Gernot Roll (9 April 193912 November 2020) was a German cinematographer, film director and script writer. He collaborated on several films with directors Edgar Reitz and Sönke Wortmann. He was regarded as an expert on literary adaptations and film biographies, such as The Buddenbrooks, filming Thomas Mann's novel in eleven television episodes directed by Franz Peter Wirth, and the same work again in 2008 in the film directed by Heinrich Breloer.
Life Roll was born in Dresden and grew up in Pirna. At the age of 14 he began training as a cameraman and then worked at the DEFA Studios in Berlin-Babelsberg. His first film as a camera assistant was the fairy tale film The Singing Ringing Tree. In 1960 he went to West Germany to work at Bavaria Film in Munich. He filmed literary works such as , and television series such as Graf Yoster gibt sich die Ehre and Tatort. From 1976, he worked as a freelance cinematographer. He was considered an expert in literary adaptations and film biographies. In 1979, he was the cinematographer for The Buddenbrooks, eleven episodes for television of Thomas Mann's novel, directed by Franz Peter Wirth.
Roll's breakthrough came with the celebrated 16-hour TV series Heimat – Eine deutsche Chronik by Edgar Reitz in 1984. Among his films were Caroline Link's Jenseits der Stille and Helmut Dietl's . He worked with Sönke Wortmann for Der bewegte Mann, with for , and with Link again for Oscar-winning Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa). He also worked with directors including Jo Baier, Axel Corti and Peter Keglevic.
Roll's debut as a director was in the film . Roll was the director for films including the children's classic in 2006. In 2008, he was the cinematographer for Heinrich Breloer's film Die Buddenbrooks.
Roll was one of the founding members of the Deutsche Filmakademie in 2003.
He was married to the producer Rita Serra-Roll; their son is the actor Michael Roll (born 1961). They lived in the Hunsrück.
Roll died on 12 November 2020 in Munich after a severe illness, at the age of 81.
Filmography Films for which Roll was the cinematographer include: + Filmography Year Title Director Notes 1970 The Last Escape Walter Grauman Salto Mortale TV series 1977 Zero Hour Edgar Reitz 1979 The Buddenbrooks Franz Peter Wirth TV series 1980 Car-napping 1980 Ein Stück Himmel Wirth 1984 Heimat – eine deutsche Chronik Reitz TV series 1985 Morenga Egon Günther 1985 Mit meinen heißen Tränen Fritz Lehner 1989 The Rose Garden Fons Rademakers 1982 Kleine Haie Sönke Wortmann 1994 Der bewegte Mann Wortmann 1996 Das Mädchen Rosemarie Bernd Eichinger TV film 1996 Beyond Silence Caroline Link 2001 Nowhere in Africa Link 2001 Die Manns – Ein Jahrhundertroman Heinrich Breloer miniseries 2002 Jedermanns Fest Lehner 2005 Speer und Er Breloer 2008 Buddenbrooks Breloer 2010 Henri 4 Jo Baier 2013 Home from Home Reitz 2019 BrechtBreloer
Awards 1982, 1985, 1993, 2000 Grimme-Preis 1992, 1993, 2002 Deutscher Filmpreis – Best Cinematography 1998 2013 Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 2014 Bavarian Film Awards Honorary award
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