Jürgen Böttcher

Konzert im Freien (2001)

History and art in Berlin's new center. Like a fossil, the Marx-Engels-Forum, a large, ambitious monument project of the GDR, adorns a central historical spot in the middle of Berlin. Boettcher's experimental documentary transforms footage he shot of the c ...

The Wall (1991)

A documentary about the deconstruction of the Berlin Wall which makes no use of vocal commentary but instead focuses on visual elements. From the Potsdamer Platz to the Brandenburg Gate, the camera captures the historic events from all sides and different ...

In Georgia (1988)

Impressionistic East German documentary filmed mainly in the Georgian countryside in 1986-1987. The director, a painter, wanted to see if similar scenes to those found in the work of Georgian painter Niko Pirosmanishvili still existed there. ...

The Kitchen (1987)

This documentary follows a group of women on a typical workday as they prepare meals for a dockyard in Rostock. The viewer never learns their names - there are no interviews. The women are presented simply as workers: cooking, cleaning, hauling, and servin ...

A Brief Visit with Hermann Glöckner (1985)

This film portraits the artist and model-builder Hermann Gloeckner, who was born in Dresden in 1889. Even at the age of 96 he is still drawing with undiminished creative energy. ...

Shunters (1984)

Experienced shunters working at the Dresden-Friedrichstadt goods yard. In all weathers, day and night, they couple and uncouple the wagons. The air is full of sound: hammering, steps crunching on the gravel, whistles and shunting noises. ...

Postcards II; Venus after Giorgione (1981)

Venus after Giorgione is the the second part of the "Over Paintings" (Uebermalungen) trilogy by painter and director STRAWALDE (Juergen Boettcher). Using various methods of "painting over" or projecting on top of Giorgione's "Sleeping Venus," Boettcher ali ...

Postcards III; Woman at the Clavichord (1981)

With films including the 'rubble woman' portrait Martha, the three-part experimental film cycle Potter's Stier, Venus nach Giorgione and Frau am Klavichord, the portrait of the artist Kurzer Besuch bei Hermann Glöckner, and also the documentaries Rangiere ...

Postcards I; Potter's Bull (1981)

Potter's Bull is the first part of the "Over-Paintings" Trilogy (Uebermalungen) by painter and director STRAWALDE (Juergen Boettcher). Paulus Potter's simple postcard scene entitled "The Young Bull" ("den jungen Stier") is artistically alienated in an impo ...

Martha (1979)

Martha Bieder is the last rubble-woman in Berlin Rummelsburg. Every day, rain or shine, she stands at the conveyor belt - as she has for decades - sorting through rubble. After a retirement party thrown for her by her male colleagues, she tells her story o ...

Women Are Naturally Creative: Agnès Varda (1977)

A documentary about French film director Agnès Varda on the set of her 1977 film ONE SINGS, THE OTHER DOESN'T. It includes interviews with Varda and the lead actors in the film. ...

In the Lohm Valley (1977)

Sculptor Makolies is filmed working on a sculpture in the middle of a quarry in Swiss Saxony. The quarry workers go about their work around him. Both the work in the quarry and the work on the large figure in sandstone require strenght and conscientiousnes ...

1000 Years Weimar (1977)

Documentary on the 1000-year-old town of Weimar. The film presents an example of the victory of humanist traditions over nazi brutality. ...

Grosskochberg - Public Landscape Gardens (1977)

Kochberg Castle was once owned by the von Stein family and Goethe visited Charlotte von Stein there several times. On the occasion of the "1000 years of Weimar" celebrations, the castle, which has been converted into a memorial, is being opened to the publ ...

Die Mamais (1974)

This color documentary tells the story of the "Mamais." In 1960, a group of workers at the Bitterfeld chemical plant set themselves the task of becoming the first "socialist brigade" in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to act in accordance with the slo ...

Who Loves the Earth (1974)

A DEFA documentary celebrating the 10th World Festival of Youth and Students, held in East Berlin in the summer of 1973. Blending reportage with staged elements, it presents the festival as a showcase of international solidarity, culture, and socialist ide ...

Laundresses (1972)

In this film about apprentices of the Rewatex laundry, Böttcher once again turns to the focal concern of almost all his films the attempt to report as truthfully and impressibly as possible on the life of workers. Böttcher takes the audience into the mid ...

"Sweeping Up" - A Demonstration (1972)

Documenting a May Day demonstration in West Berlin in 1972 ...

Gezeiten (1970)

A young officer suffers under his ambitious wife, who is determined to make a captain out of him. Meanwhile, ship's cook Andresen becomes a father and, for the sake of his wife, becomes an innkeeper ashore, but he is still driven by wanderlust. ...

Dialogue with Lenin (1970)

Documentary focusing on socialism and East German industry and labour, including a script of Lenin's most famous writings and speeches. ...

A Representative (1968)

A black-and-white documentary film about the large housing estate "Lütten Klein" in the northwest of Rostock in June 1968. On the basis of the construction worker and shop steward Hans Schmidt, the efforts to fulfil the plan are clearly shown, even if the ...

Zoo Film (1968)

This black and white documentary film reports from the Berlin Zoo, located in the Friedrichsfelde district of the Lichtenberg district, was opened in 1955 and is the largest landscape animal garden in Europe with an area of 160 hectares. With shots worth s ...

The Secretary (1967)

Presentation of a commited State Party secretary at the Chemicals Combine in Buna. A former miner and small farmer rises to a leading political position. ...

Born in '45 (1966)

Originally banned in 1966, East German director Jürgen Böttcher's tale of love and disillusionment among two newlyweds attempting to navigate the treacherous world of marriage was never officially released in his homeland until after reunification in 199 ...

Barefoot and Without a Hat (1965)

Summertime in Prerow at the Baltic Sea. A cheerful film with the spirit of the sixties. ...

Stars (1963)

This black and white documentary film reports on a brigade of women, they are the "stars" of a Berlin light bulb factory. What is striking is the cordiality and good cooperation within the women's group, despite their monotonous work in the control area in ...

Furnace Builders (1962)

At the Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost an der Oder, a new blast furnace is being moved to replace a burnt-out one. 2000 tons have to be moved 18 meters: Three times we hear it in the commentary. Master Klaus is now in command. His orders are to be obeyed at all c ...

In the Pergamom Museum (1962)

A cinematic visit to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. The camera usually observes the visitors and paints their views on scenes of the ensemble of figures. The amazement at the beauty and grace of the antique sculptures is reflected in the faces of the viewe ...

Three of Many (1961)

Böttchers film showcases three young workers who learn how to paint, draw, and make sculptures out of stone. The film generated a storm of mistrust, as there is no leading communist party, and the three individuals live blithely and independently of the o ...

Necessary Years of Learning (1960)

Böttcher made his graduation film about young people who had become delinquent in a youth work yard in Thuringia. Already here a striking feature of his later films becomes apparent: Jürgen Böttcher gives his protagonists a lot of space; he approaches t ...

Strawalde - Ein Leben in Bildern (2021)

Documentary accompanies the great DEFA film director and painter Jürgen Böttcher, alias Strawalde, detail through his biographical and artistic life: from his childhood as a Nazi boy, his career and his struggles in the GDR under the SED regime, to the o ...

Der Maler und Filmemacher Jürgen Böttcher Strawalde (2004)

Gebrochene Glut (2001)

Grabe's film about his friend, fellow filmmaker, and painter Jürgen Böttcher aka Strawalde. ...

Sammelsurium - Ein ostelbischer Kulturfilm (1992)

Strawalde und Penck malen ein Bild (1991)

Strawalde (Jürgen Böttcher) and Ralf Winkler (A.R. Penck) meet on the afternoon of September 18, 1991, in a factory loft in Berlin-Wedding to paint a picture together. ...

Documentary filmmaking: Christoph Hübner talks with Jürgen Böttcher (1990)

Interview with Jürgen Böttcher about his filmmaking practice conducted and directed by Christoph Hübner ...

Berlin 1990 (1990)

Some months after the fall of the Berlin wall, during the time of federal elections in Germany in 1990, Chris Marker shot this passionate documentary, reflecting the state of the place and its spirit with remarkable acuity. ...

La Villette (1990)

Only two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in January 1990, almost two hundred controversial East German visual and performance artists—including Jürgen Böttcher, the Autoperforation Artists, AG Geige, Via Lewandowsky, Trak Wendisch, Conny Hege ...

In Georgia (1988)

Impressionistic East German documentary filmed mainly in the Georgian countryside in 1986-1987. The director, a painter, wanted to see if similar scenes to those found in the work of Georgian painter Niko Pirosmanishvili still existed there. ...

The Kitchen (1987)

This documentary follows a group of women on a typical workday as they prepare meals for a dockyard in Rostock. The viewer never learns their names - there are no interviews. The women are presented simply as workers: cooking, cleaning, hauling, and servin ...

Die Mamais (1974)

This color documentary tells the story of the "Mamais." In 1960, a group of workers at the Bitterfeld chemical plant set themselves the task of becoming the first "socialist brigade" in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to act in accordance with the slo ...