Born in 1940 in Austria and working in Berlin since the 1960s, Elfi Mikesch is one of the most distinguished cinematographers in German cinema. Originally coming from the world of photography, she has worked in the cinema since the early 1970s. Besides shooting her own films, she worked as director of photography on more than 50 films by other directors, among them Werner Schroeter, Rosa von Praunheim, Monika Treut, Friederike Pezold, Heinz Emigholz, Cynthia Beatt and Teresa Villaverde.

She has received the German Camera Award three times, including the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. Mikesch’s two dozen directorial works, of which she is usually also the writer/producer, stroll freely between genres. Many of her films are documentaries, but their free form tends to break out into poetic experimentation, and they stand out especially because of the exquisite lighting and camerawork. This programme selects five films from the 1980s that exemplify her style of genre-bending filmmaking. These titles were inaccessible for years except in banged-up 16mm prints until Deutsche Kinemathek undertook the restorations.

Read the selection of films curated by Martin Koerber.