Since then studies in Philosophy.” This mini-biography is characteristic of his artistic concerns: death, birth, doppelgängers and repetition are all motifs that can be found in almost every one of his films, and always with philosophical undertones.
Those who have learned to die no longer know to serve.” Freedom and its limits are a constant theme of Brynntrup’s works, in terms of both content and form.
Expositus, 2003), and strives to develop a filmic language that goes far beyond technical limits, commonly accepted ways of seeing and cinematic conventions.
[1] Michael Brynntrup (aka Brinntrup, Bryntrup) comes from a long-established Westphalian farming family near Münster, Germany, where he also studied law, before changing to philosophy.
During a months-long visit to Italy (1981/82), Brynntrup began working on his first film SEPTEMBER, RAGE, A Journey, which he then finished in Berlin in 1982.
In the history of world cinema there are few works that can compare.”[2] The end of the 80s saw the start of The Ivory Elephant, a film cycle of eight death dances or danses macabres, featuring episodes with different performance artists each interacting with a skull.
This cycle of death dances, along with other early films, already reflected the impact of the AIDS crisis; in the 1990s, Brynntrup then began devoting more attention to the theme of homosexuality.
In this way, the act of purchasing does not entail taking something away from the larger public but rather making it available to them.”[5] Starting in 2001, Brynntrup began undertaking annual trips to Far East Asia, during which he worked on the thematic series Gelbfieber ("Yellow Fever").
Many of his works present explicitly autobiographical, almost private details, turning the audience into confidants and collaborationists (e.g. in Loverfilm – An Uncontrolled Dispersion Of Information).