Klaus Wildenhahn is regarded as one of the most important documentary filmmakers and directors in Germany in recent decades. Many films that are considered classics today were made on NDR under his direction.
Before Klaus Wildenhahn immersed himself in the world of documentary film, he studied sociology, journalism and political science in Berlin. After spending six months studying in the USA, he worked as a nurse in a mental hospital near London for about four years. In 1959 Wildenhahn came to television and was initially employed as an assistant director for the ARD television lottery. In 1959 he began his career at NDR and soon became an author for the political television magazine Panorama.
Image everyday life with the 16 millimeter camera
In 1964, Wildenhahn interviewed the two documentary film greats D. A. Pennebaker and Richard Leacock, the leading representatives of the "Direct Cinema" movement from England and the USA - an encounter that was to influence his work forever. From then on, observing people's everyday lives with a small 16 millimeter camera shaped his cinematic work. Around 60 documentaries were made under the direction of Klaus Wildenhahn. He shoots spontaneously and observingly, mostly from the shoulder long shots with original sound. Many of his films become classics in German film and television history.
VIDEO: The love of the country (1/2) (73 min)
Klaus Wildenhahn:Master of the rural portrait
Wildenhahn's film heroes are mostly everyday people, such as the farmer Petersen and his family in "The Love of the Country". A film that shows the everyday struggle of a farmer in northern Germany. In "In der Fremde" Klaus Wildenhahn and his cameraman Rudolf Körösi observe the construction of a grain silo in the northern German provinces. A film that is also dramaturgically groundbreaking.
Adolf Grimme Prize for "Emden goes to the USA"
In the mid-1970s, Wildenhan produced a four-part documentary about the planned closure of a Volkswagen plant in Emden, as a result of which there was a risk of mass layoffs in the East Frisian region around Endem:"Emden is going to the USA". The regional press is anything but enthusiastic, but the work convinces critics and other filmmakers. The first part of the documentary, a collaboration with camerawoman and director Gisela Tuchtenhagen, was awarded the Adolf Grimme Gold Prize in 1978.
Documentation of cultural creation
Wildenhahn is also famous for its music films. In 1965 he accompanied jazz organist Jimmy Smith on his European tour with his camera. As with his films about Pina Bausch or John Cage, the documentary observation always focuses on their creative process.
From 1968 to 1972, Wildenhahn also worked as a directing lecturer at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin, became a member of the Academy of Arts in Berlin in 1993 - and is also valued for his literary texts and critical spirit.
Wildenhahn "sets the style for many filmmakers to this day"
Not staging, but observing what is - that is the credo of the documentary filmmaker Klaus Wildenhahn.The documentary filmmaker died on August 9, 2018 in Hamburg at the age of 88. With him, the cultural scene loses one of the most influential documentary film directors and teachers in Germany. The NDR director at the time, Lutz Marmor, paid tribute to him with the words:"Hardly anyone has shaped German documentary film like Klaus Wildenhahn. He is still a style-defining factor for many filmmakers today. NDR owes him a lot."