Jonatan Briel
Jonatan Karl Dieter Briel (June 9, 1942 - December 26, 1988) was a German director, screenplay author, and actor. He was born in Bodenwerder, Germany, and died in Berlin. He was influenced by the works of the 19th century writers, Heinrich von Kleist and Friedrich Hoelderlin.
Education and work
Jonatan Briel grew up in Holzminden, not far from Hannover. From 1959 to 1962 he worked in industrial and commercial sales. He established the Youth Film Studio of Holzminden in 1962 and remained its director until 1964. In 1965 he began his studies at Freien (Free) University and at Technical University in Berlin, and became an assistant to Peter Lilienthal. The following year he transferred to the Berlin German Film and Television Academy (DFFB). In 1970 Briel became an independent film producer with Sender Freies Berlin (Transmitter Free Berlin), SFB. Berlin became Jonatan Briel’s adopted hometown from 1965 until his death there in 1988. In preparation for his work with film scripts and films, he toured the major cities of Europe, and lived and worked for a time in New York, Washington and Boston.
Jonatan Briel was an artist who brought to his craft a wide-ranging knowledge of literature and film history, and was himself a poet by inclination. He taught at The Academy of Arts in Berlin and the Goethe Institute in New York. He wrote and directed plays for radio and television that have recently been discovered. He explored the differences between city and country, his life in Berlin contrasted with his developing years in the Weser mountain country.
Jonatan Briel's films are available at the former Sender Freies Berlin (SFB), which between 1954 and 2003 was the public radio and television service for West Berlin, and is now part of the Berlin-Brandenburg Broadcasting network.
Films
- 1969 Wie Zwei fröhliche Luftschiffer (Like Two Merry Aeronauts), 85 min; Writer and Director: Jonatan Briel; DFFB Production
- Plot: The last three days in the life of the German poet and playwright Heinrich von Kleist. With his lover Henriette Vogel dying of cancer, Kleist philosophizes about life and welcomes his planned suicide.
- 1970 Gewogen und für zu schwer befunden (Weighed and Found to be Too Heavy); TV-Documentary, 45 min.; SFB Production
- 1970 Berlin Berlin Berlin, 45 min., Experimental film; Screenplay, Director und Producer: Jonatan Briel
- 1971 Jonatan Briels Lenz - Eine deutsche Physiognomie (Jonatan Briel’s Lenz – a German physiognomy), 120 min.; Writer and Director: Jonatan Briel; ZDF Production
- Plot: Story of the life of Jakob Lenz, a friend of the young Goethe, with evident parallels to the life of the film director.
- 1971 Tago Mago, 120 min.; Experimental film, Director und Actor: Jonatan Briel; ZDF Production
- A story without a definite script, in Mainz, Reims, Paris, Ibiza and Formentera (Spain).
- Plot: Paris 1914, the murder of the socialist leader Jean Jaures
- 1973 Ein sonderbarer Fall von Liebe (A Strange Case of Love), 45 min.; Writer, Director, Producer: Jonatan Briel; SFB Production
- Plot: In reference to Charles Baudelaire’s “Les fleurs du Mal”
- 1973-75 Glutmensch (Men of Passion), 90 min.; Writer and Director: Jonatan Briel; SFB and “Literarisches Berliner Kolloquium” – Production
- Plot: Werner Brunn plays Friedrich Hebbel, who is confined to his sickbed on his 50th birthday, and recalls his youth in his feverish dreams.
- 1979 Das Geheimnis (The Secret); Director: Jonatan Briel
- 1981-82 Untertänigst Scardanelli (The Loyal Scardanelli); Director: Jonatan Briel
- Plot: Drama about Friedrich Hoelderlin – a poetic genius between madness and withdrawal
- 1983-84 Dorian Gray im Spiegel der Boulevardpresse (Dorian Gray mirrored in the popular press); Jonatan Briel as actor.
- 1985 Scriptwriter for the movie film, Die doppelte Fremde (The Double Stranger).
- Plot: A film about the stages of the inner loss of one’s homeland.
Radio scripts
- The stars, which smile on their cottage
- The attempt to sing a song
- The house of desires
- Elli, SO 36
- Katja
- As long as you love me, I cannot go wrong
- Kleist-Project Berlin 1987