVELOP Tube on Vimeo.
This special extended trailer of William Eggleston: Photographer by Reiner Holzemer was shown as part of the DEVELOP Photo line-up for the first edition of the On Photography Online Film Festival, 9/29/13. The Festival was part of the FOTOWEEK in Holland, an initiative of FOAM and the Netherlands Photo Museum, and was organized by Barbera Brakel of Photo Affairs. opfestival.nl/
Filmmaker Reiner Holzemer visited William Eggleston in Memphis in the fall of 2007. For the first time, he was able to get the photographer to talk about his artistic background and concept of photography. Up to then, Eggleston had largely refused to answer such questions. Of his photographs he says, “I am at war with the obvious.”
reinerholzemer.de/
egglestontrust.com
William Eggleston was born in Memphis, Tennessee and grew up in a wealthy family in Mississippi. He is considered a pioneer of modern color photography. He achieved early fame with a one-man show at the New York Museum of Modern Art. The show's title was unpretentious and to the point: “Color Photographs by William Eggleston.” The photographs, which were taken in Memphis and Mississippi, showed everyday motifs as well as friends and family of the photographer. Prints were made using Eggleston's characteristic dye transfer process.
Although panned by critics and widely misunderstood, the exhibition marked the beginning of modern color photography. Eggleston influenced generations of young photographers, artists and filmmakers including Jürgen Teller, Andreas Gursky, Sofia Coppola, Gus van Sant and David Lynch.
The film documents how Eggleston came to develop his technique of art photography. It shows the first black-and-white photographs made at the beginning of Eggleston’s career. Here the influence of Henri Cartier Bresson’s “decisive moment” is still evident. Yet Eggleston went his own artistic way early on. Elements of his later work in color can already be discerned in the composition of the black-and-white photographs.
Language: English
Extras: original version without commentary
Format: 4:3 Letterbox
Time: 2 x 26 minutes
Copyright 2008 Reiner Holzemer Film
The Reiner Holzemer Film Production was founded in 1983 by the director and documentary filmmaker Reiner Holzemer. Since then, more than 30 full length documentary films have been produced for German public television channels of the ARD (BR, SWR, and WDR), for the ZDF and for arte.
The company’s goal is to produce technically high-quality movies of artistic merit. The portraits of internationally renowned artists, especially in the field of photography, constitute a key aspect in the company’s work.
The films were also much appreciated on the international scene on the occasion of film festivals. “Magnum – Portrait of the famous photo agency” produced in 2000 has for example been presented during following festivals: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin, Cinéma Alés in France, Thessaloniki Int. Filmfestival, Istanbul Modern Film Festival, Melbourne International Film Festival, Festival International de Guadalajara, Mexico.
The portraits of artists like, for example, William Eggleston, Walker Evans, René Burri, August Sander and Herbert List were screened in important museums worldwide: e.g. the Whitney Museum – New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art – New York, Maison Européenne de la Photographie – Paris, Foam Fotografiemuseum – Amsterdam, C/O Berlin, Haus der Kunst – München, Deutsches Historisches Museum – Berlin, Musée de l’Elysée – Lausanne, Zentrum für Fotografie – Winterthur, Museum Tinguely – Basel, Yours Gallery – Warschau.
International TV stations as the BBC, Yle Finnland, RAI Italia, TROC Holland, Maxwell’s Australia and Documentary Channel New Zealand have included several films of the Reiner Holzemer Filmproduction in their program schedules. Reiner Holzemer has also been directing advertising commercials since 1992. More than 150 TV commercials have been developed and realized for international markets.
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This video is part of the DEVELOP Tube Photography Video Channel which can be found at DEVELOP Tube: Photography to Watch. DEVELOP Tube is an educational resource which features interviews, profiles, lectures & films about photojournalism, fine art photography & documentary photography.
