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Walter Ruttmann «Light-Play Opus I» | Invitation card of the Ruttmann–Film G.m.b.H. for the world premiere of Light–Play Opus I
Walter Ruttmann, «Light-Play Opus I», 1921
Invitation card of the Ruttmann–Film G.m.b.H. for the world premiere of Light–Play Opus I | ©


 Walter Ruttmann

«Ruttmann was born in Frankfurt am Main on December 28, 1897. He studied architecture in Zurich and then painting in Munich. [...] In ‹Berlin. Die Sinfonie einer Großstadt› he applied the principles of his abstract studies and film montage to realistic photographs from the city of Berlin. [...] After ‹Berlin› he turned to sound experiments and was eventually able to make ‹Melodie der Welt›, a Tobis film commissioned by Hapag-Lloyd and the first fulllength German sound film. [...] Ruttmann did not emigrate. He collaborated on a film for a ‹Reichsparteitag› but withdrew from the team for unknown reasons. Beginning in 1934 he was employed as a director by UFA and made cultural, industrial, commercial, and propaganda films. On July 15, 1941, he died in Berlin after an operation.»

(source: Goethe-Institut (ed.), The German Avant-Garde Film of the 1920’s, exhib. cat., München, 1989, p. 78.)