ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the film Großstadt-Zigeuner directed by Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. After his screenplay Dynamik der Gross-Stadt and his 1929 film on Marseille, artist, photographer, and filmmaker Moholy-Nagy made two city symphonies dealing with Berlin: Berliner Stilleben and Grossstadt-Zigeuner. In contrast with the fascination for the hectic density of the city center in most city symphonies, the characters of Grossstadt-Zigeuner are situated in the nondescript peripheral zones where city and country interact. Romantically associated with the pastoralism of a bygone era, the gypsies have become social outcasts banned to the outskirts of the city. Grossstadt-Zigeuner focuses on children and on the faces of individuals, many of them looking directly at the camera. Moholy's hand-held camera evokes the highly physical presence of the filmmaker among his subjects. Grossstadt-Zigeuner was originally made as a sound film, but, because of copyright issues, the soundtrack was declared illegal and destroyed.
