Iris Gusner

Iris Gusner (born Trautenau 16 January 1941) is a German film director and screenwriter.

Life Gusner's father, Hans Walter Beyer, was a council official who was killed in the war. She took her name from her mother, who worked as a secretary. Her first few years were spent growing up in Upper Silesia, but in 1945 her family was among the millions of Germans forcibly relocated further west. She ended up in Leipzig, by now in the Soviet occupation zone of what remained of Germany. She attended school in Markkleeberg, a short distance to the south of the city. After passing her final school exams in 1959 she undertook a one-year practical training as a sorter at the wood processing plant in Wiederitzsch (Leipzig). Filmography 1967: Der Versicherungsagent (Strachowoj agent) 1973/90: Die Taube auf dem Dach 1974: Was halten Sie von Leuten, die malen 1976: Man nennt mich jetzt Mimi... 1976: Das blaue Licht 1978: Einer muß die Leiche sein 1980: Alle meine Mädchen 1981: Wäre die Erde nicht rund 1984: Kaskade rückwärts 1988: Ich liebe dich – April! April! 1993: Sommerliebe

Career In 1970 she took a job in Berlin with DEFA, the East German state-owned film studio. Her first assignment involved working as a production assistant on Konrad Wolf's film, "Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment" (1971). Her own first film, "The Dove on the Roof" (1973) was not released for general viewing in the German Democratic Republic and the original footage was destroyed at the studio. It was not till 1990 that a black and white version could be released, despite that the original film was in color. In 2010 a reconstructed version of the original 1973 film appeared, derived from a working copy that had survived the official destruction. The film concerns a professionally successful young female engineer from Mecklenburg called Linda Hinrichs in search of fulfillment in her private life (played by Heidemarie Wenzel), and her evolving relationships with two contrasting men. It paints an unflattering portrait of the world of work which may explain the adverse reaction of the East German authorities. In 2009 Iris Gusner and the self-proclaimed feminist film director Helke Sander published a "Biographical Two-way" ("biografische Zwiesprache") under the title "Fantasy and Work" ("Fantasie und Arbeit"). In 2012, Gusner travelled to the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the United States to give a retrospective of her films, and discuss her portrayal on emancipating women of East Germany. During her visit, many of her films were being premiered for the first time in the United States.