Otto Kelmer

Otto Kelmer ([ɔto: kɛlmɐ], born 28 January 1948) is a German film director, author, artist and psychoanalyst.

Otto Kelmer
Born (1948-01-28) 28 January 1948
Bucharest, Romania
NationalityGerman
OccupationFilm director, artist, author, psychoanalyst
Years active1969–present
Awards1993: The Golden Grimme Award
1993: The Audience Award of the Marler Group 1994: Jury Prize at the Festival International du Film sur l'Art FIFA Montréal

Life and Work

Otto Kelmer was born in Bucharest in 1948 and emigrated with his parents to Germany in 1963. From 1966 to 1967 he studied script writing and directing at the Filmacademy Vienna. In the autumn of 1967, he took up his studies at Ruhr University Bochum, majoring in psychology, specializing in media sciences and finally earning his doctorate in 1975 with the publication Television – Grandmaster of Violence?: The Unmasking of a Myth.[1]

The German weekly Die Zeit offered Kelmer the opportunity to reach a wider audience through a full page article in its cultural review. During this period Kelmer shot a number of shorts, including CAGE, which was shown at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 1969.

In September 1979, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, considered to be the most influential post bellum German literary critic, published a selection of Kelmer's aphorisms in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.[2]

From 1979 to 1985, Kelmer was introduced to classical drawing and painting by two Romanian artists based in Germany and France, Serban Gabrea and Daniel Négo. In 1980, Kelmer’s drawing Uncontrolled multiplication of René Magritte was shown by the curators Maurice Rapin and Mirabelle Dors at the Salon Figuration Critique/Centre Culturel de la Rue du Louvre in Paris.[3] After taking part in numerous group exhibitions at venues like Schloß Ringenberg Wesel in 1983 and Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg in 1984, Kelmer was invited to exhibit his installation Tantalus' Dining Room at the internationally renowned avantgarde Galerie Löhrl in Mönchengladbach.

As well as pursuing his artistic activities, Kelmer completed his training as a psychoanalyst from 1982 to 1991 with professors Tobias Brocher and Edeltrud Meistermann-Seeger, both known for their unorthodox role in further developing the theory and practice of psychoanalysis.

Kelmer advanced his film studies mentored by master directors like Krzysztof Zanussi and Krzysztof Kieślowski, as well as the script wizard Frank Daniel. Between 1991 and 1992, Kelmer wrote and directed the partly authentic, partly fictional The Secret Collection of Salvador Dalí for the German television channel ZDF. The film received numerous national and international accolades including the Grimme Award, the audience Award of the Marler Group for the best TV production of 1992, as well as the Prix du Jury at the International Festival of Films on Art FIFA in Montréal in 1994.[4]

For the Dalí film Kelmer created among other art works the sculpture Narcissistic Triptych or Mirroring Apollo, which has since then been exhibited in the Film Museum Düsseldorf. The film was shown twice in the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris: 1994 at the 4e Biennale Internationale du Film sur l´Art[5] and 2013 as part of the Salvador Dalí retrospective, curated by Jean-Hubert Martin.[6]

As part of the exhibition Charade – Rochade at the Haubrok Collection Berlin in 2012, Kelmer's trailer for a not-yet-existing film was one of the most excitedly received and discussed exhibits.[7][8]

Distinctions
  • 1993: The Golden Adolf-Grimme-Award for The Secret Collection of Salvador Dalí
  • 1993: The Audience Award of the Marler Group for the best TV production of 1992 for The Secret Collection of Salvador Dalí
  • 1994: Jury Prize at the Festival International du Film sur l'Art FIFA Montréal for La collection secrète de Salvador Dalí

Bibliography

Books

  • Breteau-Skira, Gisèle (1994). 4e Biennale Internationale du Film sur l'Art 19–24 octobre 1994 (in French). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. ISBN 2-85850-811-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Dors, Mirabelle; Rapin, Maurice (1980). Figuration critique, Salon, 16 juin-14 juillet 1980. Centre culturel de la rue du Louvre (in French). Paris: Figuration critique. ISBN 3-487-06908-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Kelmer, Otto; Stein, Arnd (1975). Fernsehen: Aggressionsschule der Nation?: Die Entlarvung eines Mythos [Television-Grandmaster of Violence?: The Unmasking of a Myth] (in German). Bochum: Studienverlag Brockmeyer. ISBN 3-921543-21-5.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Kelmer, Otto (2013). "Wer ist Michel Würthle? und Was ist die neue Geheime Sammlung des Salvador Dalí für ein Film?". In Haubrok, Axel (ed.). Charade - Rochade 08.09.2012-09.10.2012 Haubrokshows ["Who is Michel Würthle? and The New Secret Collection of Salvador Dalí - What kind of Film is it Actually?"] (in German). Distanz. ISBN 978-3-95476-006-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

References
  1. Kelmer & Stein 1975, pp. 1–220.
  2. Otto Kelmer: Aphorismen. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). 8 September 1975. p. 23
  3. Dors & Rapin 1980.
  4. Villeneuve, Paquerette (May 1994). "Le festival de l'art pour l'art." (PDF). Retrieved 4 February 2018.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  5. Breteau-Skira 1994, p. 89.
  6. La Collection secrète de Salvador Dalí. on the Website of Centre Georges Pompidou. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  7. Kelmer 2013, pp. 114–115.
  8. Kelmer 2013, pp. 116–117.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.