Projektionen der Sehnsucht - 1999
ABOUT THE FILM : Projektionen der Sehnsucht
Filmarchiv AustriaProjected Aspiration
Year: 1999
Drawing his early inspiration from Charles Pathé’s risqué scènes grivoises, Johann Schwarzer soon created his own style that quickly become known by amateurs across Europe as scènes viennoises. While he always revealed a little more skin than his competitors, Schwarzer never veered into pornography. His saucy films were harmless enough, aimed at a wide audience.
Between 1906 and 1911, Saturn’s activity quickly flourished and found many fans across Europe. But after only five years in business, the Vienna government ordered the company to shut down operations on the grounds of immorality. The ethics police hacked the films to pieces. The catalogues, negatives and copies all suffered the same fate.
Length: 5' 59"
Genre: erotic
Sound: sound
Original elements: colour
Producer: Filmarchiv Austria
Composer: Aljoscha Zimmermann
Original language: German
A BRIEF HISTORY : Projektionen der Sehnsucht
Some of the Saturn films jump and skip, because they were completely glued back together. Even if the Vienna government ordered their total destruction, well-intentioned hands undoubtedly salvaged little bits of films and managed to save them.
Censorship prevented Saturn from rising again. Johann Schwarzer tried to get a fresh start in film distribution, but without the ‘spicy’ films he had become famous for. After three months, he dropped it and left Vienna for Africa. He resurfaced in April 1914, when he married the young Olga Emilie Jarosh-Stehlik. Then World War I broke out. A reserve officer, Johann Schwarzer was killed in action on 10 October 1914.
The irony of it all is that several Saturn films were shown on the front to boost the Austrian-Hungarian troops’ morale during the Great War.
There are a total of 52 Saturn films, most of which come from Albert Fidelius’ collection in Berlin. Amateurs of the genre managed to save a few copies from the clutches of Austrian censorship. Albert Fidelius, the son of a German distributor, began collecting primitive films in 1933. The collection was then purchased in the 1950s by the famous German film director Gerhard Lamprecht, who founded the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek several years later. The films can be recognized by a star, the special Saturn trademark that is clearly visible in all their décor.
In the 1990s, original nitrate-based films (mainly negatives) were entrusted to the Filmarchiv Austria, where they were duly restored.
