L

Director

Lutz Mommartz

Born March 6, 1934 in Erkelenz, GermanyDied July 26, 202555 films

For over five decades, experimental filmmaker Lutz Mommartz shaped the German film and art scene with a radically different understanding of film. Since the 1960s, he was active in Düsseldorf as a filmmaker and artist, and his work raised key questions about the authenticity of film and its relationship with the audience. He achieved his international breakthrough in 1967 at the Knokke Festival, when his film "Self-Shots" won an award. Parallel to his work as a municipal official, he was a motivator in the Düsseldorf art scene, for example, as co-founder of the legendary artists' bar Creamcheese, and was represented in numerous exhibitions such as documenta 4 (with his "Zweileinwandkino" (two-screen cinema) in 1968) and STRATEGY: GET ARTS (Edinburgh, 1970). He received the Silver Federal Film Prize in 1977 for "As if by Beckett" and in 1978 for "The Garden of Eden"

Read more

Mommartz stood for "the other cinema," beyond the mainstream, with the goal of establishing film as a means of artistic expression. In the 1970s, as part of the Düsseldorf Film Group, he campaigned for the institutional recognition of film in art. In 1975, he was appointed the first professor of film at the University of Fine Arts Münster (then an outpost of the Düsseldorf Art Academy) and headed the film class until 1999. In 2020, the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf dedicated a retrospective to Mommartz's work. His works were most recently exhibited at the ZKM Karlsruhe and the Julia Stoschek Foundation. Lutz Mommartz is remembered as a pioneer of artistic film—uncomfortable, experimental, and ahead of his time.

Filmography

55 films as director
  1. 2007Margret’s FilmDirector
  2. 1996Window to The YardDirector
  3. 1996PaintingDirector
  4. 1993Wall of ShadowsDirector
  5. 1989Fear Under the StarsDirector
  6. 1988Four Little PiecesDirector
  7. 1987FocusDirector
  8. 1987Slow WaltzDirector
  9. 1986The Last SmokeDirector
  10. 1985Marble Always Remains CoolDirector
  11. 1985DressDirector
  12. 1983Every Human is A Table, Only I Am A ChairDirector
  13. 1983Transit to BerlinDirector
  14. 1982Filming OperationDirector
  15. 1981Tango Through GermanyDirector
  16. 1979SchattenkurDirector
  17. 1979Eddie and LutzDirector
  18. 1978More Than TwoDirector
  19. 1977The Garden of EdenDirector
  20. 1976As if by BeckettDirector
  21. 1975Die SchillerDirector
  22. 1975The Fair War 1525Director
  23. 1975Wing FlappingDirector
  24. 1974The Fear at the RheinDirector
  25. 1974HaircutDirector
  26. 1972Film Group Düsseldorf - SketchDirector
  27. 1972The City of Düsseldorf is Very BeautifulDirector
  28. 1972MonumentsDirector
  29. 1971The Beautiful SigmarDirector
  30. 1971Most of My Friends Now Live in BerlinDirector
  31. 1971InspectionDirector
  32. 1971The Aggressive Brown Water Inside the Tubes of the ProfessorsDirector
  33. 1970Spanish Crime StoryDirector
  34. 1970The Breath of SheepDirector
  35. 1970Solidarity of TenentsDirector
  36. 1970Görreskeller und JETZT - KölnDirector
  37. 1970Spaniards Meeting in EssenDirector
  38. 1969Social SculptureDirector
  39. 1969OverwhelmedDirector
  40. 1969400 m IFFDirector
  41. 1969Wählt ADFDirector
  42. 1969Teenage ArtDirector
  43. 1968Way to the NeighbourDirector
  44. 1968ImmatrikulationDirector
  45. 19683 GlassesDirector
  46. 1968Two-Screen CinemaDirector
  47. 1967RailroadDirector
  48. 1967MarkeneierDirector
  49. 1967Self ShotsDirector
  50. 1967The FingerDirector
  51. 1967The StairsDirector
  52. 1967DanceloopDirector
  53. 1967Up / DownDirector
  54. 1967Color StripesDirector
  55. 1966Otto Piene's Studio PartyDirector