Fellows


Ronny Günl
ifk Junior Fellow


Duration of fellowship
01. October 2024 bis 30. June 2025

Elements of a modern film history with Enno Patalas



PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Besides his critical engagement with contemporary film, Enno Patalas’ lifetime devotion to cinema was always concerned with its history, which can be understood as thefoundation for critique. This research project aims to ascertain the inherent idea of Patalas’ film history based on his written legacy. Initially, as an editor and writer for the magazine Filmkritik, later as the director of the Filmmuseum Munich, he significantly influenced German film culture in the 1960s as well as the developing field of academic film studies. The concept of »Modern Film« as an aesthetic paradigm in film history is one that defined the cinematic socialization of Patalas and his milieu. On one hand, this project questions Patalas' theoretical background and, on the other hand, it addresses his impact to date, particularly in relation cinematheques and film restoration practices, which became his focus before retirement.



CV

Ronny Günl completed his studies in Theatre, Film, and Media Studies at the University of Vienna with a master’s thesis titled Concrete in Debris: Towards a Critical Theory of Incident. In his thesis, he examined the connection between aesthetic theory and the philosophy of history, using the film Videograms of a Revolution by Harun Farocki and Andrei Ujică as a case study. Afterwards, he joined the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Digital History and worked as a researcher in the projects »Visual History of the Holocaust« and »Modern Vienna Time Machine«. Alongside his academic pursuits, he actively contributes to journals focusing on both contemporary and historical film culture. As part of the Filmclub Tacheles, he organised several screenings with films from Claude Lanzmann, held introductory speeches and edited an anthology on the works of Austrian filmmaker Ruth Beckermann.



Publications

[Rezension] »Vinzenz Hediger und Rembert Hüser (Hg.), Jean-Luc Godard. Film denken nach der Geschichte des Kinos«, in: rezens.tfm (2024), Nr. 1.

[Rezension] »Drehli Robnik und Joachim Schätz (Hg.), Gewohnte Gewalt – ein Sammelband über häusliche Gewalt im Spannungskino«, in: kolikfilm(2023), 39.

[Rezension] »Robin Becker, David Hagen, Livia von Samson (Hg.), Ästhetik nach Adorno. Positionen zur Gegenwartskunst«, in: rezens.tfm (2023), Nr. 1.

»Zwei oder drei Dinge über das Erzählen«, in: mit Martina Genetti, Adrian Jonas Haim, Isolde Vogel (Hg.), Filmreihe Beckermann 2022.