The Master Game

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The Master Game (1998)

Directed by Lutz Dammbeck

Documentary · 1h 46m

At the Vienna Art Academy in 1994, an unidentified person painted over 27 works by Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer. Rainer had become world-famous for his abstract art and, in particular, for his over-layering of photographs and overpainting of his own and other artists’ works. But who painted over the “overpainter”? Speculation rages: Did he attack his works himself? A year later, an unsigned letter surfaces claiming responsibility for the act directed against Rainer – and modern art in general – and accusing the artist of being complicit with “destructive modernism.” At the same time, Austria is shaken by a series of mail bombs by the Bajuwarian Liberation Army, in response to the supposed threat to Austria’s “German identity.” Are there connections between the overpainting event and the mail bombs? Or is this all just a game? A dream? Or perhaps a hallucination?

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Cast

Crew

Director
Lutz Dammbeck
Writer
Lutz Dammbeck
Editor
Margot Neubert-Marić

Details

Original title
Das Meisterspiel
Release date
1998-10-30
Runtime
1h 46m
Genres
Documentary
Original language
EN
Spoken languages
German
Countries
Germany
Production
Lutz Dammbeck Filmproduktion