Gernot Roll
{{Short description|German cinematographer (1939–2020)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gernot Roll
| image = Gernot Roll 6350.jpg
| caption = Gernot Roll in 2015
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1939|4|9|df=y}}
| birth_place = Dresden, Germany
| death_date = {{death date and age|2020|11|12|1939|4|9|df=y}}
| death_place = Munich, Germany
| occupation = {{plainlist|
- Cinematographer
- Film director
- Script writer
}}
| partner =
| works =
| awards = {{plainlist|
- Grimme-Preis
- Deutscher Filmpreis
- Deutscher Kamerapreis
- Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Bavarian Film Awards
}}
}}
Gernot Roll (9 April 1939{{spnd}}12 November 2020) was a German cinematographer, film director and script writer. He collaborated on several films with directors Edgar Reitz and Sönke Wortmann. He was regarded as an expert on literary adaptations and film biographies, such as The Buddenbrooks, filming Thomas Mann's novel in eleven television episodes directed by Franz Peter Wirth, and the same work again in 2008 in the film directed by Heinrich Breloer.
Life
Roll was born in Dresden and grew up in Pirna. At the age of 14 he began training as a cameraman and then worked at the DEFA Studios in Berlin-Babelsberg.{{cite news |date=13 November 2020 |title=Kameramann Gernot Roll ist tot |url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/gernot-roll-ist-tot-kameramann-bei-heimat-nirgendwo-in-afrika-a-8897c2dc-f446-4199-ac56-63f31f0dfaf2 |work=Der Spiegel |location=Hamburg |access-date=13 November 2020}} His first film as a camera assistant was the fairy tale film The Singing Ringing Tree. In 1960 he went to West Germany to work at Bavaria Film in Munich. He filmed literary works such as {{ill|Geschlossene Gesellschaft (film)|de|Geschlossene Gesellschaft (1978)|lt=Geschlossene Gesellschaft}}, and television series such as Graf Yoster gibt sich die Ehre and Tatort. From 1976, he worked as a freelance cinematographer. He was considered an expert in literary adaptations and film biographies. In 1979, he was the cinematographer for The Buddenbrooks, eleven episodes for television of Thomas Mann's novel, directed by Franz Peter Wirth.
Roll's breakthrough came with the celebrated 16-hour TV series Heimat – Eine deutsche Chronik by Edgar Reitz in 1984. Among his films were Caroline Link's Jenseits der Stille and Helmut Dietl's {{ill|Rossini (1997 film)|de|3=Rossini – oder die mörderische Frage, wer mit wem schlief|lt=Rossini}}. He worked with Sönke Wortmann for Der bewegte Mann, with {{ill|Peter Sehr|de}} for {{ill|Kaspar Hauser (film)|de|Kaspar Hauser (1993)|lt=Kaspar Hauser}}, and with Link again for Oscar-winning Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa).{{cite web | last=Yue | first=Tao | title=FILM REVIEW HHH: From a Distance – 'Nowhere in Africa': Quiet and Compelling | website=The Tech | date=4 April 2003 | url=http://tech.mit.edu/V123/N16/nowhere_in_afri.16a.html | access-date=23 November 2020}} He also worked with directors including Jo Baier, Axel Corti and Peter Keglevic.
Roll's debut as a director was in the film {{ill|Radetzkymarsch (1994)|de|lt=Radetzkymarsch}}. Roll was the director for films including the children's classic {{ill|The Robber Hotzenplotz (2006 film)|de|3=Der Räuber Hotzenplotz (2006)|lt=The Robber Hotzenplotz}} in 2006. In 2008, he was the cinematographer for Heinrich Breloer's film Die Buddenbrooks.
Roll was one of the founding members of the Deutsche Filmakademie in 2003.{{cite web | last=Jungblut | first=Peter | title=Kameramann der "Heimat"-Chroniken: Gernot Roll gestorben | website=BR24 | date=12 November 2020 | url=https://www.br.de/nachrichten/kultur/kameramann-der-heimat-chroniken-gernot-roll-gestorben,SG7iMMk | language=de | access-date=15 November 2020}}
He was married to the producer Rita Serra-Roll; their son is the actor Michael Roll (born 1961). They lived in the Hunsrück.
Roll died on 12 November 2020 in Munich after a severe illness, at the age of 81.
Filmography
Films for which Roll was the cinematographer include:
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Filmography |
| Year
! Title ! Director ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1970
| |
| {{nowrap|1971–72}}
| {{ill|Michael Braun (director)|de|Michael Braun (Regisseur)|lt=Michael Braun}} | TV series |
| 1977
| |
| 1979
| TV series |
| 1980
| {{ill|Wigbert Wicker|de}} | |
| 1980
| Wirth | |
| 1984
| Heimat – eine deutsche Chronik | Reitz | TV series |
| 1985
| Morenga | |
| 1985
| |
| 1989
| |
| 1982
| |
| 1994
| Wortmann | |
| 1996
| TV film |
| 1996
| |
| 2001
| Link | |
| 2001
| Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman | miniseries |
| 2002
| Lehner | |
| 2005
| Breloer | |
| 2008
| |
| 2010
| Henri 4 | Jo Baier | |
| 2013
| Reitz | |
| 2019
|Breloer | |
Awards
- 1982, 1985, 1993, 2000 Grimme-Preis
- 1992, 1993, 2002 Deutscher Filmpreis – Best Cinematography
- 1998 {{ill|Deutscher Kamerapreis|de}}
- 2013 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- 2014 Bavarian Film Awards Honorary award
References
{{reflist
| refs =
| last = Grübl
| first = Josef
| url = https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/gernot-roll-gestorben-kamera-1.5113328
| title = Meister des Lichts
| newspaper = Süddeutsche Zeitung
| date = 12 November 2020
| language = de
| access-date = 13 November 2020
}}
| last = Pommerenke
| first = Silvy
| url = https://www.kino-zeit.de/film-kritiken-trailer-streaming/buddenbrooks
| title = Buddenbrooks / Eine Filmkritik
| website = kino-zeit.de
| language = de
| access-date = 3 December 2020
}}
| url = http://www.deutsches-filmhaus.de/filme_einzeln/w_einzeln/wirth_franz_peter/buddenbrooks.htm
| title = Buddenbrooks / 1979
| website = deutsches-filmhaus.de
| language = de
| access-date = 3 December 2020
}}
| url = https://www.filmportal.de/en/person/gernot-roll_ef7842cbd017335be03053d50b374843
| title = Gernot Roll
| website = filmportal.de
| date = 12 November 2020
| language = de
| access-date = 13 November 2020
}}
| url = https://www.deutscher-kamerapreis.de/preistraeger/gernot-roll/
| title = Gernot Roll / Ehrenpreis 1998
| website = Deutscher Kamerapreis
| date = 28 March 2018
| language = de
| access-date = 13 November 2020
}}
| last1 = Dieckmann
| first1 = Cordula
| last2 = Etscheit
| first2 = Georg
| url = https://www.saechsische.de/kultur/kameramann-gernot-roll-ist-tot-5316181.html
| title = Kameramann Gernot Roll ist tot
| newspaper = Sächsische Zeitung
| date = 12 November 2020
| language = de
| access-date = 12 November 2020
}}
| title=In Dresden geborener Kameramann Gernot Roll gestorben
| publisher=MDR
| date=12 November 2020
| url=https://www.mdr.de/kultur/kameramann-gernot-roll-tot-dresden-100.html
| language=de
| access-date=13 November 2020
}}
|last=Grübl
|first=Josef
|date=16 January 2015
|title=Stilles Genie hinter der Kamera
|url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/muenchen/bayerischer-filmpreis-fuer-gernot-roll-stilles-genie-hinter-der-kamera-1.2306408
|work=Süddeutsche Zeitung
|location=Munich
|language=de
|access-date=13 November 2020
}}
| title=Gernot Roll
| website=IEC – HOME
| url=http://www.cinematographers.nl/PaginasDoPh/roll.htm
| language=de
| access-date=23 November 2020
}}
}}
External links
{{commonscat}}
- {{DNB portal|137402589}}
- {{imdb name|05846}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roll, Gernot}}
Category:Film people from Dresden
Category:German cinematographers
Category:Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany