Gretchen at the spinning wheel
What is pure imagination and what reality? Magdalena Chmielewska’s dream-like portrayals Gretchen’s spinning and brooding in her love to Faust make it nearly impossible to differentiate. Her love is a constant toing and froing between pure passion and panic desperation, between slowing down and accelerating – the principle upon which Schubert’s masterpiece rests. Made under the auspices of Michael Haneke at the National Film and TV School in Vienna Filmakademie Wien.
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Magdalena ChmielewskaDirector
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Magdalena ChmielewskaWriter
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Magdalena ChmielewskaProducer
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Filmacademy ViennaProducer
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Stephanie CummingKey CastGretchen
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Nico EhrenteitKey CastFaust
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Chris RudzCinematography
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Michal Honnens (GER)Production
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Clara Maria Bacher (AUT)Production
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Katja DeutschmannCostume Design
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Fateh Tuncer GafferLighting
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Georg VoglerLighting
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Oliver KunzPosproductionColour Correction
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Lukas KampichlerPosproductionCompositing
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Magdalena ChmielewskaPosproductionEditing
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Caroline JestaedtSinger
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Ulrich WagnerSound design & editing
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Michael HanekeScriptwriting mentor
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Project Title (Original Language):Gretchen am Spinnrade
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Project Type:Experimental, Music Video, Short
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Runtime:6 minutes
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Completion Date:January 1, 2016
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Production Budget:5,000 EUR
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Country of Origin:Austria
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Country of Filming:Germany
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Language:French, German
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:Yes
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Magdalena ChmielewskaORF Austrian State Broadcaster & ARTE Television
November 22, 2015
Austria
AUDIENCE AWARD -
Vienna Independent Shorts 2016Vienna
May 28, 2016
Austrian Premiere -
Filmkunstfest M-V, GermanySchwerin
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T-Mobile Nowe Horyzonty Wroclaw, PolandWroclaw
Poland
July 24, 2016 -
East European Film FestivalSzczecin
Poland
May 10, 2016 -
Austrian American Film FestivalNew York City
United States
March 27, 2017
Distribution Information
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Magdalena Chmielewska
freelance film maker from Poland. Magda has lived in Vienna for 12 years, where she studied Transcultural Communication and Film and Theatre Studies, received a scholarship at the Department of Visual Arts at the University Barcelona and finished Film Editing and Directing Studies at the Film Academy in Vienna (Filmakademie Wien). Prior to her becoming a freelance director Magdalena worked regularly as an Assistant or or Casting Director on international film projects. She makes her own short films and documentaries and directs commercials and music films.
The Common ground in my artistic examination through films can be found in my search for a potential for protest, for the very individual and personal paths to freedom.
When Prof. Michael Haneke introduced the project to us, I immediately chose "Gretchen am Spinnrade". I was excited by the idea of interpreting Goethe's material in Schubert's composition as a music video - and of being able to connect the timelessness of the masterpiece with the aesthetic of a video clip. In the conception of the character of Gretchen, I brought together three Gretchen figures: Gretchen from Goethe's "Faust", Margarete from "The Master and Margerita" by Bulgakov and Susanna Margaretha Brandt, who served as inspiration for the character of Gretchen for Goethe in "Faust". What interested me most of all were the moments in which the main character imposes her subjective view on reality and her relationship and thereby ultimately risks losing herself and then her partner. In realising the story, I'd like to liberate Gretchen's destiny as a woman, aware of the ideal of the beautiful art (Abramovic), trying to save her from being totally romanticised. In the editing we will follow the poetic principles, instead of just following the logic of the plot.
I'll be able to give form to Gretchen's ambivalence using the apparent contradiction between text by Goethe and our imagery. With Stephanie Cumming as Gretchen, we have successfully cast this role perfectly. We've also found the perfect backdrop for our film in the Villa Hirsch on the beach at Heiligendamm.