Die Parallelstraße is one of the most mysterious pioneer films of the New German Cinema. It was produced by GBF, a production company for innovative industrial and promotional films and received awards in inter national film festivals. French critic Robert Benayoun called it "a philosophical thriller, a western of meditation which compensates for a whole year of inevitable manifestations of stupidity," Jacques Rivette put it on his list of the most important films of 1968. The DVD presents for the very first time this "unjustly forgotten masterpiece of the New German Cinema" (Martin Brady) as well as several rare shorts by Ferdinand Khittl (1924-1976) which show his talent for innovative film experiments.
The films
Die Parallelstraße - West Germany 1962 - Directed by: Ferdinand Khittl - Written by: Bodo Blüthner - Cinematography by: Ronald Martini - Music by: Hans Posegga - Edited by: Irmgard Henrici - Cast: Friedrich Joloff, Henry van Lyck, Ernst Marbeck, Wilfried Schröpfer, Herbert Tiede, Werner Uschkurat - Produced by: Gesellschaft für bildende Filme, München - Premiere: September 1962, Internationales Filmfestival San Sebastian
Auf geht's - West Germany 1955 - Directed by: Ferdinand Khittl - Written by: Just Scheu - Cinematography by: Gerd von Bonin - Edited by: Hans Dieter Schiller - Produced by: Olympia-Film, München
Eine Stadt feiert Geburtstag - West Germany 1958 - Directed by: Ferdinand Khittl - Written by: Ferdinand Khittl, Enno Patalas - Cinematography by: Fritz Schwennicke - Music by: Hans Posegga - Produced by: Gesellschaft für bildende Filme, München
Das magische Band - West Germany 1959 - Directed by: Ferdinand Khittl - Written by: Bodo Blüthner, Ferdinand Khittl, Ernst von Khuon - Cinematography by: Ronald Martini - Music by: Oskar Sala - Edited by: Irmgard Henrici - Cast: Margot Trooger, Ferdinand Khittl - Produced by: Gesellschaft für bildende Filme, München
About Ferdinand Khittl
Ferdinand Khittl was born on the 20th of January, 1924, in Frantikovy Lázně, Czechoslovakia. As a ship's boy he signed on for a training vessel and for six years until 1945 he was a sailor with the merchant marine. After his release from two years as a POW in Italy he tried his hand at various professions (labourer, bricklayer, poultry-breeder, barman and baker) and first came in contact with the film business in 1951, when a friendship with a cinema owner led to a job as the representative of a film rental agency. Between 1952 and 1955 he worked as a trainee in Robert Sandner's Olympia-Film company and became a cutter for Luis Trenker. From 1955 on, he directed cultural, documentary and industrial films, most of which, from 1958, were produced by the Gesellschaft für Bildende Filme (Educational Film Company) (GBF) and won many prizes. On the 28th of February, 1962, during a press conference at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Khittl read out the "Oberhausen Manifesto," which marked the beginning of the New German Cinema. Die Parallelstrasse (The Parallel Street) remained Khittl's only full-length narrative feature film. At the end of the 1960s he founded his own production company, but his own first film for it, Die Vergangenheit der Zukunft ist heute (The Past of the Future Is Now), an assignment for Bayer, was never distributed. In 1968, as head of a preparatory group responsible for audio- visual media, he worked out a concept for the organising committee of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, which was, however, not accepted: 90 famous directors would each make a five-minute film about the Munich Olympics, of which the best would be put together for an entire evening's entertainment. According to the magazine "Der Spiegel" (23rd of August, 1971) Khittl wanted to engage Heinz Rühmann to play a janitor who would act as commentator of the Olympics. Following a trip to Asia, Khittl became seriously and protractedly ill, leading to his death on the 28th of February, 1976, in a Munich hospital.
Stefan Drösslerl
DVD features
- Die Parallelstraße 1962, 83'
- Chapter selection
- Filmmusic, 10'
- Auf geht's 1955, 11'
- Eine Stadt feiert Geburtstag 1958, 15'
- Das magische Band 1959, 21'
- Ferdinand Khittl 1965 1965, 3'
- Ferdinand Khittl 1968 1968, 3'
- Dokumente im ROM-Bereich
- Booklet with essays by Hans Scheugl, Kai S. Knörr, Stefan Drössler and Robert Benayoun
Edited by: Filmmuseum München and Goethe-Institut
DVD authoring: Ralph Schermbach
DVD supervision: Stefan Drössler
First edition June 2010, Second edition March 2014
