Rosa von Praunheim

Rosa von Praunheim was born in 1942 in Riga and grew up close to Berlin and in Frankfurt am Main. He is regarded as an important representative of post-modern German cinema in the genres of documentary, auteur and avant-garde film. His 1971 film Nicht der Homosexuelle ist pervers, sondern die Situation, in der er lebt (It Is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, But the Society in Which He Lives), in particular, was trailblazing, and made him a leading figure in the gay and lesbian rights movement in West Germany. His work comprises many films, books, audio and theatre plays, which have won numerous prizes. In 2015 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. He will be celebrating his 77th birthday at the Deutsches Theater with his production Jeder Idiot hat eine Oma, nur ich nicht (Every Idiot has a Grandma, Except Me) on November 28th, followed by a party. Rosa von Praunheim received the Max Ophüls Prize 2020 of the Saarbrücken Film Festival for his services to German-language film and as a "pioneer of the gay movement in West Germany". At the Autoren(theater)tage 2020 Rosa von Praunheim's text Hitler's Goat and the King's Hemorrhoids is one of the three winning texts that will be premiered at the Deutsches Theater Berlin.