Julia von Heinz’s tribute to Rosa von Praunheim
For the director Julia von Heinz, Rosa von Praunheim was a close colleague and mentor over many years. In her film MEINE VÄTER, she explores their relationship, which left a deep impression on her both personally and artistically.
Dear Rosa,
Your achievements as an artist, activist, gay icon, provocateur, professor and hero of independent cinema are immense and it would give me great pleasure to recount them. Because of them, you were awarded the Federal Cross of Merit two years ago - so, for this reason, I would like to take this opportunity to talk about some of your other accomplishments, which take place on a less public and more personal level yet have had a great impact on many people.
You are a power source and have been a fountain of youth within the German film scene for many decades. This is because of your relationships and the numerous encounters you actively seek out as you show a great and genuine interest in people, something people mostly only extend to themselves.
Five Rosa children have made a film about the significance of meeting you.
I am one of your children and you have had an enormous influence on me. I would not be the person I am today if I hadn’t met you 12 years ago.
What it is that you offer people and how do you have such a strong impact on their lives?
I have written down five lessons that I have learnt from you and that have also been important for other people:
1. Make Make Make
You come across people almost every day who want to be actors, directors or filmmakers but do not succeed.
You can’t understand this. It makes you stern and sometimes enraged: if someone wants to be a filmmaker, they should make films – starting today. Here’s a mobile phone camera and the editing software, what are you waiting for? The subjects are there: every person, every street corner and, above all, everyone themselves, with their fears, complexities and longings, are the protagonists of a short film that could be completed within the week. What are you waiting for?
2. Help others
As soon as a film has been shot, a script written or a picture painted, you, Rosa, are ready to look at it and engage with it. No matter how much time you afford people to read or to look at their work, I have never heard you say that you cannot manage it. You also help others with your contacts: whether someone would like to fly to New York, is planning a lesbian series set in the 1920s or has written a play, you pull out your note book and dictate a list of phone numbers and names of who they should or must contact!
People who do not help others, isolate themselves. I learned this from you. Any time you give to someone else, comes back to you in return.
3. Magic does exist
When nothing else works, neither your actions nor your contacts, you have to try magic. Believe me, I used to be the last person to be receptive to these kinds of ideas. I rejected anything that was unscientific or paranormal. But eventually, when my debut film with WDR was not progressing, I was desperate enough to follow your lead: you wrote to me “hang a photo of the head of television drama on a tree in the wood, put a tomato on your head, sit in front of the tree and close your eyes. And then imagine yourself going into his office and getting a commitment from him.”
The commitment came the very next day.
Axel Ranisch has similar stories to tell.
How it works, I can’t explain to this day but I have decided never to question it.
4. Misfortune is more important than fortune
80% of our profession consists of rejections, waiting, comparing yourself to colleagues, artistic failure and uncertainty. Accept it. These periods of misfortune are much more important than the few moments of success and happiness. Enjoy it, you often say when I call you in torment. Nothing is worse than success. Success does not make you productive; it just makes you want more success.
Enjoy your misfortune, celebrate the conflict, write everything down, keep a video diary.
5. Love, regardless of whether someone loves you back
That is the most important lesson that I have learned from you. When you have taken someone into your heart, you will love them, regardless of what they feel about you.
You have lost many people over the course of your life, sometimes in painful ways: because you were too strong for them, because they felt small beside you, because you had a falling out. You chose to carry on loving each of them. This love which you choose for yourself and no one can take away from you, makes you invulnerable.
But rest assured, dear Rosa, that there is a hall here full of people that love you. They admire what you stand for.
These people want to celebrate someone who refuses to be categorised. Hundreds of filmmakers in the past decades have passed you by on their way to the establishment but you have never let yourself be taken along with them and so you have remained eternally young and unconventional.
In remembrance of Rosa von Praunheim, we are screening von Praunheim’s documentaries MEINE VÄTER and MEINE MÜTTER - SPURENSUCHE IN RIGA as part of our “Personal Memoriams – A look back at great filmmakers” section. Julia von Heinz will be at the film screening on 17 May 2026 at 6pm at Audimax der HFF.
