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Ruth Beckermann

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Ruth Beckermann in 2018

Ruth Beckermann (born 1952) is an Austrian filmmaker and writer, who lives and works in Vienna and Paris. Her films have been shown at prestigious festivals, and Paper Bridge and East of War won several major awards.

Early life and education

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Ruth Beckermann was born in Vienna, Austria in 1952. Her parents were Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.[1]

Beckermann studied journalism and art history in Vienna and Tel Aviv, and received her doctorate in 1977. In New York she studied photography at the School of Visual Arts.[2] During her studies, she contributed as a journalist to several Austrian and Swiss magazines.[3]

Career

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Her first film was made in cooperation with Josef Aichholzer and Franz Grafl of the Videogroup Arena in 1977. Shot on video and 16mm film, Arena Besetzt (Arena Squatted) documented the occupation of the old Viennese slaughterhouse Arena.[4][5] The following year, Beckermann founded the film distribution company Filmladen along with Aichholzer and Grafl, where she continued working until 1985.[6]

In 1978 and 1981, filmed shot two documentaries, Suddenly A Strike[7] and The Steelhammer Out there on The Grass on the topics of labour and strike.[8]

In 1983, Beckermann released Return to Vienna, which documents the journeys and experiences of Franz West, a Jewish Social Democrat living in Vienna during the First and Second World Wars.[9][10] The film is the first of a trilogy, in which Beckermann deals with Jewish narratives of loss, memory and identity. Following this film, Paper Bridge (1987) depicts a journey leading from Vienna to Romania, where Beckermann visits the Bukovina region, the birthplace of her father during a time when this region was still under Habsburg rule.[11] In Towards Jerusalem Beckermann travels between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem while exploring the Zionist utopia of a Jewish homeland.[12] These films - Return to Vienna, Paper Bridge and Towards Jerusalem use different forms of travel as both content and formal organising principle.[citation needed]

In 1996, East of War[13] was made during the so-called Wehrmachtsausstellung. In front of the out-of-focus-photographs, former soldiers of the German Wehrmacht talk about their experiences beyond the "normal" war. A film which not only pushes forward the destruction of the "good-Wehrmacht" myth, but also takes a close look at the process of constructing history in post-World War II Austria.[14]

In her 1999 film, A Fleeting Passage to The Orient, she follows the traces of Elisabeth of Bavaria.[15] In 2001, homemad(e) depicts how the political turn in 2000 was reflected in a Viennese coffee house.[16]

Five years later, she followed four 12-year-olds on their journey to Bar Mitzva.[17][18] was shown in festivals in Paris' (Cinema du Reel,[19]), Vienna (Viennale[20] 06) in Buenos Aires and Chicago, and became a success with audiences.[citation needed]

In 2011, American Passages,[21][22] premiered in the competition[23] at the Cinéma du Réel.[24]

Most of her films have premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival[25] or the Cinéma du Réel in Paris.[26]

A DVD collection of her films was released in 2007.[27]

Other activities

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Beckermann is a founding member of the Austrian Documentary and Filmmakers Society.[28]

She has authored several books.[citation needed]

She taught at the University of Salzburg, the University of Illinois, and at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.[citation needed]

Recognition

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Beckermann's films Paper Bridge and East of War won several major awards. In addition, she has been awarded the following prizes:

Filmography

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  • Favoriten (2024)
  • Mutzenbacher (2022)
  • The Waldheim Waltz (2018)
  • The Dreamed Ones (Die Geträumten; 2016), based on correspondence between poets Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan[32][33]
  • Those Who Go Those Who Stay (2013)
  • Jackson/Marker 4AM (2012)
  • American Passages (2011)
  • Zorros Bar Mizwa (2006)
  • Homemad(e) (2000)
  • A Fleeting Passage to the Orient (Ein flüchtiger Zug nach dem Orient; 1999)
  • East of War (Jenseits des Krieges; 1996)
  • Towards Jerusalem (Nach Jerusalem; 1991)
  • The Paper Bridge (1987)
  • Return to Vienna (1983)
  • Arena Squatted (1977)

References

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  1. ^ Baker and Rohrbacher (2009). ""E/Motion Pictures": Conversations with Austrian Documentary Filmmakers Mirjam Unger and Ruth Beckermann". Women in German Yearbook.
  2. ^ "School of Visual Arts > Fine Arts and Graphic Design School in New York City". Schoolofvisualarts.edu. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  3. ^ "The Waldheim Waltz by Ruth Beckermann and Lamaland by Pablo Sigg winners at 14th Play-Doc". Play-Doc. 29 April 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2024.
  4. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". Ruth Beckermann. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  5. ^ "Arena besetzt". DocumentaMadrid. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Über uns | Filmladen Filmverleih". Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  7. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". Ruth Beckermann. 5 November 1978. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  8. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". Ruth Beckermann. 28 March 1981. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  9. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". Ruth Beckermann. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  10. ^ Return to Vienna at IMDb
  11. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". www.ruthbeckermann.com. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  12. ^ "Towards Jerusalem". ruthbeckermann.com.
  13. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". Ruth Beckermann. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  14. ^ Pick, Hella (2000). Guilty Victim: Austria from the Holocaust to Haider. I.B. Tauris. p. 15.
  15. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". Ruth Beckermann. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  16. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". Ruth Beckermann. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  17. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". Ruth Beckermann. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  18. ^ "Zorro's Bar Mitzvah". Icarusfilms.com. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  19. ^ "Zorro's Bar Mitswa (Zorros Bar Mizwa) - Cinéma du réel". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  20. ^ "Filmprogramm | Viennale". Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  21. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". Ruth Beckermann. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  22. ^ "American Passages - Cinéma du réel". Archived from the original on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 15 March 2011.
  23. ^ [1] Archived July 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  24. ^ [2] Archived January 23, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  25. ^ "Berlinale: 1987 Programm". Berlinale.de. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  26. ^ "Cinéma du Réel Award Lists since 1979 - Cinéma du réel". Archived from the original on 25 April 2010. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  27. ^ "Ruth Beckermann". shop.ruthbeckermann.com. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  28. ^ "/ Aktuelles". Dok.at. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  29. ^ "Manès-Sperber-Preis für Literatur". Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport (in German). Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  30. ^ "Österreichisches Ehrenkreuz für Ruth Beckermann" (photo). BKA Fotoservice (in German). 9 October 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  31. ^ "Awards". Berlinale. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
  32. ^ Oltermann, Philip (17 November 2016). "Poets' unlikely love letters are turned into critically acclaimed film". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  33. ^ The Dreamed Ones at IMDb

Further reading

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  • Alexander Horwath, Michael Omasta (Ed.): Ruth Beckermann, FilmmuseumSynemaPublikationen Vol. 29, Vienna: 2016, ISBN 978-3-901644-68-9
  • Eszter Kondor, Michael Loebenstein (Ed.): Ruth Beckermann, FilmmuseumSynemaPublikationen, Vienna: 2019, ISBN 978-3-901644-80-1
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