"The truth is that no one on earth was able to help me..."
...thus, in a final demonstration of the "prodigious' liberty that allows someone whose ideals differ from the accepted world order, Kleist leaves behind on the world’s stage those of similar existential fervor… The combined dramatic works of Kleist, Hebbel, and particularly of Hölderlin are especially imprinted on the central phase of Jonatan Briel's creative output, and gives direction to his artistic productions.
Education and work
Jonatan Briel grew up in Holzminden, not far from Hannover. From 1959 to 1962 he studied Business Administration. He established the Youth Film Studio of Holzminden in 1962 and remained its director until 1964. In 1965 he began his studies at Freien 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. In 1970 Briel became an independent film producer with Sender Freies 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, San Francisco, Los Angeles 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 since 1982. He wrote and directed plays for radio and television. Jonatan Briel's films are available at the former Sender Freies Berlin, 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.
His person
Jonatan Briel mastered not only his art, but his mind was filled with nearly all the important and relevant encyclopedic information of his craft. To transform written words into pictures, to translate them succinctly and make them tangible, were his greatest hopes and aspirations. He was an artist and poet, and he was also a moral idealist who would not allow himself to compromise in any way. He wrote and directed radio programs and films in a particular niche which has today been newly discovered. He saw the gaps between manhood, respect, doubt, and idealistic hopes. When Briel looked back towards his native home, the Weser mountain country, it did not diminish his love for Berlin. Rather, in this phase, he illustrated his ability to differentiate the complex conflict of action and thought – and at the same time, he showed his instinct for fundamentals.
Films
1969 Wie Zwei fröhliche Luftschiffer, 85 min; DFFB Production. Writer and director.
1970 Gewogen und für zu schwer befunden ; TV-Documentary, 45 min.; SFB Production.
