- Born
- Writer. Director. Producer. Studied law and graduated. Was one of the founders of the Oberhausener Manifest in 1962. Since 1962 Headmaster of the 'Institut fuer Filmgestaltung' at the 'Hochschule fuer Gestaltung' in Ulm, Germany. Since 1988 produces broadcastings dealing with cultural aspects in German private TV channels RTL and SAT.1 in his own responsibility (DCTP program).- IMDb Mini Biography By: Oliver Heidelbach
- After his parents divorced, Alexander Kluge lived with his mother in Berlin. He attended high school and graduated from high school. He then began studying law, history and church music at the universities of Marburg, Freiburg and Frankfurt a. M. to study. He received his doctorate in law in 1956 on the subject of "University Self-Administration". Two years later, Kluge volunteered with the well-known director Fritz Lang, who made the film "The Indian Tomb" during this time. Kluge was also already working on his own scripts. From 1958 onwards, Kluge worked as a lawyer in Munich and Berlin. At that time, his area of work included film funding laws. In 1960 he created his first short film with Peter Schamoni entitled "Brutality in Stone".
The work was awarded a main prize at the International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen. In 1962, Kluge, together with Edgar Reitz and Peter Schamoni, proclaimed the "New German Film" in the "Oberhauser Manifesto". In doing so, they rejected the German tearjerker films that dominated the cinemas. In the same year, Alexander Kluge became one of the heads of the "Institute for Film Design" at the Ulm University of Design. His prose volume "CVs" was also published during this time. In 1964 he received the Berlin Art Prize - Young Generation. In 1963 he founded his own production company "Kairos-Film". In the years 1966 and 1968, his first major film success came with his two works "Farewell to Yesterday" (1966) and "The Artists in the Circus Dome: at a Loss" (1968). Kluge's use of analysis and association techniques was also characteristic of his other works.
At the Venice International Festival in 1968, Kluge was awarded the Golden Lion for his film "The Artists in the Big Top: Perplexed." Kluge's novel "Battle Description" was published in 1964. In the work, Kluge, who spent part of his youth during the Second World War, addresses the devastating battle of Stalingrad. The theme became dominant in the writer's work. The title was awarded the Bavarian State Prize in 1966. From 1967 to 1977, Kluge was a prolific screenwriter, director and producer. He also wrote film books such as "Mrs. Blackburn, born January 5, 1872" (1967), "Willi Tobler and the Sinking of the 6th Fleet" (1969-1971), "The Big Verhau" (1969/1970) or " "The Doctor from Halberstadt" (1969/1970).
In 1972, the joint work "Publicity and Experience", developed together with the sociologist Oskar Negt, was published. In it, Kluge deals with the real concern of his work, namely creating publicity and conveying authentic experiences. The following year the work "Film Industry in the Federal Republic of Germany and Europe" was published, which deals with questions of media theory. Kluge is a co-author of the work. In the same year, Kluge's work "Learning processes with a fatal outcome" was published. In 1973 Alexander Kluge became a visiting professor at the University of Frankfurt am Main. The following year, the title "Critical Theory of Marxism," which Kluge wrote together with Negt, was published. The film "In danger and greatest need, the middle path brings death" was made.
In 1975 he was honored with the German Film Prize Filmband in Gold for music dramaturgy. Kluge directed the music dramaturgy for this work himself. In the years from 1978 to 1982, Alexander Kluge took part in film collaborations such as the works "Germany in Autumn" (1978) about the wave of terrorism in Germany, "The Candidate" ( 1980) about the politician Franz-Josef Strauß and "War and Peace" (1982/1983) about the missile discussion in Germany. In 1979 Kluge's work "Die Patriotin. Issue 19" was published. In the same year, the film "The Patriot", which Kluge directed, was made. The film was awarded the Silver Filmband German Film Prize. Between 1983 and 1985 he made the essay films "The Power of Feelings" (1983) and "The Attack of the Present on the Rest of Time" (1985).
In addition to his film education, Alexander Kluge is involved in film art and strives to bring television and film closer together. He developed the idea of "publisher television". For this purpose, Kluge founded a production company in 1985/1986. Through them he brought contributions to the channels RTL and SAT.1 as independent documentary programs such as "Spiegel TV Magazin" or "Stern TV", which primarily broadcast information. Since 1988, Kluge has moderated cultural magazines such as "Prime Time", "10 vor 11" and "News and Stories". Kluge also appeared as a producer of talk shows such as "Zur Person" with Günter Gaus. Since 1994, Kluge's production company has been significantly involved in the management of the private broadcaster VOX.
At the beginning of the year 2005 it became known that Spiegel boss Stefan Aust, together with Spiegel TV editor-in-chief Cassian von Salomon and dctp managing director Alexander Kluge, wanted to start a new digital TV channel under the title "Spiegel TV - XXP Digital" in March 2005. The shareholders of dctp (Development Company for Television Program) are Alexander Kluge (37.5%), the Japanese advertising agency Dentsu (37.5%), Spiegel-Verlag (12.5%) and Neue Zürcher Zeitung AG (12 .5%). In 2007 Alexander Kluge received the Federal Cross of Merit.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth
- SpouseDagmar Steurer(1982 - present) (2 children)
- Parents
- One of Germany's most influential social critics and writers in the late 20th century, publishing important literary texts such as "Attendance List for a Funeral" (1962), "The Power of Feelings" (1984) and "The Devil's Blind Spot" (2003).
- Good friends with philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, who made him investigate filmmaking and introduced him to directing legend Fritz Lang.
- Tribute at the 26th Moscow International Film Festival.
- Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 522-527. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.
- Second head of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1965
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