Young and beautiful people.  The product clearly on display along with its trademark.

A witty (or at least amusing) presentation.  

These are three cornerstones of advertising that we still encounter every day.  

They are not a recent invention, nor are they the fruit of scientific research of the artistic avant-garde.

They date from over a century ago when a unique group of artistic talents in Germany initiated the golden age of commercial art and design. 

At the very beginning of 20^th century  the first modern advertising poster was created in Berlin: the Priester matches poster.  The Plakatstil was born.  

Lucian Bernhard, Ludwig Hohlwein, Julius Klinger: these were the three artists who revolutionized the approach to advertising and left us a heritage of ideas that are still valid today.  

They turned away from the complexity of Art Nouveau and propagated a more modern outlook on poster art.

Each of them created a style of his own, each of them came up with original solutions, each of them made different choices in their lives.

Through their works and their destinies we will tell the story of the birth of modern advertising.

Three different but equally dramatic fates. Ludwig Hohlwein worked in Nazi propaganda,

Lucian Bernhard left Germany for the United States, Julius Klinger died in a concentration camp.

director: Adolfo Conti

locations: Hamburg, Berlin, Essen, Munich, New York, Vienna

year: 2017

lenght: 52′

INFO

a Doc Art  production in coproduction with Leonardo Film ( Germany ), NDR ( Germany ) e AVROTROS ( Holland )

in collaboration with ARTE (France – Germany )  and RAI Cinema

in association with DR ( Denmark ), ERT ( Greece ), RSI  ( Italian Swiss  )

co-funded by European Union – Creative Europe – MEDIA

and by  Nordmedia – Film und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen / Bremen mbH

Credits

written by Adolfo Conti

with Muriel Borchart Juergen Doering René Grohnert Roland Gruschka Steven Heller Anna von Karstedt Juliet Kinchin Peter Klinger Anita Kuhnel Hellmut Rademacher Hubert Riedel

and with Giovanni Carta Thomas Landl

producers: Amalia Carandini Adolfo Conti

executive producer: Ilaria Sbarigia

cinematography, editing and graphics: Eugenio Persico

music: Pasquale Catalano

camera operator: Henri Fried

additional camera operators: Antonio Costagliola di Fiore  Matvey Rodov

sound engineer: Jan Schmiedt

graphic animation: Daniel Cloeren

mix and color correction: Manuel Weingärtner

editing assistant: Giulia Peruzzi

production assistant: Ute de Groot

account: Paolo Lanari

legal advisor: Sergio Giorcelli