Rosa von Praunheim

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I Am My Own Woman  (1992)

This wonderfully inspiring film of one person's efforts to be what he wants to be is von Praunheim's best work to date and a must for all gay men and women facing the repression and wrath of a straight society. A documentary with recreated dramatic scenes, it tells the courageous story of Charlotte von Mahsldorf, born Lother Berfelde in 1928, whose lifelong obsession with wearing women's clothing -- leads him to live his life as a woman. We follow him from his teenage years during WWII, through to her life near East Berlin, where she operated the country's only private museum -- a mansion filled with period furniture from the turn-of-the-century. An unforgettable portrait of a courageous, unique individual, who ignored the conventions of the day to bravely live his life as she saw fit. (German with subtitles)

Neurosia -- Fifty Years of Perversity (1995)

Part murder mystery, part self-critical autobiography and all satire, this delightfully candid film is von Praunheim's attempt to encapsulate his career to date and to give voice (no matter how dangerous or comedic) to his detractors. It begins in a cinema, where a pompous von Praunheim is shot by someone in a crowd. The mystery begins when his body disappears from the stage. Gesine (Nick), a homophobic tabloid TV journalist, is assigned the task of digging up dirt on the controversial politico and filmmaker. Who killed von Praunheim becomes a problematic question after a slew of bitter friends, angry work associates and various former lovers appear, each bearing a grudge against the deceased director. How did this former altar boy become the gay bad boy of Germany? The answer is complicated as Gesine learns about his life, loves and filmmaking career. Neurosia wanders all through von Praunheim's life, but the final ten minutes brings it all together in an inventively funny and self-deprecating fashion. (German with English subtitles)

Positive (1990)

Positive follows Silence = Death as the second part of von Prauheim and Phil Zwickler's trilogy about AIDS and activism (the third part, Asses on Fire, was never released). This film powerfully documents New York City's gay community;s response to the AIDS crisis as they are forced to organize themselves after the government's failure to stem the epidemic. Activists who are interviewed include playwrite Larry Kramer, People With AIDS Coalition co-founder Michael Callen (who died of AIDS in 1994), New York filmmaker and journalist Phil Zwickler, as well as representatives from ACT-UP, Queer Nation and the Gay Men's Health Crisis.

Director Sends Up His Own Life

By Allan Barra, The Star-Ledger, 4/5/96

Excerpt:

In Vito Russo's book, The Celluloid Closet (on which the superb new documentary is based), onetime German New Wave filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim is described as "a director who makes home movies for the gay movement."

That's an exaggeration, but the point survives it, particularly as it applies to von Praunheim's most famous film, It's Not the Homosexual Who is Perverse, But the Situation in Which He Lives (1970), which was a focal point for gay liberation in the Seventies. Von Praunheim himself is quite a character; he took the name Rosa (after being born Holger Mischwitzky) in commemoration of the pink armbands gays were forced to wear in Nazi prison camps during World War II. Controversial in both gay and straight film and political circles for "outing" several German celebrities, von Praunheim has been widely quoted as saying, "I don't want audiences at my movies to have a good time, I want them to be upset."

The Pug Interview

By Michael Saunders

Introduction:

"Rosa Von Praunheim does not want us to have a good time at the movies. He wants us to be upset. He doesn't care if his films are not polished and pretty. He is more concerned with raising our eyebrows, challenging our preconceptions, shaking us by the shoulders until we listen" -- Arnie Kantrowitz

Justly described as "the senior member of the Berlin school of underground filmmaking" and the "bad boy of the German gay scene," Rosa Von Praunheim was born Holger Mischwitzky in wartime Riga in 1942. In 1967, he made his first film, Von Rosa von Praunheim, taking a women's name just as many women artists have taken men's names to advance their art. Since that time, he has made over 40 films, each one seeming more controversial than the last. In 1970, German television banned his landmark documentary It's not the Homosexual who is Perverse, but the Situation in which He Lives, and yet when the film was finally shown, ironically it was the homosexual community that was most outraged because of his double-barreled attack on gay monogamy and respectability...

Names Index:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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