Remembering Ulrich Schamoni

On November 9, 2009, Ulrich Schamoni would have celebrated his 70th birthday. The Deutsche Kinemathek will commemorate the director with a small film series and, together with his family, found the Sammlung Ulrich Schamoni to secure and preserve his films and related material for film research. "Geist und ein wenig Glück [Wit and a Bit of Luck]" – the title of his documentary on New German Cinema shot in 1965 – assisted him in his attempts to combine sophisticated topics with popular cinema in the 1960s and 70s. After being trained to become assistant director and actor, he made his public appearance in 1962 with his novel Dein Sohn lässt grüßen, which was immediately put on the index by the Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften. The feature film ES (Nov. 11) from 1966 deals with the marriage crisis of a young couple. The everyday reality and the attitude toward life of the young generation formulates a filmic counter-position to the then still prevailing problem-free entertainment cinema of the established industry.