Behind the Curtain

Client
Bayerische Staatsoper
Year
2024–2026
DIR
David Preute
DOP
Jan Linnartz & Louis Dickhaut
Format
Documentary Portrait Series & Film
29 portraits of the people the audience never sees.
The series lives on staatsoper.tv, where several Behind the Curtain portraits count among the house's most-watched formats — with a third season already in the works. Its crown is a single cinematic film: a best-of woven from two seasons that steps back and lets the whole house breathe as one. Concept, direction, production and post — all IVORY.
A night at the Bayerische Staatsoper looks like a handful of stars under a spotlight. It is really the work of hundreds of people the audience never sees. Behind the Curtain turns the camera on them — one film per person, one craft at a time. Across two seasons we portrayed 29 of them: stage managers and armourers, head-lighting and set designers, casting and physiotherapy, even the climate technicians who hold a historic stage at exactly the right temperature. Every portrait is shot with documentary intimacy and finished with cinematic care.