Rosa von Praunheim Film Retrospective
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The Goethe-Institut in Warsaw and the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art are pleased to invite you to the Warsaw edition of the Rosa von Praunheim retrospective.
"Some describe me as the most loved, and others as the most hated gay director in Germany. And I have done a lot to make it that way."
Rosa von Praunheim is a film director with a vast body of work who remains almost unknown in Poland (unless to film or queer geeks). He has directed over 140 films—feature-length movies, short farces, queer musicals, essays, and documentaries.
Art was his way of life; besides filmmaking, he painted, wrote, and directed for the theater. He tackled subjects such as the situation of LGBTQ+ people, stories of strong female characters, and life in New York City. Beyond that, he made autobiographical films in which he returned to his roots, searched for beginnings, and looked at what had changed. The AIDS epidemic was also an important topic, which he fought against as an activist. What sets his work apart is a distinct cinematic language and an endless drive to discover new subjects and tell stories.
As part of the retrospective, we will screen seven films, starting with the iconic essay film narrated by the director, It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Situation in Which He Lives (1971). It is a portrait of gay society whose relevance can still be found in a perverse situation that remains unchanged—at least in Polish society. Perhaps with the difference that today, instead of cruising in public restrooms and parks, we have casual encounters on Grindr, in clubs, or in saunas.
We will also show City of Lost Souls (1983), a musical adventure following the owner of a Berlin burger joint who rents rooms to various eccentric characters, including a pair of pornographic trapeze artists visiting from America. Here, a camp aesthetic intertwines with the need to find one's place in the world and one's community. In It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse... [or The Bedhurst / Die Bettwurst] (The Sausage, 1971), the director attempts to mock—and perhaps understand—bourgeois customs, telling a story not of love for a partner, but of love for the image of oneself with that person. Two Mothers (2007) is an autobiographical journey that begins when a 94-year-old mother tells her son that he was adopted. A few years later, Rosa von Praunheim made this documentary to trace the footsteps of his birth mother.
Among the documentaries, we will also screen Survival in New York (1989), a story about the relationship between the city and three female immigrants. How much did they sacrifice to be here? How has the city changed them? The most narrative-driven film, The Einstein of Sex, depicts the life of the German sexologist and pioneer in the struggle to decriminalize homosexuality, Magnus Hirschfeld. As Rosa himself said of the film: "In my opinion, The Einstein of Sex is my most controversial film. Some will probably be disappointed that it tells a real story with interesting characters that can make you cry at the end. (...) Perhaps my film, despite the efforts of the Nazis who did everything to erase Hirschfeld's legacy, will help make him recognizable again." Another biography featured is Tough Guys (2015), the story of Andreas Marquardt. It is filled with the violence Andreas experienced from childhood, as well as the violence he inflicted on himself and others.
