Otto Martini

Known for

Camera

Born

December 11, 1902

Died

September 1, 1979

Birthplace

Nuremberg, Germany

Otto Martini (* December 11 , 1902 in Nuremberg ; † September 1, 1979 in Murnau ) was a German cameraman , film director , screenwriter and film producer . The son of actor Ferdinand Martini received his training at the Research Institute for Photography and Cinema Technology . In 1924, he began working at Emelka as a junior cameraman. Martini primarily devoted himself to documentary filmmaking . He only occasionally participated in feature films, including as a co-cameraman on some of Karel Lamač's comedies . His contribution as one of five cameramen for the mountain film classic * Der Berg ruft* (The Mountain Calls ) by and starring Luis Trenker in 1937 was also Martini's last feature film work. He then moved to the documentary film department of Universum Film (UFA) , where he worked as a cameraman and, in some productions, also as director and writer. In 1944, he was transferred to the Luftwaffe's propaganda company. In 1945 and 1946, he produced passport photos; from 1947 onward, he directed documentaries for the Hamburg-based GEA-Kulturfilm. In 1949, he founded his own production company, Gesellschaft für bildende Filme (GbF). Until 1978, he created various documentary and industrial films as a director, producer, and writer. He received the Filmband in Gold award in 1960 for *Impuls unserer Zeit * (1959) . His son, Ronald Martini (born 1928), also produced documentary, research, and industrial films.