Magnum Blog / The Myth Revisited

The Myth Revisited

Magnum in Motion, a traveling festival with films by and about Magnum photographers as well as several essays by the agency's multimedia division, is moving on from Guadalajara to Thessaloníki, Istanbul, New York and Melbourne. It began its worldwide tour at the Berlinale Film Festival in February where it opened with the documentary "Magnum Photos: The Changing of a Myth." The film maker, Reiner Holzemer, shares his experience of revisiting his 10-year-old documentary in the company of Magnum photographers. Robert Capa shooting film during the Spanish Civil War in October 1938. Gerda Taro. I arrived in Berlin Friday afternoon. In the evening, my film “Magnum Photos: The Changing of a Myth“ was going to be shown at the Berlin Film Festival 2007. I expected no big event, no big movie theatre and no crowds because the film is almost 10 years old. The only advantages that I saw in this late screening were an invitation to Berlin, a nice hotel room and a festival pass, which would give me access to free tickets. I was not nervous at all when I entered the Berlinale International Film Festival office. Caroline Walke, the assistant for the special screenings series, said “Hello, good to see you! I have great news. The screening tonight is sold out and all the Magnum photographers, who are in town, will come to see the show. Elliott Erwitt is here, Dennis Stock, Martine Franck, Thomas Höpker, Raymond Depardon (the Oscar winner!) and Donovan Wylie. Your film will be the opening of the Magnum in Motion series.“ Now I became nervous, when I left the office. I remembered the pressure that I felt when I was shooting the film in 1998 and the sickness that came along with the long editing process.

John Vink

Reiner,

At the time I felt a bit sorry for you with you camera in the "lion's den". Must have been stressful times, and we certainly could have made things a little easier for you then.
Oh, and I'd love to have a DVD of the movie (which I saw only once)...

Take care

John

Davin

Reiner,

I own a VHS copy. I love the film especially for its interview and "in-the-field" scenes with Luc Delahaye.

Best wishes,

Davin

Lam

Where could I view this film? I've recently seen quite a few films on photographers, war photographers, city of photographers or on the border (on reuters photographers, sorry, if the title is wrong) and have always been interested in the way in which the information is conveyed and pieced together (documentary is a broad umbrella term, considering the narrative possibilities nowadays).

Thanks and congratulations on your success (gratuliere zum Erfolg, wie man auf Deutsch sagt!)!

A young aspiring one

Túlio, Fábio

I did not saw the film but i must comment about the expression: "It is hard to satisfy 50 different people with one film."
how can someone do that? "they" are so different. some are crazy, some are like ZEN style.
Anyway, congratulations for your work. hugs

ps:Can you guys put the film on the web? thanks

James Cox

Reiner, this sounds like a very interesting film. Could you let us know how to get hold of a copy? Thanks.

Blog Editor

Dear all,

Reiner asked that you email him if you want to buy a copy. Send the email to blog@magnumphotos.com and we'll forward it to him.