Ula Stöckl
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Ula Stöckl is a German
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
film maker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screenwritin ...
and
director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
, screenwriter and occasional actress. She believes passionately that there should be more women exerting their influence in the film business.


Life


Provenance and early years

Ula Stöckl was born in
Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...
a few weeks before the (largely uncontested) incorporation of Austria into an enlarged Germany. Alfons Stöckl, her father, was a professional orchestral
clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
tist. He was sent away to fight in the
war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...
, but survived. After the war the wages of the players in her father's orchestra were halved, and in order to support the family budget Ula's mother, born Katharina Kreis, took factory work in the textiles sector. Katharina Stöckl-Kreis had grown up in an orphanage, looked after by nuns who had solicitously educated her in a formidable range of house-wifely skills, and brought a steely practicality to the challenges of raising a family on her own during the war years. But as her daughter later recalled, during the first four decades of her life she had not been well prepared for factory work: her fingers were almost always bandaged. Many of Ula's most vivid childhood memories relate to her family's experiences of the wartime bombing of Ulm, clutching one of her mother's hands while her younger sister clutched the other and night after night they watched the city burn. Their home and the surrounding area were destroyed on 17 December 1944: collateral damage included three dead siblings, but both her parents had survived. She never thought to ask whether they were paying any rent for the succession of little rooms in which they were accommodated over the next few months. Subsequent memories included the flu epidemic and starvation winter in 1946. The birth of another sister in 1948 meant that she was no longer her parents' only surviving child and represented some kind of a new beginning for the family. Stöckl quit school in 1954 and trained for secretarial work, which would remain her principal source of paid employment till 1963. In February 1958 she embarked on languages courses in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. Between 1961 and 1963 she worked as a trilingual executive secretary. Between May and August 1963 she worked as an editorial assistant with the publishers DM-Verlag at Sandweier (at that time still just outside
Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...
, into which the little town has subsequently been subsumed).


Student

In 1963 Stöckl enrolled as a student at the "Institut für Filmgestaltung" (''loosely, "Institute for Making Films"''), a department of the School of Design (''"Hochschule für Gestaltung"'') which had been set up ten years earlier in
Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...
, and which had built a reputation for its innovative approach to teaching. She was the first female student to be admitted to the course, which she completed in 1968. She produced her first film, "Antigone", in 1964 as part of her course, using a silent 35-mm Arri camera. Just seven minutes long, it is of necessity episodic, relating just a few of the key moments in the
Greek myth Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories concern the ancien ...
on which it is based. Her graduation feature film, "Neun Leben hat die Katze" (1968: ''"The cat has nine lives"''), subsequently acquired a cult status among supporters, seen by some as "West Germany’s first feminist film". These two productions identified the themes and set the direction for much of Stöckl's later work. It failed to go on general release when first produced due to the insolvency of the selected distributor, but subsequent critics and film scholars have nevertheless born witness to its enduring significance.


Film career

In 1968 Ula Stöckl set up her own production company, "‚Ula Stöckl Filmproduktion". The next year she teamed up with
Edgar Reitz Edgar Reitz (born 1 November 1932) is a German filmmaker and Professor of Film at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung (State University of Design) in Karlsruhe. He is best-known for his internationally acclaimed Heimat (film series), ''Hei ...
to produce "die Geschichten vom Kübelkind" (''loosely, "Tales of the Dumpster Kid"''), a film of 22 episodes from the life of a girl who does not conform to the norms of civil society. The shortest episode lasts just 66 seconds: the longest 25 minutes. Reitz described it as the story of a "perverse polymorph, an infantile monstrous person", but it also gave an insight into how such a combination of characteristics might be instilled by a deeply challenging succession of childhood experiences. Originally intended for showing in experimental cinemas and, according to at least one source, in pubs, starting in 1971 sections of it began to find their way onto television, thereby garnering a larger more mainstream audience and establishing more broadly the public reputations of its two co-producers. "Kübelkind" was part of a new wave of films from a younger generation of producers, often categorised as the
New German Cinema New German Cinema () is a period in Cinema of Germany, West 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 Neorealism, ...
genre. Through the 1970s Ula Stöckl worked almost exclusively on television films, and much of her professional focus continued to focus on the "small screen" through the 1980s and 1990s. Her theme was frequently that of human conflict, viewed from the - in her hands very distinctive - perspective of women or children. She took care to avoid one-sidedness and confronted her characters with almost unbearable problems, often based on dreams. In 1984 she returned to the cinema with one of her most acclaimed productions, "Der Schlaf der Vernunft" (''"Sleep of Reason"''). The themes were familiar, but by now she was working with a level of assurance and self-confidence which meant that critics were a little less inclined to challenge the various quirkinesses in the approach taken. Another important milestone in Stöckl's film career was "Das alte Lied" (''"The old song"''), one of the first so-called "Spielfilme" (''loosely, "narrative films"''), and appeared in 1992. While again revisiting her theme of conflict in human relationships, it also dealt with some of the themes arising out of
reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal govern ...
, and thereby touched on matters which at the time were preoccupying very many
Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...
. "Das alte Lied" was, and seems likely to remain, the last of Ula Stöckl's films for cinema.


Stage

Ula Stöckl has only briefly involved herself with theatre. In 1974 she co-produced with Werner Fassbinder Strindberg's stage drama "Fräulein Julie" at the Theater am Turm in
Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. For one reason and another, the experience was not an entirely happy one.


Teaching

Stöckl has undertaken teaching contracts for the German Film and Television Academy in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and, in North America, at the venerable
Hollins University Hollins University is a private university in Hollins, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1842 as Valley Union Seminary in the historical settlement of Botetourt Springs, Virginia, Botetourt Springs, it is Timeline of women's colleges in the Un ...
in Roanoke VA. Since 2004 she has also held a professorship at the
University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...
on the edge of Orlando FL where she focuses on film direction and production and, inevitably, on the place of women in film.


Film festivals

She has shown particular dedication to film festivals, through which she is also able to progress her feminist ambitions for society. For fifteen years following its foundation in 1978 she was closely engaged with the International Women's Film Festival in
Créteil Créteil () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, dep ...
(
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
). Since 1982 she has worked for the "Berlinale" film festival in connection with "competition and panorama", also finding a niche as a moderator and presenter of the festival's press conferences and public discussions. For a couple of years between 2002 and 2004 she was also employed as a programme adviser in the selection committee for the
Venice International Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
.


Filmography


Awards and honours (selection)


Notes


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stöckl, Ula 1938 births Feminist artists German film actresses German stage actresses German women film directors German women film producers Living people Actors from Ulm Actresses from Baden-Württemberg