Directing
Rosa von Praunheim
Born November 25, 1942 · Riga, Latvia
Died December 17, 2025 · aged 83
Rosa von Praunheim, born Holger Bernhard Bruno Waldemar Mischwitzky, was a German film director, author, painter and the most famous gay rights activist in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. A prolific director, he has made over seventy feature films. He began his career associated to the New German Cinema as a senior member of the Berlin school of underground filmmaking. He took the artistic femal…
Known For
The Bite · 1984The Bite
★ 5.81984
MovieDramaHorror
Turned while visiting New York, down-on-her-luck Neue Deutsche Welle vampire Sylvana struggles to get by in 1980s West Berlin when she realizes none of her friends want to be bitten.
Queens Don’t Cry · 2002Queens Don’t Cry
★ 4.52002
MovieDocumentary
Bosom buddies BeV StroganoV, Ovo Maltine, Ichgola Androgyn and Tima die Göttliche are four Berlin drag queens who met in the mid 1980s. These four queens became Germany’s most popular drag performers and have been busy fertilizing the German cultural scene. Besides being performers, they are also political activists – in AIDS awareness, anti-gay violence, the sex workers movement and the struggle against the extreme right and racism. The film tells their story.
Die Bettwurst · 1971Die Bettwurst
★ 5.41971
MovieRomanceTV Movie
It is love at first sight: elderly secretary Luzi and young, unemployed Dietmar find each other by accident in Rosa von Praunheim’s outrageous genre, social satire.
Friendship of Men · 2018Friendship of Men
★ 4.32018
MovieDocumentaryDrama
In this docudrama Rosa von Praunheim looks into Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s sexual orientation, especially into his erotic experiences during his travels in Italy. Contrary to the common belief, von Praunheim argues that Goethe was not a heartbreaker and conqueror after all. It was only in Italy, that he had diverse sexual experiences, not least with men. Von Praunheim bases his assumption on letters written by Goethe to his friend Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi about these sexual encounters. Some of the content of these letters is re-encated in the film. At the same time, historians and linguists analyse and classify the letters into their historical context.
Men, Heroes and Gay Nazis · 2005Men, Heroes and Gay Nazis
★ 5.92005
MovieDocumentary
The film focuses on gay men who align themselves with hard-core right wing views, skinheads and Nazis. Rosa von Praunheim stated of the subjects featured in the documentary, “Some may be shocked that I do not take a stand in my film and do not portray gay neo-Nazis as monsters, but as people living their lives in dramatic contradiction.”
Survival in Berlin-Neukölln · 2017Survival in Berlin-Neukölln
★ 2.02017
MovieDocumentary
About Stefan Stricker, who calls himself Juwelia and has been running a gallery on Sanderstraße in Berlin Neukölln for many years. Every weekend he invites guests to shamelessly recount from his life and to sing poetic songs written with his friend from Hollywood Jose Promis. Juwelia has been poor and sexy all her life, has always struggled for recognition, but only partially.
Auf der Suche nach Heilern · 2014Auf der Suche nach Heilern
2014
MovieDocumentary
“I am a hypochondriac”, admits Rosa Von Praunheim, the icon of the gay movement, right at the beginning at the film. The director, who turned seventy in 2012, is afraid of cancer, and he actually suffers from glaucoma, with osteoarthritis in his big toe. Von Praunheim is interested in alternative medicine and goes on a foray into the scene.
Thirty Years with the Whip · 2024Thirty Years with the Whip
★ 6.42024
MovieDocumentary
A portrait of Rosa von Praunheim's neighbor, who worked for decades as a professional dominatrix in Berlin's Wilmersdorf district. While the real Lady MacLaine reflects authentically and wittily on her life and work, her life is retold in dramatized scenes.
Filmography
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