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Herbert Achternbusch

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Herbert Achternbusch
Achternbusch in 2015
Born
Herbert Schild

(1938-11-23)23 November 1938
Munich, Germany
Died10 January 2022(2022-01-10) (aged 83)
Munich, Germany
Occupations
  • Film director
  • writer
  • painter
Years active1971–2002
Awards

Herbert Achternbusch (né Schild; 23 November 1938 – 10 January 2022) was a German film director, writer and painter.[1] He began as a writer of avant-garde prose, such as the novel Die Alexanderschlacht, before turning to low-budget films. He had a love-hate relationship with Bavaria which showed itself in his work. Some of his controversial films, such as Das Gespenst (The Ghost), were presented at the Berlinale festival.

Biography

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Born Herbert Schild in 1938 in Munich,[2] Achternbusch was the illegitimate son of the sports teacher Luise Schild, née Muckenthaler, and the dental technician Adolf Achternbusch.[3] He grew up in the Bavarian Forest with his grandmother.[3][4] In 1960, he was adopted by his biological father and took the name Achternbusch.[5] After his Abitur in Cham,[6] he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg, and at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.[4][7]

In the early 1970s, Achternbusch wrote the prose Die Alexanderschlacht,[4] an important novel for the literary avant-garde of the time.[8] Achternbusch produced almost 30 low budget films.[9] He was often the leading actor in his films,[10] and worked mainly with friends.[11] In 1975, Achternbusch met actor Josef Bierbichler, who played in 15 of his films, partly without salary.[12] Also notable were the actresses Annamirl Bierbichler [de] and Margarethe von Trotta,[13] as well as actor and painter Heinz Braun and cinematographer Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein.[14] In 1974, he made his film debut with Das Andechser Gefühl.[15] The 1977 film Bierkampf [de] (Beerfight) caused attention with numerous drunk Oktoberfest visitors as involuntary amateur actors.[4] Role models are the comedians Karl Valentin and Groucho Marx.[16][17][18] His anarchist surrealistic films are not known to a wide audience in Germany, although one of them, Das Gespenst (The Ghost), caused a scandal in 1983 because of its alleged blasphemous contents,[19] including a scene where Christ climbs down from the cross and later goes bathing with a nun.[15] Federal Minister of the Interior Friedrich Zimmermann halted the funding for the film as it was deemed to have violated the "religious feeling of large parts of the population".[4] For a long time, no public broadcaster showed any of Achternbusch's films.[20] Years of legal battle ensued, with Achternbusch finally winning in 1992.[11] In the 1983 film Der Depp, he had his favorite enemy Franz Josef Strauss poisoned.[6]

In 2002, Achternbusch stopped making films.[10] In 2008, the Munich Film Festival dedicated a retrospective to him,[7] and on the occasion of his 80th birthday, the Munich Film Museum paid tribute with eight of his feature films and a film portrait.[6]

Achternbusch was also prolific as a writer and painter, producing 20 plays, 40 books, and hundreds of paintings.[9] The first English language translation of his written works appeared in 2024 with a compilation entitled The Olympic Champion.[21] It includes four "filmbooks" and two plays. "Filmbook" is the word used to describe the unique, quasi-novelistic form in which Achternbusch wrote works for both publication (whether alone or within a larger volume) and filming. His large-format paintings have been described as child-like, expressive, and "naively excessive".[11] For his 70th birthday, the Museum of Modern Art Passau [de] made an exhibition of his works.[7] His plays were present on German stages, such as his two-person play Gust at the Munich Kammerspiele in 1986,[22] and his last play Dogtown Munich at the Münchner Volkstheater in 2017.[23][24] He was also a theatre director.[20] Werner Herzog, a director of the New German Cinema, based his film Heart of Glass on a story by Achternbusch.[25] Achternbusch wrote novels, poetry, children's books and also theatre reviews for the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.[26]

Personal life and death

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Achternbusch was the father of six children with three women.[27] In 1959, his daughter Eva was born. The child's mother was a classmate. In 1962, during his studies, Achternbusch met Gerda Oberpaul, whom he married in November.[28] The children from that marriage were Rut (born 1963), Andreas (born 1964), Rita (born 1966), and Judit (born 1968).[29] They divorced in 1982.[29] From 1985 to 1993, Achternsbusch's partner and actress in 20 of his films was Annamirl Bierbichler [de], sister of Josef Bierbichler.[30] In the 1980s, they lived together in a commune in Ambach, Lake Starnberg.[11] From 1990 onward, Achternbusch lived on Munich's Burgstraße.[31] From 1993 to 1997, he was married to the actress Judith Tobschall. Their daughter is the actress Naomi [de] (born 1994).[29] He had a love-hate relationship with his homeland of Bavaria.[3]

Achternbusch eventually withdrew from public life,[3] and died in Munich on 10 January 2022, at the age of 83.[32][33] Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described Achternbusch in a letter of condolence as a "unique universal artist" and that he "invaluably enriched the German cultural landscape, also because he provoked and polarized".[34][35]

Awards

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Achternbusch was awarded the German international literary Petrarca-Preis in 1977, but he declined the honor.[4][31] He burned the prize check after accepting it and left the event.[31] He won the Mülheimer Dramatikerpreis in 1986 and 1994.[36] In 1996, Achternbusch refused to personally receive the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Film Award in Bielefeld.[37] In 2010, he was awarded the Kassel Literary Prize.[38]

Films

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Writings

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  • Die Alexanderschlacht (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. 1972. ISBN 978-3-518-36561-8. OCLC 11319713.
  • L'Etat c'est moi (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. 1972. ISBN 978-3-518-10551-1. OCLC 4057774.
  • Der Tag wird kommen (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. 1973. ISBN 978-3-518-02030-2. OCLC 850738.
  • Die Stunde des Todes (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag. 1977. ISBN 978-3-518-06949-3. OCLC 8279906.
  • Ich bin ein Schaf : Memoiren (in German). München: Goldmann. 1996. ISBN 978-3-442-30685-5. OCLC 34894645.
  • The Olympic Champion : and other selected works (English translations of Der Comanche, Kuschwarda City, Susn, Die Olympiasiegerin, Das letzte Loch, and Der Depp). Kitchener: Editions Cox. 2024. ISBN 978-3-9826294-0-7. OL 52201624M.

References

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  1. ^ "Filmemacher Herbert Achternbusch ist tot". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  2. ^ Busche, Andreas (13 January 2022). "Zweifellos der größte Anarchist". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Detje, Robin. "Der Atlantikschwimmer". Die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "Herbert Achternbusch ist tot: Filmemacher, Schriftsteller und bayerisches Original". Der Spiegel (in German). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  5. ^ Espeter, Martina (25 April 2018). "Erlebte Geschichten mit Herbert Achternbusch". WDR (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  6. ^ a b c "Regisseur Herbert Achternbusch gestorben". Süddeutsche.de (in German). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  7. ^ a b c "Bayerns Anarchist: Zum Tod von Herbert Achternbusch – 13.01.2022". DW.COM (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  8. ^ Merck, Nikolaus (29 April 2020). "Herbert Achternbusch ist tot". Nachtkritik (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Regisseur und Maler Herbert Achternbusch ist tot". tagesschau.de (in German). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  10. ^ a b Seidl, Claudius (13 January 2022). "Herbert Achternbusch gestorben: Nichts ist besser als gar nichts". FAZ.NET (in German). Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  11. ^ a b c d Dössel, Christine (17 May 2010). "Ein Grantler namens Herbert". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  12. ^ "Josef Bierbichler". Kino (in German). 1 December 1993. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  13. ^ Leibold, Christoph (13 January 2022). "Dramatiker und Filmemacher Herbert Achternbusch gestorben". BR24 (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  14. ^ Leibold, Christoph (1 October 2021). "Der Maler Heinz Braun: "Lieber Idiot als Beamter"". BR.de (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  15. ^ a b Peitz, Christiane (23 November 2018). "Das Achternbusch-Gefühl". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  16. ^ Kürten, Jochen. ""Bierkampf": Szenen eines Oktoberfestes – 03.10.2016". DW.COM (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  17. ^ Karl, Franz Xaver (14 January 2022). "Bayerischer Universal-Dilletant: Zum Tod von Herbert Achternbusch". BR.de (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  18. ^ Häglsperger, Julia (1 October 2008). "Die Wiesn auf der Leinwand". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  19. ^ "Filmszene Bayern – Herbert Achternbusch | Kultur & Szene | Bayerischer Rundfunk". 29 September 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  20. ^ a b Höbel, Wolfgang (13 January 2022). "Herbert Achternbusch ist tot: Es war ihm ein Leichtes, beim Filmen vom Boden abzuheben". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  21. ^ "The Olympic Champion". editionscox.com. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  22. ^ "Schriftsteller und Filmemacher: Herbert Achternbusch ist tot". ZDF (in German). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  23. ^ Lutz, Cosima (13 January 2022). "Nachruf Herbert Achternbusch: Sein "Gespenst" erschreckte den Minister". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  24. ^ Meier, Christa M. "Dogtown Munich". Theaterkritiken München (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  25. ^ "Herz aus Glas". Residenztheater. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  26. ^ "Herbert Achternbusch". filmportal.de. 23 November 1938. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  27. ^ "Ich mache gar nix mehr". Abendzeitung (in German). 22 November 2013. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  28. ^ "Herbert Achternbusch". Schachinger Künstlerbedarf (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  29. ^ a b c Loimeier, Manfred (2013). Die Kunst des Fliegens : Annäherung an das künstlerische Gesamtwerk von Herbert Achternbusch (PDF) (in German). München: ET+K, Edition Text + Kritik. ISBN 978-3-86916-243-0. OCLC 861177056.
  30. ^ "Der Geist der Begabung: Annamirl Bierbichler 1946–2005". Der Standard (in German). 2 June 2005. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  31. ^ a b c Hauck, Simon (17 October 2018). "Herbert Achternbusch: Du hast keine Chance, aber nutze sie". Münchner Feuilleton (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  32. ^ "Herbert Achternbusch ist tot" (in German). Süddeutsche Zeitung. 13 January 2022. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  33. ^ Ott, Günther (13 January 2022). "Herbert Achternbusch ist tot: Gegen das eigene Unglück und die öde Welt". Augsburger Allgemeine (in German). Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  34. ^ "Steinmeier würdigt Filmemacher Achternbusch". die Zeit (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  35. ^ "Bundespräsident Steinmeier kondoliert zum Tod von Herbert Achternbusch". www.bundespraesident.de (in German). Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  36. ^ "Achternbusch, Herbert". Stadt Mülheim an der Ruhr (in German). 8 July 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  37. ^ "Regisseur Herbert Achternbusch gestorben – auch in Bielefeld eckte er an". Neue Westfälische (in German). 13 January 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
  38. ^ "Herbert Achternbusch: "Es ist einfach nichts mehr da"". Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine (in German). 25 February 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  39. ^ Moises, Jürgen (28 September 2018). "Film: "Der Neger Erwin" von Herbert Achternbusch". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  40. ^ "February 13 – 24, 1981". Berlinale. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2022.
  41. ^ "Berlinale: 1983 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
  42. ^ "Berlinale: 1988 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  43. ^ "Berlinale: 1995 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 31 December 2011.

Further reading

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Documentary films

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  • Niessner, Andi (2008). Achternbusch (in German). BR. OCLC 316157383.
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