Because I Was a Painter

Because I Was a Painter

A Feature film of

Christophe Cognet

Produced by

Production year2013

French release05/03/2014

Runtime

1h 44m

Because I Was a Painter

Synopsis

I don't dare say it, but for a painter, it was incredibly beautiful. It was absolutely necessary that it be reproduced, represented, so as to have a trace afterwards. - Zoran Music, Dachau prisoner.

This film is an unusual investigation into the art works secretly produced in Nazi concentration camps. The few artists sent to the camps who are still alive, along with the conservators of the artists' works, appear in the film, which speaks of the emotion provoked by these works, the artists' marginalization, their renown, or their anonymity, their style, and also the representation of horror and extermination.
Above all, perhaps, the film lingers on and contemplates the drawings, wash drawings, and paintings conserved in French, German, Israeli, Polish, Czech, Belgian, and Swiss archives.
This journey among the fragments of secret images and the ruins of the former camps hence offers a sensitive quest between faces, bodies, and landscapes so as to ponder the notion of the work of art and boldly question the idea of beauty.
A disturbing enterprise, perhaps, but it allows us to then better imagine what the camps were really like, to understand the possibilities of art, and sense what an artist's honor is all about - as minute and fragile as the gesture of drawing may be..

Credits

Director (1)

Christophe Cognet
View file

Production and distribution (2)

Executive Producer : La Huit

French distribution : jour2fête

Full credits (10)

Screenwriters : Christophe Cognet, Jean Breshand, Pierre-François Moreau

Director of Photography : Nara Keo Kosal

Editor : Catherine Zins

Sound recordist : Graciela Barrault

Producer : Stéphane Jourdain

Associate Producer : Gilles Le Mao

Production managers : Frédéric Duuez, Alain Bastide

Press Attaché (film) : Annie Maurette

Sound Editor : Didier Cattin

Sound Mixer : Jean-Marc Schick

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Media Gallery

Photos
Posters

Because I Was a Painter - © Birkenau, site du « camp des familles » ou « camp des Tchèques de Térézine » - février 2013. Jour2Fête

© Birkenau, site du « camp des familles » ou « camp des Tchèques de Térézine » - février 2013. Jour2Fête

Because I Was a Painter - © Dina Gotliebova, Détail du visage d’une tzigane, aquarelle faite sous la contrainte du Docteur Mengele, Auschwitz. Jour2Fête

© Dina Gotliebova, Détail du visage d’une tzigane, aquarelle faite sous la contrainte du Docteur Mengele, Auschwitz. Jour2Fête

Because I Was a Painter - © Yehuda Bacon,Deux autoportraits de Yehuda Bacon faits au retour, Prague – 1945. Jour2Fête

© Yehuda Bacon,Deux autoportraits de Yehuda Bacon faits au retour, Prague – 1945. Jour2Fête

Because I Was a Painter - © Franciszek Jazwiecki, 114 portraits faits à Buchenwald, Gros Rosen, Sachsenhausen et Auschwitz, conservées dans les réserves du Museum d’Auschwitz-Birkenau – 1943 à 1945. Jour2Fête

© Franciszek Jazwiecki, 114 portraits faits à Buchenwald, Gros Rosen, Sachsenhausen et Auschwitz, conservées dans les réserves du Museum d’Auschwitz-Birkenau – 1943 à 1945. Jour2Fête

Because I Was a Painter - © . Paul Goyard, Dessin en transparence depuis le site de l’ancienne place d’appel de Buchenwald; au fond l’ombre du Crématorium – 1944. Jour2Fête

© . Paul Goyard, Dessin en transparence depuis le site de l’ancienne place d’appel de Buchenwald; au fond l’ombre du Crématorium – 1944. Jour2Fête

Because I Was a Painter - © Boris Taslitzky, Détail d’une aquarelle du « petit camp », Buchenwald – février 1945. Jour2Fête

© Boris Taslitzky, Détail d’une aquarelle du « petit camp », Buchenwald – février 1945. Jour2Fête

Because I Was a Painter - © Jozef Szajna, L'appel dure trop longtemps, mes pieds hurlent, Buchenwald – 1944. Jour2Fête

© Jozef Szajna, L'appel dure trop longtemps, mes pieds hurlent, Buchenwald – 1944. Jour2Fête

Because I Was a Painter - © Joseph Richter, Copie informatique d’un dessin clandestin à la Ghetto Fighter’s House – qui possède l’une des plus vaste collection d’œuvres issues des camps nazis. Jour2Fête

© Joseph Richter, Copie informatique d’un dessin clandestin à la Ghetto Fighter’s House – qui possède l’une des plus vaste collection d’œuvres issues des camps nazis. Jour2Fête

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Because I Was a Painter

Technical details

Type : Feature film
Genres : Documentary
Themes : Art
Production language : French, Polish, German, Hebrew
Coproducer countries : France, Germany
Original French-language productions : Yes
Nationality : Majority French (France, Germany)
Production year : 2013
French release : 05/03/2014
Runtime : 1 h 44 min
Current status : Released
Visa number : 128.731
Approval : Yes
Production formats : HD 4K
Color type : Color
Aspect ratio : CinemaScope
Audio format : Dolby SR

Box-office & releases

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International releases

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News & awards

News (1)

Review of the 8th Rome Film Festival

Review of the 8th Rome Film Festival

18 DECEMBER 2013

Festivals & events

Selections (1)

Rome Film Fest
Italy, 2013
Cinema XXI Section

Delegations (1)

Rome Film Fest
Italy, 2013
Director : Christophe Cognet

Resources

Presskit(1)

because-i-was-a-painter-presskit-french.pdf

Download (pdf - 1480 Ko)

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