R.i.P. HARK BOHM

Hark Bohm was one of the most important representatives of New German Cinema. As an actor, he appeared in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (LOLA, BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, FEAR EATS THE SOUL) or Alexander Kluge. He was also a screenwriter and director.

While colleagues such as Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Werner Herzog and others made films about ‘adult’ characters, Bohm focused on the world of adolescents in films such as NORDSEE IST MORDSEE (North Sea is Murder Sea). In doing so, he avoided any pedagogical know-it-all attitude. In his private life, he had adopted two children: Dschingis Bowakow and Uwe Bohm. Both played leading roles in the NORDSEE film.

It was only at the end of his life that the man born in 1939 wrote a screenplay about his own childhood story: AMRUM – a six-year-old boy survives the final phase of the Second World War on the North Sea island of Amrum. His former student Fatih Akin took over the directing. Shortly after the film’s release, the 86-year-old passed away. In his obituary for his former mentor, 52-year-old Akin said: ‘My friend and master Hark Bohm has left us. The lighthouse has gone out. Hark’s soul lives on in his unique work.’

AMRUM is showing at the b-ware! Ladenkino cinema. In addition, the Filmkunst video library has set up a DVD shelf dedicated to Hark Bohm, where you can rent his directorial work NORDSEE IST MORDSEE (North Sea is Murder Sea). Or the Fassbinder films LOLA, BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ and ANGST ESSEN SEELE AUF (Fear Eats the Soul), in which Bohm appeared as an actor.