Rosa von Praunheim: Survival in New York

Told with curiosity and remarkable intimacy, von Praunheim’s documentary and one of his greatest commercial successes follows three German women carving out lives of their own in 1980s New York, navigating marriages of convenience, go-go bars, new loves, and experiences of violence.

In the early 1980s, Claudia, Anna, and Ulli leave Germany for New York. Each experiences the city differently, yet all struggle with financial insecurity and the complexities of love and relationships. Claudia arrives with her boyfriend but gradually discovers her attraction to women. Unable to obtain a work permit, she survives on poorly paid jobs until she enters into a marriage of convenience with an actor. (It is John Edward Heys, who later appeared in a major role in von Praunheim’s Anita – Dances of Vice). Anna earns a good living as a go-go dancer, using the income to finance her training as a psychotherapist. Through her work as a dancer she meets two men who will profoundly shape her life. Ulli, meanwhile, shares her life with Ronnie, a Vietnam veteran battling psychological trauma, with whom she shares a love for animals.
  Having portrayed the struggles of queer American performers in early-1980s West Berlin through the glittering, anarchic musical City of Lost Souls, von Praunheim now turns his attention to three German women in New York. In this understated documentary, he gives his protagonists the space to tell and reflect on their own stories. His camera observes them in their everyday lives, wanders through the streets and architecture of the city, and invites them to speak directly to the viewer. At the same time, von Praunheim takes a keen interest in their wider social circles, including partners, friends, and figures such as the Jewish exile writer Hans Sahl, whom Claudia assists in his work.

While City of Lost Souls repeatedly addressed the lingering effects of National Socialism in Germany, Claudia reflects here on how her friendship with Hans Sahl opened her eyes to the experiences of Jewish émigrés and to the perspectives of those who were persecuted and resisted. In Survival in New York, von Praunheim’s long-standing fascination with the city’s contradictory realities merges with his interest in women’s lives and alternative ways of living. Audiences responded enthusiastically: the film became one of his greatest commercial successes. More than two decades later, in Memories of New York (2010), von Praunheim reunited with Anna and Claudia, finding them still in New York and reflecting with them on how the city had changed over the years.

FRG, 1989, colour, DCP (original format: 16mm - Blow-Up 35mm), 90 min., with English subtitles.
Written and directed by: Rosa von Praunheim, Cinematography: Jeff Preiss, Editing: Mike Shepard, Sound: Steven Robinson, Phillip B. Roth, Music: Roy Campbell, Production: Rosa von Praunheim / WDR. With: Claudia Steinberg, Anna Steegmann, Ulli Buschbacher.