{{Short description|German film director (1937–2021)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Peter Fleischmann | image = Peter Fleischmann at Deutsches Filminstitut, gesturing.jpg | caption = Peter Fleischmann at Deutsches Filminstitut in 2018 | birth_date = {{birth date|1937|7|26|df=yes}} | birth_place = Zweibrücken, Bavaria, Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|2021|8|11|1937|7|26|df=yes}} | death_place = Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany | othername = | occupation = {{plainlist| * Film director * Screenwriter * Film producer }} | awards = Deutscher Filmpreis }}
'''Peter Fleischmann''' (26 July 1937 – 11 August 2021)<ref name="Tagesspiegel">{{cite news | url = https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/pionier-des-neuen-deutschen-films-peter-fleischmann-mit-84-jahren-gestorben/27511938.html | title = Peter Fleischmann mit 84 Jahren gestorben | newspaper = Der Tagesspiegel | date = 12 August 2021 | language = de | access-date = 12 August 2021}}</ref> was a German film director, screenwriter and producer. He worked also as an actor, cutter, sound engineer, interviewer and speaker. Fleischmann belonged to the New German Cinema of the 1960s and 1970s. He is known for directing the 1969 ''Jagdszenen aus Niederbayern'' (''Hunting Scenes from Bavaria''), but he produced films of many genres.
== Life and career == Peter Fleischmann was born in Zweibrücken.<ref name="Tagesspiegel" /> He studied at the {{ill|Deutsches Institut für Film und Fernsehen|de}} (German Institute of Film and Television, DIFF) in Munich<ref name="Tagesspiegel" /> and Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (''IDHEC'') in Paris.<ref name="Rheinpfalz">{{cite news | url = https://www.rheinpfalz.de/artikel/regisseur-fleischmann-zum-80-die-wut-der-buerger/ | title = Interview mit Peter Fleischmann zum 80. Geburtstag | newspaper = Die Rheinpfalz | date = 25 July 2017 | language = de | access-date = 17 August 2021}}</ref> He had contact with representatives of the French Nouvelle Vague movement, and became a friend of Jean-Claude Carrière, with whom he later wrote screenplays.<ref name="Rheinpfalz" /> After years as an assistant director, he became a director in 1963 in short films and children's films. In 1967, he directed a documentary, ''{{ill|Herbst der Gammler|de}}'', about the {{ill|Gammler|de}} subculture, which anticipated the gereration conflicts of the 1968 student movement.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.dff.film/verleihangebot/herbst-der-gammler/ | title = Herbst der Gammler | work = Deutsches Filminstitut | language = de | access-date = 12 August 2021}}</ref>
His first full-length film was released in 1969, ''Jagdszenen aus Niederbayern'', based on the play of the same name by Martin Sperr, who also played the leading role. The film reflects critically how a Bavarian village deals with outsiders, especially the homosexual character played by Sperr.<ref name="Langford">{{cite book | last = Langford | first = Michelle | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6bmrDwAAQBAJ&q=%22Peter+Fleischmann%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA109 | title = Directory of World Cinema: Germany | date = 1 January 2012 | publisher = Intellect Books | isbn = 978-1-84-150582-4}}</ref> The film was awarded prizes, including the Filmband in Silber of Deutscher Filmpreis. It was suggested for a nomination as the Oscars' best foreign film but was not nominated.<ref name="NWZ">{{cite web | url = https://www.nwzonline.de/kultur/al-capone-der-pfalz-kommt-in-den-nordwesten_a_6,1,1963176846.html | title = Kino: Al Capone der Pfalz kommt in den Nordwesten | newspaper = Nordwest-Zeitung | date = 25 August 2006 | language = de | access-date = 21 April 2020 }}</ref><ref name="Langford" /> The film made Fleischmann a representative of the New German Cinema of the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite web | publisher = Deutsche Welle | url = https://www.dw.com/de/dvd-tipp-neuer-deutscher-film/a-6454752 | title = DVD-Tipp: Neuer Deutscher Film | date = 5 March 2011 | access-date = 5 February 2021 | language = de}}</ref> The same year, Fleischmann and Volker Schlöndorff founded the film production company Hallelujah-Film.<ref name="Tagesspiegel" />
In Fleischmann's later works, often the seemingly villainous character would turn out to be a good person. In ''Das Unheil'' (''Havoc''), with a script by Fleischmann and Martin Walser, he criticised in 1972 the provincial attitude of a Hessian small town and pollution of the environment. The film was awarded the Prix Luis Buñuel of the Cannes Festival.<ref name="Filmhaus">{{cite web | url = http://www.deutsches-filmhaus.de/bio_reg/f_bio_regiss/fleischmann_peter_bio.htm | title = Peter Fleischmann – Biografie |website=deutsches-filmhaus.de | access-date = 12 August 2021}}</ref> In ''{{ill|Dorothea's Revenge|de|Dorotheas Rache|lt=Dorotheas Rache}}'' (1974), he created a provocative satire on the sexfilm wave.<ref name="Filmportal Dorothea">{{cite web | url = https://www.filmportal.de/film/dorotheas-rache_35adf11298824389821786b129b4009f | title = Dorotheas Rache | website = filmportal.de | language = de | access-date = 12 August 2021}}</ref> His 1979 film ''The Hamburg Syndrome'' (''Die Hamburger Krankheit'') about an unknown infectious plague in German, with actor Helmut Griem, received attention again in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.<ref>{{cite news | url = https://www.mopo.de/hamburg/hamburger-krankheit-kultfilm-sah-schon-1979-die-corona-krise-voraus-36550562/ | title = "Hamburger Krankheit": Kultfilm sah schon 1979 die Corona-Krise voraus | newspaper = Hamburger Morgenpost | date = 14 April 2020 | language = de | access-date = 12 August 2021}}</ref>
Fleischmann's films were often critically acclaimed, but not successful at the box office, which reduced the potential for projects in the 1980s. Schlöndorff described him as a Renaissance person, comparable to Orson Welles, who had visions but was reduced to early works. In 1990, he created ''Es ist nicht leicht ein Gott zu sein'' (''Hard to Be a God''),<ref name="GmbH 2021">{{cite news |last=Seidl |first=Claudius | title=Zum Tod von Peter Fleischmann: Das unwiderstehliche Bild eines Traums von der Freiheit | newspaper=Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung | date=13 August 2021 | url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kino/peter-fleischmann-der-unterschaetzte-filmregisseur-ist-gestorben-17483871.html | language=de | access-date=17 August 2021}}</ref> an elaborate film after a science-fiction novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. Faithful to his early documentaries, he produced ''Deutschland, Deutschland'' from interviews with simple passers-by in Germany's East and West about Die Wende, indicating future difficulties after Germany's reunification.<ref name="Tagesspiegel" /> In 2006, he produced ''Mein Freund, der Mörder'' (''My Friend the Murderer''), a documentary about his friend {{ill|Bernhard Kimmel|de}} whom he had portrayed before in the 1987 ''Der Al Capone der Pfalz''. He published a novel in 2008, ''Die Zukunftsangst der Deutschen'', about the Germans' fear of the future.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://peter-fleischmann.de/biographie/ | title = Biographie | work = Peter Fleischmann | language = de | access-date = 12 August 2021}}</ref> He was active with the restoration of several of his films.<ref name="Rheinpfalz" />
In the 1990s, Fleischmann was on the board of the Babelsberg Studios of the former UFA and DEFA, and was instrumental in the rescue of the studios, finding investors from European countries.<ref name="Filmportal" /> He was a founding member of the Deutsche Filmakademie in 2003. His last residence was in Werder near Potsdam, where he died at age 84 after a bad fall.<ref name="Spiegel">{{cite news | newspaper = Der Spiegel | url = https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/kino/peter-fleischmann-tot-regisseur-von-jagdszenen-aus-niederbayern-a-3cf4e445-3079-4f20-a8a7-8b1fdde1a377 | title = Zentrale Figur des Neuen Deutschen Films: Peter Fleischmann ist tot, der Regisseur von "Jagdszenen aus Niederbayern" | date = 12 August 2021 | language = de | access-date = 12 August 2021}}</ref>
=== Awards === * 1966 – ''Special Prize for Educative and Didactic Film for Children'' of the Venice Film Festival for ''Alexander and a Car without the Left Headlight''<ref name="Filmhaus" /> * 1969 – Filmband in Silber for ''Jagdszenen aus Niederbayern''<ref name="Langford" /><ref name="NWZ" /> * 1972 – Prix Luis Buñuel of the Cannes Festival<ref name="Filmhaus" /> * 1991 – Kurd Laßwitz Award in the category Best Film (Movie) for ''Es ist nicht leicht, ein Gott zu sein''<ref name="Filmhaus" />
== Films == Fleischmann was active as actor, director, script writer and producer, among others.<ref name="Filmportal">[https://www.filmportal.de/person/peter-fleischmann_0fbc505b698b44878dc0cbcdcb27b15e Peter Fleischmann] (in German) filmportal.de 2021</ref>
===Director=== Films directed by Fleischmann include:<ref name="Filmportal" /> * 1957: ''Die Eintagsfliege'' (''The Mayfly''), short film<ref name="NWZ" /> * 1961: ''Geschichte einer Sandrose'' (''Story of a Sand Rose''), short documentary, also script * 1962: ''Brot der Wüste'' (''Bread of the Desert''), short film * 1963: ''Begegnung mit Fritz Lang'' (''A Meeting with Fritz Lang''), short documentary * 1964: ''Der Test'' (''The Test''), short film * 1965: ''Alexander und das Auto ohne linken Scheinwerfer'' (''Alexander and the Car with the missing Headlight''), short film, also producer * 1967: ''{{ill|Herbst der Gammler|de}}'', documentary * 1969: ''Jagdszenen aus Niederbayern'' (''Hunting Scenes from Bavaria''), based on Martin Sperr's 1965 play ''Jagdszenen aus Niederbayern'', also script<ref name="Tagesspiegel" /> * 1972: ''Das Unheil'' (''Havoc''), screenplay with Martin Walser, also producer * 1973: ''{{ill|Dorothea's Revenge|de|Dorotheas Rache|lt=Dorotheas Rache}}'' (''Dorothea's Revenge''), screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière, also producer * 1975: ''Weak Spot'', screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière and Martin Walser, based on Antonis Samarakis' 1965 novel ''To Lathos'', also co-producer * 1979: ''Die Hamburger Krankheit'' (''The Hamburg Syndrome''), screenplay with Roland Topor and {{Ill|Otto Jägersberg|de}}, also producer<ref name="Göttler 2021">{{cite web | last=Göttler | first=Fritz | title=Regisseur Peter Fleischmann ist tot | website=Süddeutsche.de | date=12 August 2021 | url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/nachruf-peter-fleischmann-deutscher-autorenfilm-1.5381171 | language=de | access-date=17 August 2021}}</ref> * 1983: ''{{ill|Frevel|de|Frevel (Film)}}'' (''Sacrilege'' or ''Mischief''), screenplay with Jacques Rozier, also actor, cutter, producer * 1987: ''Der Al Capone von der Pfalz'', documentary, also actor, script, commentary, interviews, sound, producer * 1989: ''Hard to Be a God'', screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière, based on Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's 1964 novel ''Hard to Be a God'', also producer * 1991: ''Deutschland, Deutschland'' (''Germany, Germany''), documentary, also actor, script, interviews, producer * 1993: ''Mein Onkel der Winzer'', TV documentary, also speaker, script, interviews, producer * 2006: ''Mein Freund der Mörder'' (''My Friend the Murderer''), documentary, also speaker, script, interviews, producer
===Screenwriter=== * 1986: ''Les Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan'', directed by Gianfranco Mingozzi, screenplay with Jean-Claude Carrière — based on Guillaume Apollinaire's 1911 novel<ref name="MUBI">{{cite web | title=Die Abenteuer des jungen Don Juan | website=MUBI | url=https://mubi.com/de/films/the-exploits-of-a-young-don-juan | access-date=17 August 2021}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{commonscat}} * {{official|https://peter-fleischmann.de/}} * {{IMDb name|id= 0281538|name=Peter Fleischmann}}
{{Peter Fleischmann}} {{New German Cinema}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fleischmann, Peter}} Category:1937 births Category:2021 deaths Category:German film directors Category:German-language film directors Category:People from the Palatinate (region) Category:Institut des hautes études cinématographiques alumni