Vlado Kristl

Documentary about the current state of German cinema. Produced for German television.

Interview film with the protagonists of the New German Cinema in 1966.

T. finds a letter. Instead of just dropping it in a mailbox, he decides, conscientious as he is, to deliver it personally. He wanders the entire world, discovers astounding forms of existence, but cannot be hindered from his duty and keeps looking until he finally finds the address. There, he finds out that he has delivered his own judgment.

Allegory of a man who leads the people to destruction and then is reborn to recommence the cycle.

Kristl plays a prisoner who can smile only when he sees The General.

In The Dam, although it is an experimental film, Kristl eschews the necessary earnestness in addressing his subject. The manufactured, unambiguously humorless profundity proffered up by other German contemporaries is absent here. Laughter is allowed. Kristl takes the dreadful liberty of tomfoolery, sending up himself, the characters, the action, "tragedy," and everything else, including the audience, that might be held sacred. Within the framework of the action, we recognize a love triangle, one of the simplest of dramatic configurations. Not only the basic idea, but also numerous particulars, both in subject and style, are reminiscent of the films of Roman Polanski, which Kristl doubtless saw and holds in esteem. We meet two men: one is meant to embody the outsider, the artistic, intellectual, individualist. The other looks like the embodiment of the well-to-do man, the burgher, the functionary, the capitalist. The two battle for the favor of an indecisive and domineering girl.

Short film about car racing.

Kristl was a member of the prestigious Zagreb Studio of Animation and his early works as painter and filmmaker had brought him instant acclaim and instant censorship. He fled Croatia and lived in Germany; he died there in 2004. Poor People, a “collective scream” of Cold War fear, was produced just after he left his country.

Allegory of men's use of fire to kill, when it was given by Prometheus to help them.

Allegory of men's use of fire to kill, when it was given by Prometheus to help them.

Satirical cartoon featuring a jewel robbery.

T. finds a letter. Instead of just dropping it in a mailbox, he decides, conscientious as he is, to deliver it personally. He wanders the entire world, discovers astounding forms of existence, but cannot be hindered from his duty and keeps looking until he finally finds the address. There, he finds out that he has delivered his own judgment.

T. finds a letter. Instead of just dropping it in a mailbox, he decides, conscientious as he is, to deliver it personally. He wanders the entire world, discovers astounding forms of existence, but cannot be hindered from his duty and keeps looking until he finally finds the address. There, he finds out that he has delivered his own judgment.

Postmodernism also has to be seen as a system, one that is acknowledged, one with which one can create houses, locomotives, films, everything... That has nothing to do with art. That is just a parlour game. - Vlado Kristl

Postmodernism also has to be seen as a system, one that is acknowledged, one with which one can create houses, locomotives, films, everything... That has nothing to do with art. That is just a parlour game. - Vlado Kristl

Confusion results when a young man walking through a park joins in a game of tennis.

Confusion results when a young man walking through a park joins in a game of tennis.

Poor and unhappy, Rafael leaves Pauline and tries his luck at the roulette, but loses his last coin. Fate gifts him with the miraculous "Shagreen leather" that fulfills all wishes. In his new, luxurious life he wins the heart of wonderful Foedora. But with the power of the leather comes a rule: for every fulfilled wish it becomes shorter, and so does the life of its owner. Using the leather abundantly, Rafael soon spends his time.

Allegory of a man who leads the people to destruction and then is reborn to recommence the cycle.

Allegory of a man who leads the people to destruction and then is reborn to recommence the cycle.

Observations of a man and a dog in a Hamburg street. Mass society did not arise because there are many people today, but because the media turned them into a mass. Death to the spectator would actually mean cutting off the water supply to this mill. Whoever destroys the masses, whoever removes this sense of humanity, has ended the media era.

Observations of a man and a dog in a Hamburg street. Mass society did not arise because there are many people today, but because the media turned them into a mass. Death to the spectator would actually mean cutting off the water supply to this mill. Whoever destroys the masses, whoever removes this sense of humanity, has ended the media era.

Kristl plays a prisoner who can smile only when he sees The General.

Kristl plays a prisoner who can smile only when he sees The General.

A group of men, women and Kristl with his camera debate how to resist authority in all its forms. All cinematic professionalism is avoided as Kristl explores how to live and make films politically.

A group of men, women and Kristl with his camera debate how to resist authority in all its forms. All cinematic professionalism is avoided as Kristl explores how to live and make films politically.

A group of men, women and Kristl with his camera debate how to resist authority in all its forms. All cinematic professionalism is avoided as Kristl explores how to live and make films politically.

"Don Kihot" is a satirical, Klee-esque meditation about Don Quijote in the contemporary militaristic and regimentistic world.

"Don Kihot" is a satirical, Klee-esque meditation about Don Quijote in the contemporary militaristic and regimentistic world.

An idyll, "for GAL": a pond, a desk, a farm, a kitchen—and storks, lots of them. Colored, which brings to mind "coloratura." An idyll? Isn't something missing?

Zagreb-born artist Vlado Kristl (1923-2004) was the most radical of the German auteur filmmakers. This is an anakofilm.

Zagreb-born artist Vlado Kristl (1923-2004) was the most radical of the German auteur filmmakers. This is an anakofilm.