Monarda Arts

Women were clearly at the core of legendary photographer Helmut Newton's work. The stars of his iconic portraits and fashion editorials – from Catherine Deneuve to Grace Jones, Charlotte Rampling to Isabella Rossellini – finally give their own interpretation of the life and work of this controversial genius. A portrait by the portrayed. Provocative, unconventional, subversive, his depiction of women still sparks the question: were they subjects or objects?

A camera crew follows Helmut Newton, the fashion and ad photographer whose images of tall, blond, big-breasted women are part of the iconography of twentieth-century erotic fantasy. He's on the go from L.A., to Paris, to Monte-Carlo, to Berlin, where he was a youth until he escaped from the Nazis in 1936. We see him on shoots, interviewing models, and discussing his work.

Heinrich Schütz was presumably the first internationally renowned German composer. In the 40 years he spent as court "kapellmeister" in Dresden, he left a strong impression on musical life in Europe. Although he was named "father of our modern, meaning German, music", he was long forgotten after his death in 1672. His works in their clear beauty still seem up-to-date, almost modern. However, only his vocal works - a small part of his extensive oeuvre - are known today. Narrating this documentary are, amongst others, international musical experts from Germany, Venice or Copenhagen - like David Douglas Bryant, Bjarke Moe, Prof. Matthias Herrmann, Dr. Christina Siegfried - as well as conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann, who was the first to record Schütz's complete (known) oeuvre.