PLACES AND DREAMS

The Painter Walter Nessler

Author & Director:

Juergen Ast | Thomas Grimm

Duration:

30' | 45'

Production:

astfilm productions | for DFF

Walter Nessler was born in 1912 in Germany and started to study painting in Dresden. It is there where he met the Grundig couple, both painters, and it is there where he started his resistance against the Nazi-State, in particular with his cartoon the "Hitler-Alphabet". Nessler also paints the sets for the Dance School of Mary Wigman. In 1938 Walter Nessler emigrates to England. At the very beginning of the 2nd World War he faces internment as a foreign enemy and voluntarily joins the British Army. After the War Nessler finds new inspiration in Paris, where he meets with many famous artists.

In the last decades Nessler created in London an extensive and versatile collection of his work - between new functionalism, cubistic motives and abstract collages. 1989 Nessler is honored as Senator of the University for the Arts in Dresden.

The film tells the story of the decisive moments in the life of Walter Nessler - Dresden, Paris, London - and about the dreams and nightmares in the life of a sensitive artist in the 20th Century.