Herbert Achternbusch

Herbert Achternbusch ( Schild; 23 November 1938 – 10 January 2022) was a German film director, writer and painter. He began as a writer of avant-garde prose, such as the novel Die Alexanderschlacht, before turning to low-budget films. He had a love-hate relationship with Bavaria which showed itself in his work. Some of his controversial films, such as Das Gespenst (The Ghost), were presented at the Berlinale festival.

Biography Born Herbert Schild in 1938 in Munich, Achternbusch was the illegitimate son of the sports teacher Luise Schild, née Muckenthaler, and the dental technician Adolf Achternbusch. After his Abitur in Cham, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg, and at the Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.

In the early 1970s, Achternbusch wrote the prose Die Alexanderschlacht, Achternbusch produced almost 30 low budget films. He was often the leading actor in his films, Also notable were the actresses and Margarethe von Trotta, as well as actor and painter Heinz Braun and cinematographer Jörg Schmidt-Reitwein. In 1974, he made his film debut with Das Andechser Gefühl. His anarchist surrealistic films are not known to a wide audience in Germany, although one of them, Das Gespenst (The Ghost), caused a scandal in 1983 because of its alleged blasphemous contents, including a scene where Christ climbs down from the cross and later goes bathing with a nun. Federal Minister of the Interior Friedrich Zimmermann halted the funding for the film as it was deemed to have violated the "religious feeling of large parts of the population". Years of legal battle ensued, with Achternbusch finally winning in 1992. In 2008, the Munich Film Festival dedicated a retrospective to him, It includes four "filmbooks" and two plays. "Filmbook" is the word used to describe the unique, quasi-novelistic form in which Achternbusch wrote works for both publication (whether alone or within a larger volume) and filming. His large-format paintings have been described as child-like, expressive, and "naively excessive". For his 70th birthday, the made an exhibition of his works. and his last play Dogtown Munich at the Münchner Volkstheater in 2017. He was also a theatre director. Achternbusch wrote novels, poetry, children's books and also theatre reviews for the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Personal life and death Achternbusch was the father of six children with three women. In 1959, his daughter Eva was born. The child's mother was a classmate. In 1962, during his studies, Achternbusch met Gerda Oberpaul, whom he married in November. The children from that marriage were Rut (born 1963), Andreas (born 1964), Rita (born 1966), and Judit (born 1968). They divorced in 1982. In the 1980s, they lived together in a commune in Ambach, Lake Starnberg. From 1993 to 1997, he was married to the actress Judith Tobschall. Their daughter is the actress (born 1994). and died in Munich on 10 January 2022, at the age of 83. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier described Achternbusch in a letter of condolence as a "unique universal artist" and that he "invaluably enriched the German cultural landscape, also because he provoked and polarized".

Awards Achternbusch was awarded the German international literary Petrarca-Preis in 1977, but he declined the honor. In 1996, Achternbusch refused to personally receive the Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Film Award in Bielefeld. In 2010, he was awarded the Kassel Literary Prize.

Films In 1981, he directed the film Der Neger Erwin, which was entered into the 31st Berlin International Film Festival. In 1982, he directed Das Gespenst (The Ghost), in which he and family members also performed as actors. It was presented at the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival. In 1988, he directed Wohin? (38th Berlin International Film Festival). In 1995, he directed Hades (45th Berlin International Film Festival).

Writings