Reinhard Schwabenitzky (born 23 April 1947) is an Austrian film
director, film producer and screenwriter.Reinhard Schwabenitzky was
born in his maternal grandmother's pub in the remote hamlet of
Bucheben, a long walk along the valley to the south of Rauris, which
is a small town in the mountains of the State of Salzburg, positioned
an hour or so by car (in the summers) to the south of Salzburg itself.
Gerhard Klingenberg, his father, was an actor. He would later describe
his childhood as short of material benefits, but happy. During his
early school years there was still no electricity supply. The
farmhouse was lit with kerosine lamps. His 3 km / 2 mile walk down to
school, and back up again at the end of the day, created memories in
him that would endure.In 1951 his parents moved to Sankt Pölten in
connection with his father's work. Reinhard Schwabenitzky appeared in
his first acting roles at the age of just 4 at the Municipal Theater
in Sankt Pölten ("St. Pöltner Stadttheater"), under the direction of
his father. Two years later the child had to bid fare well to then
theatre when his parents divorced. He was sent to live with an aunt
and an uncle in a relatively remote mountain village called
Mittersill. He later went back to live with his grandmother and his
Uncle Erwin who ran the family farm in the mountains south of Rauris.
When he had time available it was assumed unquestioningly that he too
should work on the farm, and during his summer school vacations he
took his turn in taking the cattle to the higher pastures. His mother
remarried when he was 9. He moved with his mother and stepfather along
with his grandmother to their newly acquired guest house, the
"Itzlinger Hof", in Salzburg. The culture shock of the change was
considerable and initially, finding no friends at his new school, he
became lonely. There was no pure mountain air and few mountain views
in the city. On the other hand there were cinemas, and as far as his
pocket money allowed he became a regular cinema-goer. Eventually he
began to make friends, but at that point he was sent for two years to
a boarding school. Those two years he would later describe as the
worst in his life. But there was much to learn. There were new
concepts such as falsehood, injustice, untruthfulness and personal
censorship. The head teacher at the school was a priest, and Reinhard
Schwabenitzky found that the times that, as the son of a peasant
family in the mountains, he had set aside for attending Mass, he now
preferred to dedicate to cinema visits.After his parents' divorce he
remained in contact with his father whom he visited several times. His
father had moved to East Berlin and was working at the vast Babelsberg
Film Studios as a film director. The boy was able to help with the
filming, saw the studios, the cutting rooms and the cameras. He
watched the film shooting and cutting and, aged just 11, met Wolfgang
Staudte, whom he would later come to revere as one of the best film
directors ever. Without his being aware of it at the time, Reinhard
Schwabenitzky's visits as a boy to his father in East Berlin did much
to define the course of his later professional life.
director, film producer and screenwriter.Reinhard Schwabenitzky was
born in his maternal grandmother's pub in the remote hamlet of
Bucheben, a long walk along the valley to the south of Rauris, which
is a small town in the mountains of the State of Salzburg, positioned
an hour or so by car (in the summers) to the south of Salzburg itself.
Gerhard Klingenberg, his father, was an actor. He would later describe
his childhood as short of material benefits, but happy. During his
early school years there was still no electricity supply. The
farmhouse was lit with kerosine lamps. His 3 km / 2 mile walk down to
school, and back up again at the end of the day, created memories in
him that would endure.In 1951 his parents moved to Sankt Pölten in
connection with his father's work. Reinhard Schwabenitzky appeared in
his first acting roles at the age of just 4 at the Municipal Theater
in Sankt Pölten ("St. Pöltner Stadttheater"), under the direction of
his father. Two years later the child had to bid fare well to then
theatre when his parents divorced. He was sent to live with an aunt
and an uncle in a relatively remote mountain village called
Mittersill. He later went back to live with his grandmother and his
Uncle Erwin who ran the family farm in the mountains south of Rauris.
When he had time available it was assumed unquestioningly that he too
should work on the farm, and during his summer school vacations he
took his turn in taking the cattle to the higher pastures. His mother
remarried when he was 9. He moved with his mother and stepfather along
with his grandmother to their newly acquired guest house, the
"Itzlinger Hof", in Salzburg. The culture shock of the change was
considerable and initially, finding no friends at his new school, he
became lonely. There was no pure mountain air and few mountain views
in the city. On the other hand there were cinemas, and as far as his
pocket money allowed he became a regular cinema-goer. Eventually he
began to make friends, but at that point he was sent for two years to
a boarding school. Those two years he would later describe as the
worst in his life. But there was much to learn. There were new
concepts such as falsehood, injustice, untruthfulness and personal
censorship. The head teacher at the school was a priest, and Reinhard
Schwabenitzky found that the times that, as the son of a peasant
family in the mountains, he had set aside for attending Mass, he now
preferred to dedicate to cinema visits.After his parents' divorce he
remained in contact with his father whom he visited several times. His
father had moved to East Berlin and was working at the vast Babelsberg
Film Studios as a film director. The boy was able to help with the
filming, saw the studios, the cutting rooms and the cameras. He
watched the film shooting and cutting and, aged just 11, met Wolfgang
Staudte, whom he would later come to revere as one of the best film
directors ever. Without his being aware of it at the time, Reinhard
Schwabenitzky's visits as a boy to his father in East Berlin did much
to define the course of his later professional life.
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