Jonatan Briel


Jonatan Karl Dieter Briel was a German director, screenplay author, and actor. He was born in Bodenwerder, Lower Saxony, and died in Berlin. He was strongly influenced by the works of the 19th-century poets and dramatists, Heinrich von Kleist, Christian Friedrich Hebbel, and Friedrich Hölderlin.

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 the Free University Berlin and at Technische Universität 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.

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.
  • 1970 Berlin Berlin Berlin, 30 min., Experimental film. Writer, producer, and director.
  • 1971 Jonatan Briels Lenz - Eine deutsche Physiognomie, 120 min.; ZDF Production. Writer and director.
  • 1971 Tago Mago, 120 min.; Experimental film; ZDF Production. Actor and director.
  • 1973 Ein sonderbarer Fall von Liebe, 45 min.; SFB Production. Writer, producer and director.
  • 1975 Glutmensch, 90 min.; SFB and Literarisches Berliner Kolloquium. Writer, producer and director.
  • 1979 Das Geheimnis. Director.
  • 1982 Untertänigst Scardanelli. Writer and director.
  • 1984 . Actor.
  • 1985 Die doppelte Fremde. Scriptwriter.

    Radio scripts

  • The stars, which smile on their hovel
  • The attempt to sing a song
  • The house of desires
  • Elli, SO 36
  • Katja
  • As long as you love me, I cannot go wrong
  • ''Kleist-Project Berlin 1987''

    In other opinions - Critics

About the film Like Two Merry Aeronauts:
About the film Berlin Berlin Berlin: