Salzburg, Austria, 1948: A mysterious woman appears out of nowhere. She hands over a suitcase full of photos taken between 1916 and the 1970s to a private detective. The assignment: To find out everything about the photographer who took these pictures, Carl Ellinger. But Carl Ellinger disappeared long before the photos were taken. Who, then, took these images?
Double Exposure
Beate Thalberg
Born 1967 in Altmark. Studied directing and dramaturgy at the Hans Otto Theater Academy in Leipzig (now the Leipzig Conservatory of Music and Theater). Lives and works in Vienna as director of experimental films, documentaries, feature films and film essays as well as theater director and screenwriter.
2012 ELISABETH HELLER: DIE JAHRHUNDERTFRAU, TV-Dokumentarfilm
2014 ICH, HINTER MIR, experimenteller Spielfilm
2016 DIE KÖNIGIN VON WIEN: ANNA SACHER UND IHR HOTEL, TV-Dokumentarfilm
2019 RAUS AUS DEM KORSETT, Fernsehfilm
2020 DAS GROSSE WELTTHEATER: SALZBURG UND SEINE FESTSPIELE, TV-Dokumentarfilm
2022 DIE DOPPELTE FRAU, Webserie/Spielfilm HOF 2023
In Vorbereitung/In preparation DAS ELIXIER, Spielfilm
“While working on another film, I happened to discover a lot of fascinating photographs: images of Marlene Dietrich completely relaxed in a coffee house, of Arturo Toscanini highly concentrated during a rehearsal, singers laughing during a break. The vividness of a single frozen moment! Hundreds of these images have been published worldwide in books, newspapers, online articles. All under the byline Carl Ellinger.
I wanted to find out more about him. The story of this film began with the first discovery of my research: Carl Ellinger disappeared long before all these pictures were taken. The genre was immediately clear, because like the mysterious client in the film, the true author – or authoress? – of these photos lured me from one false lead to the next. Riddles at every turn. Everything in the dark, nothing is at it seems – typical film noir! Soon, this person nudged me towards the real subject of my film: what does a society that suppresses a life’s work of 100,000 relevant photos tell us about itself? Why does it erase an entire biography? Even more: why does it cover that with a lie no one questions anymore?”
Beate Thalberg