Holger Bernhard Bruno Mischwitzky (born Holger Radtke; 25 November 1942), known professionally as Rosa von Praunheim, is a German film director, author, painter and one of the most famous gay rights activists in the German-speaking world. In over 50 years, von Praunheim has made more than 150 films (short and feature-length films). His works influenced the development of

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

rights movements worldwide. He began his career associated to the

New German Cinema New German Cinema (german: Neuer Deutscher Film) is a period in German cinema which lasted from 1962 to 1982, in which a new generation of directors emerged who, working with low budgets, and influenced by the French New Wave and Italian Neorea ...

as a senior member of the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

school of underground filmmaking. He took the artistic female name Rosa von Praunheim to remind people of the

pink triangle A pink triangle has been a symbol for the LGBTQ+ community, initially intended as a badge of shame, but later reclaimed as a positive symbol of self-identity and love for queerness. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, it began as one of the Na ...

that homosexuals had to wear in

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

, as well as the

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

neighborhood of

Praunheim Praunheim is a quarter of Frankfurt am Main, Germany. It is part of the '' Ortsbezirk Mitte-West'' and is subdivided into five ''Stadtbezirke'': Praunheim, Praunheim-Nord, Praunheim-Süd, Alt-Praunheim and Westhausen. It is located along the north ...

where he grew up. A pioneer of

Queer Cinema "New Queer Cinema" is a term first coined by the academic B. Ruby Rich in ''Sight & Sound'' magazine in 1992 to define and describe a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in the early 1990s. It is also referred to as the "Queer New W ...

, von Praunheim has been an activist in the gay rights movement. He was an early advocate of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

awareness and safer sex. His films center on gay-related themes and strong female characters, are characterized by excess and employ a campy style. They have featured such personalities as

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

Larry Kramer Laurence David Kramer (June 25, 1935May 27, 2020) was an American playwright, author, film producer, public health advocate, and gay rights activist. He began his career rewriting scripts while working for Columbia Pictures, which led him to Lo ...

Diamanda Galás Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, visual artist, and soprano. She has campaigned for AIDS education and the rights of the infected. Galás's commitment to addressing social issues and her involve ...

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

Judith Malina Judith Malina (June 4, 1926 – April 10, 2015) was a German-born American actress, director and writer. With her husband, Julian Beck, Malina co-founded The Living Theatre, a radical political theatre troupe that rose to prominence in New York C ...

Jeff Stryker Jeff Stryker (born Charles Casper Peyton, August 21, 1962) is an American porn star who has starred in bisexual, gay, and straight adult films. He lives in California. Early life Jeff Stryker grew up in Springfield, Illinois. His father was a car ...

Jayne County Wayne Rogers (born July 13, 1947), better known by her stage name Jayne County is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer whose career has spanned six decades. Under the name Wayne County (inspired by Wayne County, Michigan), ...

Divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

and a row of

Warhol superstars Warhol superstars were a clique of New York City personalities promoted by the pop artist Andy Warhol during the 1960s and early 1970s. These personalities appeared in Warhol's artworks and accompanied him in his social life, epitomizing his fam ...

Early life

Von Praunheim was born as Holger Radtke in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

(now

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

) Central Prison during the German occupation of Latvia in World War II. His biological mother died in 1946 at the psychiatric hospital in Berlin Wittenauer Heilstätten. After his birth, he was given up for adoption. He only knew these facts when his adoptive mother, Gertrud Mischwitzky, told him in 2000. He discovered the fate of his biological mother in 2006 after a lengthy investigation. He documented his quest in the film '' Two Mothers'' (2007). He received the name Holger Mischwitzky and spent his early years in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

. In 1953, he escaped from East Germany with his family to West Germany, first to the Rhineland, moving later to Frankfurt am Main. After von Praunheim left the pre-university high school in Frankfurt (Gymnasium), he studied at the

Werkkunstschule A Kunstgewerbeschule (English: ''School of Arts and Crafts'' or S''chool of Applied Arts'') was a type of vocational arts school that existed in German-speaking countries from the mid-19th century. The term Werkkunstschule was also used for thes ...

in Offenbach. He then transferred to the Berlin University of the Arts where he studied

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

but did not graduate. He initially worked as a painter, but eventually opted for a career in filmmaking.

Career

In the mid-1960s he assumed the stage name "Rosa von Praunheim". In the late 1960s, he began experimenting in film and creative writing. He made his debut associated with Werner Schroeter with experimental and short movies, like ''Sisters of the Revolutions'' (1969) and ''Samuel Beckett'' (1969), with which he quickly became famous. His film ''Macbeth - Opera by Rosa von Praunheim'' was shown at the world famous art exhibition documenta V. Von Praunheim married the actress Carla Aulaulu in 1969. The marriage ended two years later in divorce. During this same period, he also collaborated with in a number of film projects. At the beginning of his career, von Praunheim also worked as an assistant director for

Gregory J. Markopoulos Gregory J. Markopoulos (March 12, 1928 – November 12, 1992) was an American experimental filmmaker. Biography Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1928 to Greek immigrant parents, Markopoulos began making 8 mm films at an early age. He attended USC Film Sc ...

, who dedicated his film ''(A)lter (A)ction'' (1968) to him. Rainer Werner Fassbinder staged the play ''Dedicated to Rosa von Praunheim'' (1969) for von Praunheim. Von Praunheim's first feature film was produced in 1971: ''

The Bed Sausage Rosa von Praunheim's ''The Bed Sausage'' (german: Die Bettwurst) is a German Camp (style), camp film from 1971 that became a cult film and was followed in 1975 by the sequel ''Berlin Bed Sausage''. The film was also shown in other European coun ...

'', a parody of bourgeois marriage. It became a cult movie, which had a sequel in 1975 (''Berlin Bed Sausage''): " Avant-garde cinema also has its masters, its greatest in Germany: Rosa von Praunheim. His film ''The Bed Sausage'', which premiered on ZDF, confirmed once again what his works ''Pink Workers on Golden Street'' and ''Sisters of the Revolution'', which have already been shown at many festivals, characterise: A mixture of artistic inventiveness, social awareness and humour that is exceedingly rare in Germany." ( Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) In 1971 the director also caused a stir with his film '' It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives'' which led to many gay rights groups being founded and was the beginning of the modern lesbian and gay liberation movement in Germany and Switzerland: "Rosa von Praunheim's film made an epoch." (

Frankfurter Rundschau The ''Frankfurter Rundschau'' (FR) is a German daily newspaper, based in Frankfurt am Main. It is published every day but Sunday as a city, two regional and one nationwide issues and offers an online edition (see link below) as well as an e-pa ...

) The film also made Rosa von Praunheim the leading figure of the lesbian and gay movement in Germany: "It is a personal liberation for Holger Mischwitzky

osa von Praunheim Osa or OSA may refer to: Places * Osa Peninsula, a peninsula in Costa Rica * Osa (canton), a canton in the province of Puntarenas in Costa Rica * Osa Conservation Area, an administrative area in Costa Rica * Osa, India, a village in Allahabad ...

- and a wake-up call for all homosexual men. ��With this film, Rosa von Praunheim became the icon of the gay and lesbian movement in Germany almost overnight." (

Deutsche Welle Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...

) The American film critic Joe Hoeffner wrote in an article about the twelve most important queer films: "Many films have been called revolutionary, but ''It Is Not the Homosexual…'' truly earns that description. The breakout film by director and activist Rosa von Praunheim (aka Holger Mischwitzky) became a foundational text of the German gay rights movement, and its call for liberation reverberated through the history of queer cinema.“ This movie found great resonance internationally. Some artists have referred to the film, for example Bruce LaBruce with the short film collection '' It Is Not the Pornographer That Is Perverse...'' (2018). A prolific and controversial filmmaker, von Praunheim has centered his directorial efforts in documentaries featuring gay-related themes. In the early 1970s he lived for some time in the United States where he made a series of documentaries about the post-

Stonewall Stonewall or Stone wall may refer to: * Stone wall, a kind of masonry construction * Stonewalling, engaging in uncooperative or delaying tactics * Stonewall riots, a 1969 turning point for the modern LGBTQ rights movement in Greenwich Village, Ne ...

American gay scene. In '' Army of Lovers or Revolt of the Perverts'' (1979) he took on the American gay and lesbian movement from the 1950s until the late 1970s. He was also interested in the underground theater in New York City, which was the focus of some of his films of this period including ''Underground and Emigrants'' (1976). In 1979 von Praunheim won a

German Film Award The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

for ''

Tally Brown, New York '' Tally Brown, New York '' is a 1979 documentary film directed, written and produced by Rosa von Praunheim. The film received international attention and was shown, for example, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 1979. Plot The fi ...

'', a documentary about the singer and actress Tally Brown. In the USA von Praunheim worked with camera people like Jeff Preiss,

Mike Kuchar Mike Kuchar (born August 31, 1942 in New York City) is an American underground filmmaker, actor, and artist. Kuchar is notable for his low-budget and camp films such as '' Sins of the Fleshapoids'' and ''The Craven Sluck''. Biography Raised in The ...

and

Juliana Wang Juliana Wang (July 10, 1929 - January 3, 1993) was an American cinematographer. She was one of the first members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Television in New York and was one of the first female directors of photograph ...

. Back in Berlin, he made feature films such as ''Our Corpses Are Still Alive'' (1981) and '' Red Love'' (1982). In 1983 von Praunheim's revolutionary film '' City of Lost Souls'' (1983) with

and

Angie Stardust Mel "Angie Stardust" Michaels (1939 – 21 October 2007) was a singer, actress, and drag artist of the 1950s and 1960s and the first black star of New York's Club 82. She was also the manager of Hamburg, Germany's first all-male strip club, Crazy Bo ...

was released: "This riotous and massively ahead-of-its-time intersectional queer-punk musical has gone on to greatly influence transgender politics." (

Australian Centre for the Moving Image ACMI, formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is Australia's national museum of film, television, videogames, and art. ACMI was established in 2002 and is based at Federation Square in Melbourne, Victoria. During the 2014-15 finan ...

) These films were shown at film festivals worldwide. His feature film ''

Horror Vacui Horror vacui can refer to: * Horror vacui (art), a concept in art approximately translated from Latin ''fear of empty spaces'' *Horror vacui (physics), a physical postulate * ''Horror Vacui'' (film), a 1984 German satirical film * ''Horror Vacui' ...

'' won the

Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) is an American film critic organization founded in 1975. Background Its membership comprises film critics from Los Angeles-based print and electronic media. In December of each year, the organiza ...

for best experimental film in 1985. '' Anita: Dances of Vice'' (1987), the life story of a scandalous nude dancer in Berlin in the 1920s, attracted international attention. The film was shown, for example, at the New York Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival. With the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic, von Praunheim worked on films about the HIV-related disease. ''

A Virus Knows No Morals ''A Virus Knows No Morals'' (german: Ein Virus kennt keine Moral) is a 1986 German film directed, written and produced by Rosa von Praunheim. It was one of the first feature films about AIDS worldwide. The film also received much attention abroa ...

'' (1986) was one of the first feature films about AIDS internationally: "''A Virus Respects No Morals'', a savage, imaginative, scattershot Brecht-like allegory set largely in a gay bath, became one of the earliest and most provocative attacks on the hypocrisy, ignorance, politics and economics surrounding the AIDS crisis." ( Los Angeles Times) The documentaries '' Positive'' and '' Silence = Death'', both shot in 1989, deal with aspects of AIDS activism in New York. ''Fire Under Your Ass'' (1990) focuses on AIDS in Berlin. For the so-called ''AIDS trilogy'', von Praunheim was awarded the LGBTIQ-Film-Prize of the Berlin International Film Festival. The Guardian, one of Britain's most important newspapers, wrote in 1992: "''Silence = Death'' and ''Positive'': The best AIDS films to date .." The Los Angeles Times summed it up: "In short, Praunheim is just the man for the job he has taken on with ''Silence = Death'' and ''Positive'': he has the breadth of vision, the compassion and the militance and, yes, the sense of humor necessary to tackle the AIDS epidemic in all its aspects." The renowned critic Jerry Tallmer, founder of the

Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...

, wrote in the newspaper

The Record The Record may refer to: Music * ''The Record'' (album), a 1982 studio album by the hardcore-punk band Fear * The Records, an English power pop band * '' Their Greatest Hits: The Record'', a 2001 greatest-hits album by the pop-music group Bee Ge ...

: " ..Rosa (originally Holger) von Praunheim, the brilliant, acerbic director of such breakthrough gay-revolutionist works as ''Silence & Death'' and ''A Virus Knows No Morals''." Von Praunheim was a co-founder of the German

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

movement and organized the first major AIDS benefit event in Germany. He was very vocal in his efforts to educate people about the danger of AIDS and the necessity of practicing safer sex. On 10 December 1991, von Praunheim created a scandal in Germany when he outed the anchorman

Alfred Biolek Alfred Franz Maria Biolek (10 July 1934 – 23 July 2021) was a German entertainer and television producer. Biolek held a PhD in law and was an honorary professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. He received many awards for his work on tele ...

and the comedian Hape Kerkeling in the TV show ' as gay to call for public solidarity with the stigmatized gays from homosexual celebrities, of which there were hardly any in the German public at that time. Because of this, von Praunheim was considered a controversial figure in his home country for a long time, even within the queer community. But after the public outing action several celebrities had their

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

. In retrospect, the outing action improved the public image of gays. In the early 1990s, von Praunheim developed the first queer TV format in Germany, but continued his film work at the same time. His film '' Life Is Like a Cucumber'' with Lotti Huber was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival (1991). He was honored with two FIPRESCI Awards for his films ''

I Am My Own Woman ''I Am My Own Woman '' (German: '' Ich bin meine eigene Frau '') is a 1992 German semi-documentarian film directed by Rosa von Praunheim. The film attracted international attention and was shown at the Berlin International Film Festival and the T ...

'' (1992) and '' Neurosia'' (1995). Von Praunheim's film ''Transexual Menace'' (1996), named after the American transgender rights organization The Transexual Menace, was after '' City of Lost Souls'' again a very progressive film about transgender people and premiered at the Frameline Film Festival in San Francisco and was also shown at the Outfest in Los Angeles: "Von Praunheim's ''Transexual Menace'' dispenses with the usual cliches and brings us bang up to date with a profile of the new generation of politically-active transsexuals ��" ( The Independent) The New York Times wrote: " ..''Transexual Menace'' is a cornerstone of documentary filmmaking about transgender people." Von Praunheim's film ''

The Einstein of Sex ''The Einstein of Sex'' (also known as: ''The Einstein of Sex - Life and Work of Dr. M. Hirschfeld'', German title: ''Der Einstein des Sex'') is a 1999 German film directed by Rosa von Praunheim. The film was shown at the Berlin International Fil ...

'' (1999) about Magnus Hirschfeld premiered at the Locarno Festival and was nominated for the Golden Leopard. His film ''Can I be your Bratwurst, please?'' (1999) with

and Vaginal Davis has been shown at over 250 film festivals around the world (a world record-breaking festival utilization).

Moving Pictures Magazine ''Moving Pictures'' was a quarterly magazine focusing on the film industry and the art of film. It was published from 1989 to 2012. The corporate motto was "Going places other film magazines fear to tread". History The ''Moving Pictures'' brand be ...

chose the film as best title in Cannes. In 2000, he was awarded the for ''Wunderbares Wrodow'', a documentary about the people in and around a German village and its castle. His film ''Cows knocked up by fog'' (2002) premiered at the Venice Film Festival. From 1999 to 2006 von Praunheim was professor of directing at the Film University of Babelsberg. Von Praunheim has also taught at various film and art schools, including

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

, where Abel Ferrara was one of his students. Former Praunheim students, filmmakers Tom Tykwer, Chris Kraus,

Axel Ranisch Axel Ranisch (born 30 June 1983 in Berlin) is a German actor, film and television director and author. Life Ranisch lived in his childhood in Berlin-Lichtenberg. He studied until 2004 theatre pedagogy in Flecken Zechlin. From 2004 to 2011 Ranis ...

Robert Thalheim Robert Thalheim (born July 2, 1974, in Berlin) is a German stage and film director and screenwriter. Thalheim was an assistant director at the ''Berliner Ensemble'' in 1997–98. He then studied modern German literature, history and politics at th ...

and

Julia von Heinz Julia von Heinz (born 3 June 1976 in West Berlin) is a German film director and screenwriter. Life and work From 2005 to 2006, Julia von Heinz worked as a personal assistant for the director and professor Rosa von Praunheim at the Konrad Wolf Film ...

, made the film ''Pink Children'' (2012) about their mentor. In 2008, his film '' Two Mothers'' was shown at Tribeca Film Festival and was nominated for the Jury-Award. At the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival, he was awarded the Berlinale Camera as one of the most important representatives of German cinema. Von Praunheim also received the Berlinale Special Teddy Award for his outstanding contributions to queer cinema. In 2012, he was awarded the Grimme-Preis for his documentary

Rent Boys Male prostitution is the act or practice of men providing sexual services in return for payment. It is a form of sex work. Although clients can be of any gender, the vast majority are older males looking to fulfill their sexual needs. Male pro ...

. In 2015, he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2020, he was awarded the Max Ophüls Honorary Award for his life's work. Von Praunheim also received the Honorary Award of the Swiss Pink Apple Film Festival. On occasion of his 70th birthday (2012), von Praunheim made 70 short and medium-length films for German regional television station RBB under the title ''Rosa's World''. Never before has a documentary filmmaker received so much airtime on German television. ''Rosa's World'' has also been shown at film festivals, for example in Vienna (Austria). Von Praunheim has written several books that have been successfully published by

publishing houses Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

such as Rowohlt Verlag. Von Praunheim has been painting since his early youth and occasionally exhibits in galleries and museums, for example in the Migros Museum of Contemporary Art. He curated exhibitions himself, for example in the Lincoln Center, and was director of the film and video arts department at the

Academy of Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, f ...

(2015 - 2018). Rosa von Praunheim had many large and well-regarded film screenings and premieres in the USA, for example at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (more than 15 times), at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, in the Wheeler Hall of the University of California, Berkeley and at film festivals across the country. For example, he won the Creative Vision Award of the Rhode Island International Film Festival. The American Cinematheque in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

honored von Praunheim with a retrospective in 1997 as "a fearless international pioneer of gay cinema". In 1986, the first edition of the Gay Cinema Festival in Toronto held a Rosa von Praunheim retrospective to honor the director as "the dean of Berlin's underground filmmakers". In Canada, his films were also shown at the Montreal World Film Festival, among other places. Several of the director's films premiered in Great Britain at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the Sydney Film Festival. The Tate Modern in London also showed Rosa von Praunheim's films. Mardi Gras Film Festival Sydney honored von Praunheim in a film series about the most important queer filmmakers. Rosa von Praunheim with his husband Oliver Sechting (2008)

Rosa von Praunheim with his husband Oliver Sechting (2008)

Queer film festival Ciclo Rosa (Zyklos Rosa) in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city of Colombia, and one of the larges ...

was named in honor of Rosa von Praunheim. In South America, von Praunheim's films were shown at the

Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema The Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI, es, Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente) is an international festival of independent films organized each year in the month of April, in the city of ...

and São Paulo International Film Festival, among other places. In Asia, for example, at the Shanghai International Film Festival, the Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Taipei Film Festival and the Tokyo International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. Von Praunheim was represented at many ''A film festivals'' worldwide, often several times. He had more than 20 films at the Berlin International Film Festival, making him record holder there, and had numerous retrospectives in many countries. His films are also evaluated in an academic context and shown at universities, for example at

Beaux-Arts de Paris The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Sciences ...

, The Courtauld Institute of Art London, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University in New York City and Harvard University in Cambridge. Von Praunheim's work has found its way into various academic papers and publications, including from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and Oxford University. His film ''Survival in New York'' (1989) became von Praunheim's most commercially successful film in Germany, which was followed 20 years later by the sequel ''New York Memories'' (2009). He is also successful as a theater director, winning the Jury-Award at the Theater Authors Days (2018) at the Deutsches Theater Berlin for his play ''Hitler's Goat and the King's Haemorrhoids''. The magazine

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...

selected von Praunheim among the world's 50 most important queer people in the fields of activism, art and culture. On the occasion of von Praunheim's 75th birthday (2017), President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier thanked him publicly for his artistic work and social commitment: "My congratulations go to an exceptional artist who, with his extensive cinematic oeuvre, has succeeded in intervening in social reality and changing it .." Von Praunheim has received numerous awards for his films and queer political work.

Personal life

Von Praunheim lives in

with his husband , a German author, director and activist for ''Mental Health''.

Books (selection)

* ''Männer, Rauschgift und der Tod''. 1967 * ''Oh Muvie''. 1968, Fotoroman mit Elfie Mikesch * ''Sex und Karriere''. Rowohlt TB-V., 1978, * ''Armee der Liebenden oder Aufstand der Perversen''. 1979, * ''Gibt es Sex nach dem Tode''. Prometh Verlag, 1981, * ''Rote "Liebe": ein Gespräch mit Helga Goetze''. Prometh Verl., 1982, * ''50 Jahre pervers. Die sentimentalen Memoiren des Rosa von Praunheim''. Verlag Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1993, * ''Folge dem Fieber und tanze: Briefwechsel mit Mario Wirz''. Aufbau-Verlag, 1995 * ''Mein Armloch''. Martin Schmitz Verlag, 2002, Gedichte * ''Die Rache der alten dicken Tunte''. 2006, Fotobuch * ''Die Bettwurst und meine Tante Lucy''. 2006, Fotobuch

Selected filmography

* 1969: ''

Sisters of the Revolution A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer ...

'' * 1971: ''

'' * 1971: '' It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives'' * 1974: '' Axel von Auersperg'' * 1975: ''

Berlin Bed Sausage Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, as measured by population within city limits having gained this status a ...

'' * 1979: ''

'' * 1979: '' Army of Lovers or Revolt of the Perverts'' * 1981: '' Unsere Leichen leben noch'' * 1982: '' Red Love'' * 1983: '' City of Lost Souls'' * 1984: ''

'' * 1986: ''

A Virus Knows no Morals ''A Virus Knows No Morals'' (german: Ein Virus kennt keine Moral) is a 1986 German film directed, written and produced by Rosa von Praunheim. It was one of the first feature films about AIDS worldwide. The film also received much attention abroa ...

'' * 1987: '' Anita: Dances of Vice'' * 1987: ''

Dolly, Lotte and Maria ''Dolly, Lotte and Maria'' (German: ''Dolly, Lotte und Maria'') is a 1987 German documentary film directed by Rosa von Praunheim. The film recounts the lives of Lotte Goslar, Dolly Haas and Maria Ley-Piscator, three German women performers who ...

'' * 1989: ''

Survival in New York Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...

'' * 1990: '' Positive'' * 1990: ''

Silence = Death (film) ''Silence = Death'' is a 1990 documentary film directed, written, and produced by Rosa von Praunheim (in cooperation with Phil Zwickler). The film received international resonance. Plot The film centers on the responses of gay artists in New Yor ...

'' * 1990: '' Life Is Like a Cucumber'' * 1992: ''

'' * 1995: '' Neurosia: 50 Years of Perversity'' * 1996: '' Transexual Menace'' * 1999: ''

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Notes

References

*Kuzniar, Alice. ''The Queer German Cinema'', Stanford University Press, 2000, *Murray, Raymond. ''Images in the Dark: An Encyclopedia of Gay and Lesbian Film and Video''. TLA Publications, 1994, *Zielinski, Ger. ''Rebel with a Cause: An Interview with Rosa Von Praunheim''. Cinéaste, vol. 37, no. 3, 2012.

External links

* * (in German and English)
Rosa von Praunheim
in th
Video Data Bank
{{DEFAULTSORT:Praunheim, Rosa von Film people from Riga Baltic-German people Film directors from Frankfurt German autobiographers LGBT rights activists from Germany Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin LGBT film directors LGBT artists from Germany 1942 births Living people Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German adoptees