Peter Lilienthal

As a child, in 1939, Lilienthal emigrated to Montevideo, Uruguay, with his parents to escape the Nazis. He only returned to Germany in 1956 to attend a film school.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Lilienthal was among directors who focused on social criticism, along with Wim Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In 1970 he directed Malatesta with Eddie Constantine and Christine Noonan, which contains some biographical aspects of the life of the Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta. The film was featured at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival. In 1975, Lilienthal shot Calm Prevails Over the Country (Es herrscht Ruhe im Land), based on a screenplay by Antonio Skármeta. The picture was screened at the Hof International Film Festival. His 1979 film David, about a son of a rabbi wo survives the Nazi regime, won the Golden Bear at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1982 he directed American actor Joe Pesci in Dear Mr. Wonderful, his first American endeavor. The Uprising (Der Aufstand or La insurrección) followed, another collaboration with Skármeta in 1980, a film which was made in Costa Rica and depicts the Nicaraguan Revolution. Lilienthal's 1984 film Das Autogramm was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival. Lilienthal was the first director of the department Film- und Medienkunst (The art of film and media) of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin from 1985, holding the position until 1996. In 1996, he was a member of the jury at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival. He was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2000. Lilienthal died in Munich on 28 April 2023, at the age of 95.

1958: Studie 23 (co-directors: Pit Kroke, Jörg Müller, Ralph Wünsche), short 1959: Ausflug mit Damen (co-director Wolfgang Spier — Based on a play by Friedrich Michael) 1960: Die Nachbarskinder (segment of the anthology film Der Nachbar, screenplay: Benno Meyer-Wehlack), short 1961: Biographie eines Schokoladentages (screenplay: Dieter Gasper) 1962: Der 18. Geburtstag (screenplay: Theodor Kotulla, Klaus Roehler) 1962: Stück für Stück (screenplay: Benno Meyer-Wehlack) 1962: Picknick im Felde (screenplay: Peter Lilienthal — Based on a play by Fernando Arrabal), short 1963: Striptease (based on a play by Sławomir Mrożek), short 1963: Schule der Geläufigkeit (screenplay: Dieter Gasper), short 1964: Das Martyrium des Peter O'Hey (screenplay: Günther Kieser, Peter Lilienthal — Based on a play by Sławomir Mrożek) 1965: Guernica – Jede Stunde verletzt und die letzte tötet (based on a play by Fernando Arrabal), short 1965: Seraphine oder Die wundersame Geschichte der Tante Flora (screenplay: Peter Lilienthal — Based on a play by David Perry), short 1966: Abschied (screenplay: Günter Herburger) 1966: Der Beginn (screenplay: Günter Herburger, Peter Lilienthal) 1967: Unbeschriebenes Blatt (screenplay: Peter Lilienthal — Based on a play by Rhys Adrian) 1967: Abgründe (screenplay: Peter Schneider, George Moorse, Peter Lilienthal — Anthology film based on stories by Stanley Ellin and Patrick Quentin) 1967: A Premeditated Crime (screenplay: Piers Paul Read, Peter Lilienthal — Based on a story by Witold Gombrowicz) 1968: Tramp oder Der einzige und unvergleichliche Lenny Jacobson (screenplay: Peter Lilienthal — Based on a play by Barry Bermange) 1969: Horror (screenplay: Peter Lilienthal — Based on novel "How Awful About Allan" by Henry Farrell) 1970: Malatesta (screenplay: Heathcote Williams, Michael Koser, Peter Lilienthal) 1971: Die Sonne angreifen (screenplay: Robert Muller, Peter Lilienthal — Based on a novel by Witold Gombrowicz) 1971: Jakob von Gunten (screenplay: Ror Wolf, Peter Lilienthal — Based on the novel Jakob von Gunten by Robert Walser) 1973: La Victoria (screenplay: Antonio Skármeta, Peter Lilienthal) 1975: Schoolmaster Hofer (screenplay: Herbert Brödl, Peter Lilienthal — Based on Hauptlehrer Hofer by Günter Herburger) 1975: Calm Prevails Over the Country (screenplay: Antonio Skármeta, Peter Lilienthal) 1979: David (screenplay: Jurek Becker, Peter Lilienthal — Based on Den Netzen entronnen by Joel König) 1980: The Uprising (screenplay: Antonio Skármeta, Peter Lilienthal) 1982: Dear Mr. Wonderful (screenplay: Sam Koperwas) 1984: Das Autogramm (screenplay: Peter Lilienthal — Based on Cuarteles de invierno by Osvaldo Soriano) 1986: The Silence of the Poet (screenplay: Peter Lilienthal — Based on The Continuing Silence of a Poet by A. B. Yehoshua) 1988: Der Radfahrer von San Cristóbal (screenplay: Antonio Skármeta, Peter Lilienthal) 1995: Wasserman – Der singende Hund (screenplay: Peter Lilienthal — Based on a story by Yoram Kaniuk) 1995: Angesichts der Wälder (screenplay: Peter Lilienthal — Based on a story by A. B. Yehoshua) Documentaries 1959: Im Handumdrehen verdient 1964: Marl – Das Porträt einer Stadt 1969: Noon in Tunisia 1970: Ich, Montag – Ich, Dienstag – Ich, Mittwoch – Ich, Donnerstag. Portrait Gombrowicz 1971: Start Nr. 9 1972: Shirley Chisholm for President 1977: Kadir 2001: Denk ich an Deutschland …: Ein Fremder 2007: Camilo: The Long Road to Disobedience

1972: Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street – Carlos 1977: The American Friend – Marcangelo 1978: I See This Land from Afar – Pfarrer Hendrich 1979: Milo Milo 1983: Der Platzanweiser – Porträt eines Kinomanen