Goya
Director: Konrad Wolf
Germany, 1971, 134 min.
Cast: Rolf Hoppe, Donatas Banionis, Katarina Olivera, Fred Dueren
Don Francisco de Goya Lucientes (1746 - 1828) is artist to the court of Karl IV of Spain. He is well known and well-to-do, but feels himself becoming more and more remote from the daily life and suffering of the Spanish people. After meeting the singer Maria Rosario in a Madrid tavern, where she is singing revolutionary songs, he becomes even more reflective. Rosario is hauled before the Inquisition. Goya is invited to attend as a warning not to stray from the official path. But it doesn't stop him from increasingly leaving the castle to portray the desires and nightmares of simple people in his paintings. Soon the Inquisition is on his trail.
Konrad Wolf films Lion Feuchtwanger's historical novel as a modern, colorful, parallel. How closely can an artist align himself with the powers that be if he wants to be honest and creative?
Konrad Wolf was born in Hechingen in 1925 and died in Berlin in 1982. In 1933, his family emigrated to the Soviet Union. At the age of 18, he joined the Red Army and came to Germany as a lieutenant in 1945. He studied Directing at the Moscow Film School in 1949 and worked as an assistant director to Kurt Maetzig at the DEFA Studios in 1953. His first feature film was „Einmal ist keinmal“ (1955). From 1965, Wolf was president of the East German Academy of Arts. His major films include “Genesung” (1956), „Lissy” (1957), „Sun Seekers” (Sonnensucher, 1958), „Stars” (Sterne, 1959), „The Divided Sky” (Der geteilte Himmel, 1964), „I Was Nineteen” (Ich war 19, 1967), „The Naked Man in the Stadium” (Der nackte Mann auf dem Sportplatz, 1974), and „Mama, I'm Alive” (Mama, ich lebe, 1976).
About the series “Art Films at Warehouse 421”:
Film and visual arts are joined at the hip, and filmmakers have always been interested in the life and work of artists. Throughout the fall and winter the Goethe-Institut in cooperation with Warehouse 421 will be showing films about art and artists – real ones, fictional artists and art forgers. Be inspired.
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