John Cranko's life and death read like a Hollywood movie. To this day, his name stands for a chapter of dance history that is celebrated all over the world as the “Stuttgart Ballet miracle”. He was a pop star of the ballet world who was torn from life at the height of his career at the age of just 45.
Now the story of this gifted South-African born, British choreographer is coming to the big screen - and to the opera house for an exclusive film premiere. In this sensitive film, titled simply CRANKO, director and author Joachim A. Lang depicts Cranko’s ground-breaking work in Stuttgart in the 1960s as well as his turbulent private life. Ingeniously interweaving life and art, Lang provides insights into Cranko’s sources of inspiration, into his choreographic process and his interactions with the dancers who loved him. In a stroke of casting genius, Lang was able to secure the British actor Sam Reilly (Control, Malificent) to play the title role.
The Stuttgart Ballet itself plays a leading role in this first feature film about the dance genius: the dancers of the 60’s and 70’s are portrayed – and danced - by current members of the Stuttgart Ballet, among others Elisa Badenes as Marcia Haydée, Jason Reilly as Ray Barra, Friedemann Vogel as Heinz Clauss, Rocio Aleman as Birgit Keil, Marti Paixa as Richard Cragun and Henrik Erikson as Egon Madsen. Filmed in the original ballet studios where Cranko worked and on the stage of the opera house in Stuttgart, the biopic also shows the small southern German city of Stuttgart as Cranko would have experienced it.
No place would be more suitable for the world premiere of the film than the opera house where Cranko created his masterpieces. The audience will be able to experience this extraordinary biopic in the presence of the artists involved before the official cinema release.
Now the story of this gifted South-African born, British choreographer is coming to the big screen - and to the opera house for an exclusive film premiere. In this sensitive film, titled simply CRANKO, director and author Joachim A. Lang depicts Cranko’s ground-breaking work in Stuttgart in the 1960s as well as his turbulent private life. Ingeniously interweaving life and art, Lang provides insights into Cranko’s sources of inspiration, into his choreographic process and his interactions with the dancers who loved him. In a stroke of casting genius, Lang was able to secure the British actor Sam Reilly (Control, Malificent) to play the title role.
The Stuttgart Ballet itself plays a leading role in this first feature film about the dance genius: the dancers of the 60’s and 70’s are portrayed – and danced - by current members of the Stuttgart Ballet, among others Elisa Badenes as Marcia Haydée, Jason Reilly as Ray Barra, Friedemann Vogel as Heinz Clauss, Rocio Aleman as Birgit Keil, Marti Paixa as Richard Cragun and Henrik Erikson as Egon Madsen. Filmed in the original ballet studios where Cranko worked and on the stage of the opera house in Stuttgart, the biopic also shows the small southern German city of Stuttgart as Cranko would have experienced it.
No place would be more suitable for the world premiere of the film than the opera house where Cranko created his masterpieces. The audience will be able to experience this extraordinary biopic in the presence of the artists involved before the official cinema release.
