JÖRG BUTTGEREIT

CAPTAIN BERLIN VERSUS HITLER
Germany; 2009; 75 min

DER TODESKING
Germany; 1990; 74 min

SCHRAMM
Germany; 1993; 70 min


Few authors have managed to convey to the silver screen such horrific and at the same time captivating images as the Berlin director Jörg Buttgereit. Even his first effort baffled the censors and was prohibited in many countries, while also earning him a following in the underground horror scene of the eighties. The sequel was preferably to be obliterated from the face of the Earth – orders to destroy the original copies of the film, as well as all its negatives and promotional material were issued. Despite these considerable difficulties, Buttgereit stayed true to his vision and became darker and more morbid with every film he made, he demanded more and more from his audience, but remained fresh and light-years away from the mainstream filmmaking scene.
He was born in 1963. Inspired by comics, horror movies and the new wave, he began shooting short video films in the early eighties. After Hot Love (1985), he joined forces with the producer and filmmaker Manfred Jelinski, whom he previously collaborated with on a punk scene documentary. Nekromantik attacked the unsuspecting world in 1987, causing great excitement among horror freaks, who desperately sought their copies of the film. Following the ultra-morbid Todesking, Nekromantik 2 came out in 1991, which, in addition to severe censorship, also led to the legal prosecution of Buttgereit and Jelinski. It was followed by Schramm, another merciless representation of madness and horror.
Next, Buttgereit dedicated himself to working for radio and television, while also writing film reviews and books, such as Monsters from Japan Attack, Nightmares in Plastic, and Japan – Monster Island. He wrote numerous radio plays for WDR, full of his typical sense of humour (hinted at by the titles alone, e.g. Frankenstein in Hiroshima and Ed Gein Superstar), and the award-winning documentary series Monsterinsel. In 2005, he staged the German version of the musical Gabba Gabba Hey with music by the Ramones. He shot a series of three documentaries titled Through the Night with... for Arte, in which he presents various artists, such as Bruce La Bruce in the first, Mark Benecke and Michaela Schaffrath in the second, and Asia Argento and Joe Coleman in the final film. He has just finished a documentary called Monsterland, where true masters of their craft, like John Carpenter, H. R. Giger, Joe Dante, Gregory Nicotero, Rick Baker and Kenpachiro Satsuma, speak about movie monsters.
We are happy to announce that Jörg Buttgereit will attend this year’s festival, where he will receive the award for special achievements in fantastic/horror cinematography.