Retrospective BARBET SCHROEDER

The retrospective of the 52nd Hof International Film Festival is dedicated to the doyen of French cinema Barbet Schroeder. His companions were Claude Chabrol, Jaques Rivette and François Truffaut, but above all, it was with Eric Rohmer that he had a lifelong friendship and partnership. In 1962 they founded the – to this day still active – production, distribution and sales company Les Films du Losange, which produced not only their own films, but also those of other directors.

"I am particularly pleased that we are dedicating this year’s retrospective to this internationally renowned director and will be screening a selection of Barbet Schroeder’s extensive body of work at the festival. It is a great honor that he will be presenting his films in person in Hof." Thorsten Schaumann, artistic director

Barbet Schroeder began his career as the producer of Eric Rohmer’s films. In 1969 he directed his first feature film, MORE, and became internationally known with the film REVERSAL OF FORTUNE, which dealt with the supposed murder of Sunny von Bülow by her husband Claus von Bülow. Leading actor Jeremy Irons won the Oscar® as best leading actor in 1991 for his role in the film. Barbet Schroeder’s international breakthrough came the following year with the psycho-thriller SINGLE WHITE FEMALE with Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh in the leading roles.

Schroeder‘s oeuvre includes an impressive, manifold body of work. From the very beginning, he has been continuously working as a producer, screenwriter, and sometimes even as an actor in such films as QUEEN MARGOT by his fellow countryman Patrice Chéreau, in MARS ATTACKS! by Tim Burton, and DARJEELING LIMITED by Wes Anderson. Even in his early days, Schroeder made documentary films, whether about the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin (Hof 1974), the author Charles Bukowski, or the controversial French lawyer Jacques Vergès who he portrayed in the highly-acclaimed film TERROR’S ADVOCATE. Just last year, the Hof International Film Festival screened his film THE VENERABLE W. about an influential monk in Myanmar who spawns everyday racism like Islamophobia, hate speeches, violence and destruction. Whereas Myanmar is a country in which 90% of the population is Buddhist, followers of a religion which invokes peace, tolerance and non-violence.

The comprehensive retrospective includes the films:

General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait
1974, documentary

Mistress
1975, feature, with Bulle Ogier and Gerard Depardieu

The Charles Bukowski Tapes
1982-84, (50 x 4 minute videos)

Barfly
1987, feature, with Mickey Rourke and Faye Dunaway

Reversal of Fortune
1990, feature, with Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons and Ron Silver

Single White Female
1990, feature, with Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh

Before and After
1995, feature, with Meryl Streep and Liam Neeson

Our Lady of the Assassins
2000, feature, with German Jaramillo

Mad Men "The Grown Ups"
2009, TV series, 3rd season, episode 12, with Jon Hamm

Amnesia
2014, feature, with Marte Keller and Max Riemelt

The Venerable W.
2016, documentary