Wolf Gremm has died
On 14 July the German director and scriptwriter Wolf Gremm died at the age of 73 after battling with cancer. Gremm was known above all as a representative of New German Cinema. In 1973, after studying at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin, Gremm made his first full-length feature, ICH DACHTE, ICH WÄRE TOT (I Thought I Was Dead). In the course of a career spanning many years, he proved himself extremely adept at working in a range of formats and under varying production conditions, compiling a body of work that included both adaptations of literary works such as Erich Kästner’s FABIAN and crime thrillers. Following the end of the New German Cinema movement he worked above all for television. Over the decades one constant in his career remained his collaboration with his wife, the producer Regina Ziegler. Gremm became known to an international audience through his work with Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In 1989, he starred in Fassbinder’s science fiction film KAMIKAZE and one year later was allowed to film RWF at work on QUERELLE in Berlin’s CCC Studios, which resulted in the documentary RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER – LAST WORKS. Gremm returned the favor by appearing as a soldier in QUERELLE, which turned out to be RWF’s final film.
In Wolf Gremm’s own last film, the documentary ICH LIEBE DAS LEBEN TROTZDEM (And Yet I Still Love Life), the director unflinchingly documents his life with cancer. The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation mourns the death of this important director, friend and colleague.
More information:
Broadcast of ICH LIEBE DAS LEBEN TROTZDEM:
Wed, 15 July, 10:15 p.m., RBB
Photo left: RWF and Gremm in RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER – LETZTE ARBEITEN, © Ziegler Film
Photo right: RWF in KAMIKAZE 1989, © BR/Ziegler Film/Ursula Röhnert