The Cinematograph

The Cinematograph

a diploma project by Benjamin Fercher

developed under supervision of Katharina Gruzei

Premiere Screening

10th of October  |  5pm  |  free entry

Austrian Filmmuseum

Augustinerstraße 1

1010 Vienna

program; 


short introduction


screening

open discussion

the cinematograph will be shown too!

About half a year ago Benjamin Fercher asked me to be his diploma supervisor. He was fascinated by Lumiere and Edison and wanted to work with film for a long time. We came up with the idea of working on the early films of the Lumieres by combining them with new footage. Aside planning on digital footage we realized one of our big desires - building a cinematograph and shooting on film...


The project is discussing the work of the first film makers, with a reconstruction of the cinematograph and the comparison of the lumiere footage versus footage filmed with the reconstructed cinematograph, arranged as a short film. A cinematograph was rebuilt in collaboration with a mechatronic engineer. techniques based on the time when pictures started to run were used. this 35mm cinematograph is based on the lumiere cinematograph with small technical modifications for a better usability. for example the grabber film transportation system was replaced by the maltese cross transporting system.

It was Benjamin´s intention to feel the same adventure the early filmmakers felt, when they built their own cameras and started making their first shots, to later show this films in front of a crowd. The film, which will be screened, is based on the early lumiere recordings. It's a shortfilm were the original lumiere scenes, minidv recordings and shots filmed with the cinematograph will be arranged together. another focus of the film is the media perception of people in front of the camera that changed with the knowledge of the films existence.

The project reflects our passion for the medium film and reflects how we assimilate the time when pictures started to move.


technical support: gerhard hofer


cast/crew: lukas adami, katharina broos, georg terkl, martin funk, alexander funk, alexander schähs, gerhard fercher