Jürgen Böttcher

Only two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in January 1990, almost two hundred controversial East German visual and performance artists—including Jürgen Böttcher, the Autoperforation Artists, AG Geige, Via Lewandowsky, Trak Wendisch, Conny Hege, Klaus Killisch, Helga Paris and Hanns Schimansky—presented works rarely shown in the GDR at the exhibition space in the former La Villette slaughterhouses on the outskirts of Paris.

Grabe's film about his friend, fellow filmmaker, and painter Jürgen Böttcher aka Strawalde.

In this interview with contemporary witnesses, painter and director Jürgen Böttcher talks about some stages of his professional career. This also includes his path to film art and his work at Deutsche Film AG (DEFA) in Potsdam-Babelsberg. He also tells of his experiences during the shooting of films such as "Barfuß und ohne Hut", "Rangierer" and the documentary film "Jahrgang 45", once banned but finally re-released at the Berlinale 2015. During the conversation, questions about the difference and similarities between painting and film, the significance of music in film, Böttcher's preference for black and white, and his criteria for choosing topics for documentary film projects will be discussed.

Strawalde und Penck malen ein Bild

Der Maler und Filmemacher Jürgen Böttcher Strawalde

Some months after the fall of the Berlin wall, during the time of federal elections in Germany in 1990, Chris Marker shot this passionate documentary, reflecting the state of the place and its spirit with remarkable acuity.

Strawalde - Ein Leben in Bildern

Interview with Jürgen Böttcher about his filmmaking practice conducted and directed by Christoph Hübner

This documentary follows a group of women on a typical workday as they prepare meals for a dockyard in Rostock. The viewer never learns their names - there are no interviews. The women are presented simply as workers: cooking, cleaning, hauling, and serving dishes amid clanking pots and hot steam.

Impressionistic East German documentary filmed mainly in the Georgian countryside in 1986-1987. The director, a painter, wanted to see if similar scenes to those found in the work of Georgian painter Niko Pirosmanishvili still existed there.

Die Mamais

Sammelsurium - Ein ostelbischer Kulturfilm

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