Peter Zeitlinger
- Cinematographer
- Producer
- Editor
Peter Zeitlinger is an accomplished filmmaker whose career encompasses
cinematography, directing, producing, writing, editing and visual effects. Zeitlinger has worked
with Werner Herzog since 1995. Their intensive collaboration has yielded many successful documentaries as
well as dramas like Bad Lieutenant, Rescue Dawn and Queen of the Desert.
Zeitlinger's work has garnered hundreds of awards and nominations.
Werner Herzog discovered Zeitlinger when he was still a film student. His outstanding
camera work in Ulrich Seidls "Prepared for losses" impressed Herzog so much
that he hired him for his documentary "Death for Five Voices" which was Werner's first film
after a period of creative break caused by the death of his actor Klaus Kinski. The film won
the Prix d Italia. From that moment on Peter and Werner worked together on Hollywood Productions.
Rescue Dawn was released by MGM. Peter's meticulous attention to detail and
the whole context, his unique visual style of the camera movements added
immeasurably to the quality of the films. In 2006 he and Werner Herzog
were selected for the US-Antarctic Program by the US National Science
Foundation as writer and artist for "Encounters at the End of the
World" The film was nominated for the Academy Award.
Their two films Bad Lieutenant and Son my Son competed against each other
in the same competition of Venice Film Festival 2009.
Peter Zeitlinger was the first non Italian cinematographer to be honored with
the Cinematography Award Gainni di Venanzo, for the best Italian film,
This Award was created by Carlo di Palma to promote the art of Italian cinematography.
2023 Werner Herzog and Peter Zeitlinger won the prestigious cinematographer-director Duo Award in Torun.
Childhood: Peter Zeitlinger was born in Prague. Due to the turbulence
during the Soviet occupation in 68 and the political instability he
left the country with his mother and moved to the neighboring and
neutral country of Austria. Not even 10 years old young Zeitlinger had
to learn a new mother tongue. Being forced to express himself in a new
way, he started painting and sketching a lot.
At the age of thirteen Zeitlinger discovered the possibility of making
images move. A friend's father had an 8mm camera and kept it in his
gynecologist's practice. When during the heights of puberty he and his
friend secretly observed the gynecologist at work, they discovered the
camera. During the night he would sneak into the practice and borrow
the camera. For many nights he used the surgery light in the practice
and worked on his own animated films before he sneaked out of the
practice at the crack of dawn. One night he was discovered by his
friend's father but strangely enough he was not told off! Instead, the
wealthy doctor was so deeply moved by the animated films that he gave
his camera to the "poor refugees' child". Now it became possible for
Zeitlinger to work in the outside world during the daytime. For one of
his first films "We Walked" he was awarded a youth film festival prize
and was given a camera with zoom and audio recording features. That was
when filming really lifted off. Until he was accepted at the Academy
for Film he had produced a good 70 short or animated films. His first
animated film "Der Geburtstag" (The Birthday) was his ticket to
university, because being a taciturn person he otherwise would not have
survived among all the talkative chatter boxes.
During university studies Michael Snow and Peter Kubelka became his
admired and most influential teachers. Zeitlinger had been impressed by
Kubelkas all-encompassing concept of art. Kubelka introduced him to the
interrelations between music, cooking and film making. All of these
three forms of expressing life obey the same rules: composing (i.e.
montage, composition) and perceptions in the course of time (dramatic
plot). In addition to the courses at the academy Zeitlinger also
attended lectures about aesthetics by Lachmayer and ethics by Prof
Mader who read at the Vienna philosophical institute. He also studied
Management of Arts under Jungblut and Dieter Ronte trying to graduate
as an MA. The theoretical essays by Zeitlinger, first published in the
University newsletter brought about a remarkable uproar amongst his
teachers, because in "Abschaffung der Montage" (Abolishing Montage),
which was based on profound philosophical knowledge, Zeitlinger
meticulously managed to proof that a "Filmgrammatik" (Grammar of Films)
does not exist. Although he was not enrolled in directing it was the
lecturers from the directing department (A. Stummer and A. Corti) who
strongly spoke out in favor of him being admitted to the exams, which
were quite threatened at the time. Zeitlinger graduated with
excellency.
During his university years he had already written a number of scripts.
One of the scripts co-written with Erhard Riedlsperger was "Tunnelkind"
(Tunnel Child). The film is set at the Czech-Austrian border where the
Iron Curtain was erected during the late 60s. Borders and
marginalization are recurring topics in his work. Although many of the
films he had produced during his university years were awarded several
prizes it was due to the highly bureaucratic structures in Austria that
it first seemed impossible for a young graduate from university to work
as a Director of Photography (DOP). Normally, years of assistance and
begging were to be endured first. After a debate sparked off by
Zeitlinger the directorate of the film institute decided to allow an
exception to the rule: for the first time a first-time director was
allowed to select the DOP of his choice, for his first full-length
film. The media, as well as the film business and the fellow students
were keen to observe the making of this film at the Czech-Austrian
border. On a daily basis the latest shots were assessed by a committee
even before the director or the DOP had seen them, and the committee
then had to grant permission to continue with the project. An
experienced replacement crew was kept on call to take over, in case the
project would fail. After one week at work the replacement crew was
sent home. A little later the film was invited to the International
Berlin Filmfestival. The film tells the story of a little girl who
manages to convince the chief builder at a construction site for the
electric fence to build the fence above a secret tunnel in order to
leave an escape into freedom. During the production of Tunnelkind the
Iron Curtain for Czechoslovakia was abolished. Reality seemed to catch
up with fiction. The Berlin Film Festival was also dominated by the
liberalization of the Stalinist countries and the film was applauded as
dealing marvelously with current affairs.
cinematography, directing, producing, writing, editing and visual effects. Zeitlinger has worked
with Werner Herzog since 1995. Their intensive collaboration has yielded many successful documentaries as
well as dramas like Bad Lieutenant, Rescue Dawn and Queen of the Desert.
Zeitlinger's work has garnered hundreds of awards and nominations.
Werner Herzog discovered Zeitlinger when he was still a film student. His outstanding
camera work in Ulrich Seidls "Prepared for losses" impressed Herzog so much
that he hired him for his documentary "Death for Five Voices" which was Werner's first film
after a period of creative break caused by the death of his actor Klaus Kinski. The film won
the Prix d Italia. From that moment on Peter and Werner worked together on Hollywood Productions.
Rescue Dawn was released by MGM. Peter's meticulous attention to detail and
the whole context, his unique visual style of the camera movements added
immeasurably to the quality of the films. In 2006 he and Werner Herzog
were selected for the US-Antarctic Program by the US National Science
Foundation as writer and artist for "Encounters at the End of the
World" The film was nominated for the Academy Award.
Their two films Bad Lieutenant and Son my Son competed against each other
in the same competition of Venice Film Festival 2009.
Peter Zeitlinger was the first non Italian cinematographer to be honored with
the Cinematography Award Gainni di Venanzo, for the best Italian film,
This Award was created by Carlo di Palma to promote the art of Italian cinematography.
2023 Werner Herzog and Peter Zeitlinger won the prestigious cinematographer-director Duo Award in Torun.
Childhood: Peter Zeitlinger was born in Prague. Due to the turbulence
during the Soviet occupation in 68 and the political instability he
left the country with his mother and moved to the neighboring and
neutral country of Austria. Not even 10 years old young Zeitlinger had
to learn a new mother tongue. Being forced to express himself in a new
way, he started painting and sketching a lot.
At the age of thirteen Zeitlinger discovered the possibility of making
images move. A friend's father had an 8mm camera and kept it in his
gynecologist's practice. When during the heights of puberty he and his
friend secretly observed the gynecologist at work, they discovered the
camera. During the night he would sneak into the practice and borrow
the camera. For many nights he used the surgery light in the practice
and worked on his own animated films before he sneaked out of the
practice at the crack of dawn. One night he was discovered by his
friend's father but strangely enough he was not told off! Instead, the
wealthy doctor was so deeply moved by the animated films that he gave
his camera to the "poor refugees' child". Now it became possible for
Zeitlinger to work in the outside world during the daytime. For one of
his first films "We Walked" he was awarded a youth film festival prize
and was given a camera with zoom and audio recording features. That was
when filming really lifted off. Until he was accepted at the Academy
for Film he had produced a good 70 short or animated films. His first
animated film "Der Geburtstag" (The Birthday) was his ticket to
university, because being a taciturn person he otherwise would not have
survived among all the talkative chatter boxes.
During university studies Michael Snow and Peter Kubelka became his
admired and most influential teachers. Zeitlinger had been impressed by
Kubelkas all-encompassing concept of art. Kubelka introduced him to the
interrelations between music, cooking and film making. All of these
three forms of expressing life obey the same rules: composing (i.e.
montage, composition) and perceptions in the course of time (dramatic
plot). In addition to the courses at the academy Zeitlinger also
attended lectures about aesthetics by Lachmayer and ethics by Prof
Mader who read at the Vienna philosophical institute. He also studied
Management of Arts under Jungblut and Dieter Ronte trying to graduate
as an MA. The theoretical essays by Zeitlinger, first published in the
University newsletter brought about a remarkable uproar amongst his
teachers, because in "Abschaffung der Montage" (Abolishing Montage),
which was based on profound philosophical knowledge, Zeitlinger
meticulously managed to proof that a "Filmgrammatik" (Grammar of Films)
does not exist. Although he was not enrolled in directing it was the
lecturers from the directing department (A. Stummer and A. Corti) who
strongly spoke out in favor of him being admitted to the exams, which
were quite threatened at the time. Zeitlinger graduated with
excellency.
During his university years he had already written a number of scripts.
One of the scripts co-written with Erhard Riedlsperger was "Tunnelkind"
(Tunnel Child). The film is set at the Czech-Austrian border where the
Iron Curtain was erected during the late 60s. Borders and
marginalization are recurring topics in his work. Although many of the
films he had produced during his university years were awarded several
prizes it was due to the highly bureaucratic structures in Austria that
it first seemed impossible for a young graduate from university to work
as a Director of Photography (DOP). Normally, years of assistance and
begging were to be endured first. After a debate sparked off by
Zeitlinger the directorate of the film institute decided to allow an
exception to the rule: for the first time a first-time director was
allowed to select the DOP of his choice, for his first full-length
film. The media, as well as the film business and the fellow students
were keen to observe the making of this film at the Czech-Austrian
border. On a daily basis the latest shots were assessed by a committee
even before the director or the DOP had seen them, and the committee
then had to grant permission to continue with the project. An
experienced replacement crew was kept on call to take over, in case the
project would fail. After one week at work the replacement crew was
sent home. A little later the film was invited to the International
Berlin Filmfestival. The film tells the story of a little girl who
manages to convince the chief builder at a construction site for the
electric fence to build the fence above a secret tunnel in order to
leave an escape into freedom. During the production of Tunnelkind the
Iron Curtain for Czechoslovakia was abolished. Reality seemed to catch
up with fiction. The Berlin Film Festival was also dominated by the
liberalization of the Stalinist countries and the film was applauded as
dealing marvelously with current affairs.