Biography
Helmut Bergmann, born February 15, 1926, in Niederkaina, as the son of a family of craftsmen became a prisoner of war at the end of World War II. After the end of the war, he lived in West Germany for two years before he relocated to East Germany in 1947.
His five-year older brother already worked as a cinematographer for DEFA. In 1949, Bergmann became his assistant. Soon, he also worked as an assistant for other cinematographers and directors, mainly in the departments of didactic and educational films as well as for popular scientific films.
In 1951, Bergmann made his debut as an autonomous cinematographer for the short documentary film "Unsere Stahlwerker aus Riesa". During the following years, Bergmann repeatedly collaborated with director Wolfgang Bartsch, for instance, for the documentary film "In Flammen geboren" (1957), a visually unconventional and impressive film about work in a Brandenburg steel mill. Because of its lack of pathos, the authorities accused Bartsch’s and Bergmann’s film of "lack of partisanship for the working class". Together with Heiner Carow, Bergmann filmed the short documentary film "Martins Tagebuch" about a school boy whose deteriorating achievements are directly related to the pressure applied by Martin’s parents. DEFA’s executive distorted the film’s message by several alteration requirements. Nevertheless, the film won an award at Dokumentarfilmfestival Leipzig.
In the mid-1950s, Bergmann went to DEFA-Spielfilmstudio where he debuted alongside his brother as the co-cinematographer of Slatan Dudow’s satirical film "Der Hauptmann von Köln" ("The Captain from Cologne", 1956). During the following years, he was involved as a cinematographer in numerous DEFA productions. Besides, he also worked as a lecturer for cinematography and as a technical consultant for the Cinema High Institute in Cairo, Egypt, from 1964 to 1967.
Bergmann repeatedly worked with well-known DEFA directors and was the cinematographer for Slatan Dudow’s "Christine", for Heiner Carow’s "Sie nannten ihn Amigo", for "Ulzana", directed by Gottfried Kolditz, and for Horst Seemann’s "Zeit zu leben" ("Time to Live"), among other films. He closely collaborated with Helmut Dziuba, a specialist for contemporary drama films, in particular. Until 1991, he filmed eight films by Dziuba, including "Erscheinen Pflicht".
After the liquidation of DEFA in 1991, Bergmann withdrew from the film business and ended his career as a cinematographer. On March 15, 1998, Helmut Bergmann died in Potsdam after a long illness.