Leibniz – Chronicle of a Lost Painting, a film about the well-known German Christian philosopher and polymath, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, premieres across Germany on 18 September.

Starring Edgar Selge as Leibniz, and directed by Edgar Reitz, “the film is an intelligent and witty exchange between scholars and artists, revealing the countless facets of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz”, underline its creators.

The cast also includes Lars Eidinger, Barbara Sukowa and Aenne Schwarz in the lead roles.

The films starts when Sophie of Hanover, the first Queen Consort of Prussia as the second wife of Frederick I, commissions a portrait of Leibniz.

“However, the scholar is not at all in the mood for this. During the painting sessions, a passionate battle erupts between the philosopher and the young painter over the truth in image and representation, reality and art”, says the official sinopsis of the film.

An old project

When the film was announced, the German newspaper Die Welt reported that the Hannover city council had approached Reitz back in 2008 because it wanted to dedicate several rooms in the rebuilt city palace to the philosopher.

Reitz wrote scenes for ten different short films, each focusing on a different aspect of the polymath's life. After two years, the project got out of hand and eventually became unfinanceable, but it provided the basis of the new film.

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) was one of the most important Christian philosophers and polymaths of his time, as well as a pioneer of the Enlightenment.

He was born and raised in Leipzig and, in 1676, began to work at the court of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, in Hanover, where he remained until his death. Leibniz never married and had no children.