Wegzaubern
Spirit Away
Betina Kuntzsch
Spirit Away evolved out of an interest in the biographies of patients whose artistic work is represented in the Prinzhorn Collection (Heidelberg). The animated documentary uses original 35-mm animated film loops for Laterna Magica from around 1900, in other words, drawn and sometimes rotoscoped films from the lifetime of the artists who had been diagnosed as mentally ill and were locked away in a sanatorium. The scenes with female magicians, dancers and washerwomen are often comic. Using fragments of text from the patient’s medical files, Kuntzsch reconstructs a fictive biography.
Awards for Spirit Away
Goldene Taube im Internationalen Wettbewerb Animierter Dokumentarfilm – DOK Leipzig 2015
Betina Kuntzsch
Betina Kuntzsch (*1963 in Berlin) studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig. She graduated in 1988 with the video lm Ich saß auf einem Steine. She worked for East German television and film production companies. Since 1988, she has made videotapes and installations, graphic prints, animations and documentary films. She has received numerous awards for her work, including the Golden Dove from DOK Leipzig for Spirit Away. Kuntzsch lives and works in Berlin.
Films by Betina Kuntzsch (Selection)
Wegzaubern 2015 | Zeitlicht 2014 | Kunstarbeiter 2011 | Jeder Text ist ein Wortbruch 2008 | I.I – Auf der Suche nach Ela Geminada 2008 | Two-Step 1998 | Moskau im August 1992 | Fünfzehn Einheitsstücke 1991 | Ich saß auf einem Steine 1988
