Elfi Mikesch

Director

Elfi Mikesch is an Austrian director, cinematographer, photographer, and screenwriter. She was born in Judenburg, Styria, and is one of the defining voices of German-language auteur and avant-garde cinema. After training in photography, she initially worked as a photographer before switching to film in the 1970s, where she made a name for herself as both a cinematographer and director. Her career is closely linked to the Berlin film and art scene, where she has been active since the 1970s. Mikesch frequently collaborated with Rosa von Praunheim and Werner Schroeter, creating stylistically unique works as both a cinematographer and director that are characterized by experimental forms, sensual imagery, and a clear, often queer view of identity, the body, and society. As a director, she made films such as Ich denke oft an Hawaii (I Often Think of Hawaii, 1978), Verführung: Die grausame Frau (Seduction: The Cruel Woman, 1985, co-directed with Monika Treut), Was soll’n wir denn machen ohne den Tod (What Are We to Do Without Death, 1998), Fieber (Fever, 2010), and Freak Orlando (cinematography, 1981). With Krieg oder Frieden (War or Peace, 2024), she presented a late, powerful work that deals with the effects of war, memory, and civil society, once again showcasing her visually poetic signature style. Elfi Mikesch has received numerous awards, including the German Camera Award and the Berlinale Teddy Award for her life's work. Her work is characterized by an unmistakable style that dissolves the boundaries between documentary and fiction, between physicality and political expression. She is considered one of the most important pioneers of feminist and queer film in Europe.

Films on Sooner

Krieg oder Frieden

2024

86 mins

Documentary, Independent

Wünsdorf in Brandenburg was a military base for decades: first for the Prussians, then for the Wehrmacht, and finally for the Red Army.