Rosa von Praunheim

One of the more eccentric figures to emerge from the New German Cinema movement, Rosa von Praunheim (ne Holger Mischwitski) studied painting in Berlin before apprenticing with openly gay filmmakers Gregory J. Markopoulos and Werner Schroeter. He made several short films in the late 1960s--the first was "Von Rosa von Praunheim" in 1967--and moved into TV work with 1970s' "Die Bettwurst/The Bedroll." Von Praunheim first garnered notice with the documentary "Sisters of the Revolution" (1969), which examined the women's liberation movement and included a segment on gay men who supported feminist causes. The satirical "It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverted, But the Situation in Which He Lives" (1970) follows the "coming out" process of one young man. Von Praunheim remained a more marginal figure than contemporaries such as Volker Schlondorff and Wim Wenders, preferring to address issues of politics and sexuality. "Army of Lovers or Revolt of the Perverts" (1979) examined segments of the gay rights movement in the USA and pointed up the fragmentation of the leadership into groups with varying agendas. Not all of his work focused exclusively on gay themes, either (i.e., "Red Love" 1982); von Praunheim was also interested in people living on the margins of society and many of his films openly challenge the complacent views of audiences. He has dabbled in thrillers ("Horror Vacui" 1984; "Der Biss/The Bite" 1985) as well as profiled cabaret artists from the 1920s and '30s. Working in tandem with American documentarian Phil Zwickler, von Praunheim crafted a trilogy that examined the effects of the AIDS crisis in NYC. In 1995, he produced, directed and played himself in "Neurosia: 50 Years of Perversity," an autobiographical feature structured after Orson Welles' 1941 classic "Citizen Kane" with a journalist investigating the murder of infamous filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim. More recently, he helmed the documentary "Gay Courage: 100 Years of the Gay Movement" (1998) which featured historical reenactments.