Rosa von Praunheim, influential German filmmaker, dies at 83

Rosa von Praunheim, an avant-garde filmmaker whose work drew attention to gay life in Germany, died on Dec. 17 at his home in Berlin. He was 83. His death was first reported by Stern magazine; he had recently announced that he had an inoperable brain tumor. Von Praunheim became widely known for his 1971 feature 'It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, but the Society in Which He Lives,' which critics called didactic and even homophobic but which also helped spur dozens of gay-rights groups and is widely considered Germany’s "Stonewall moment." He was a leading figure in the New German Cinema movement alongside filmmakers such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog and Wim Wenders.

Over a prolific career he wrote, directed and produced about 150 shorts, documentaries and features on subjects including women’s rights, the counterculture and his own experiences as an artist and a gay man. He remained deliberately low budget and anti-commercial; Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times that his films "look cheaply made and more or less pasted together," a quality Canby said worked in their favor.

His 1989 documentary 'Survival in New York' was his most commercially successful film.

Key Topics

Culture, Rosa Von Praunheim, Berlin, New German Cinema, Act Up, Frank-walter Steinmeier