Ulrike Ottinger: Cinema Artist, Cinema Rebel

A screening series exploring the works of auteur and iconoclast Ulrike Ottinger, whose daring films often defy genre as they explore themes of identity, gender, and cultural displacement.
Sept 25–Oct 4, 2025 
Ulrike Ottinger will be in attendance for screenings of select films. 
 
Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation. Support for Ulrike Ottinger: Cinema Artist, Cinema Rebel provided in part by the German Film Office. Special thanks to the Goethe-Institut LA. 
Programmed and notes by K.J. Relth-Miller.

“Watching her films is like traveling through an undiscovered country of marvels, a journey alternately dazzling, infuriating, hilarious, and rewarding.”—Leslie Camhi,Village Voice
“Eccentrics are our last heroes, and in our times it is so difficult to be an eccentric.”—Ulrike Ottinger (1989)

Iconoclastic German filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger is known for her distinctive approach to narrative and visual storytelling, often blending surrealism, feminism, and political critique in her genre-defying works. Her films, which she usually writes, shoots, produces, and production designs herself, explore themes of identity, gender, and cultural displacement, frequently blurring the lines between documentary and fiction for a truly singular voice in the history of independent filmmaking. Once claiming that “we [meaning herself, Jean Genet, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder] make the originals, other people make the wallpaper,” Ottinger’s work is marked by its vivid imagery and use of bold, stylized visuals that reflect a deep interest in cultural representation and the interrogation of myth. Notable works likeParis Calligrammes(2020), an autobiographical reflection on the artistic and intellectual climate of 1960s Paris, andFreak Orlando(1981)—a feminist reimagining of Tod Browning’sFreaks(1932)—exemplify her ability to create immersive, visually arresting worlds that challenge conventional narratives. Ottinger’s films often feature strong, complex female protagonists navigating oppressive societal structures, positioning her as an important figure in both European cinema and the broader feminist filmmaking movement that came to life in the 1970s.
Ottinger will join us for four programs this September to discuss her trajectory as an artist, her approach to crafting images, and her visionary eye for color and mise-en-scène.
Programmed and notes by K.J. Relth-Miller.

Thursday, Sep 25, 2025 @ 7:30pm  
NO RETURN|BILNDIS EINER TRINKERIN
In person: Ulrike Ottinger
This first film in Ulrike Ottinger’s Berlin Trilogy follows an unnamed woman (frequent Ottinger collaborator Tabea Blumenschein) as she drinks her way through Berlin’s various watering holes. Underscoring the scrutiny society applies to “women behaving badly,” with a literal Greek chorus questioning her actions, Ottinger’s film practically predicts the double standard imposed on late 20th-century female artists like Courtney Love.

Saturday, Sep 27, 2025 @ 7:30pm  
FREAK ORLANDO  
In person: Ulrike Ottinger
The second film in the artist’s Berlin Trilogy draws as much on Browning and Woolf in theme as it does silent expressionist cinema in visual language, with ravishing and unexpectedtableaux vivantsthat explore a rich emotional realm. Winner of the Audience Award at the Sceaux Women’s Film Festival, Ottinger’s unclassifiable filmpushes back against traditional narrative for a dreamlike, rebellious achievement.
Sunday, Sep 28, 2025 @ 6:30pm  
DORIAN GRAY IN THE MIRROR OF THE YELLOW PRESS | DORIAN GRAY IM SPIEGEL DER BOULEVARDPRESSE  
In person: Ulrike Ottinger
German model Veruschka stars in drag as Dorian Gray, a figure created by the diabolical Dr. Mabuse, the head of a massive media company, for the sole purpose of proving the value of manipulation. Reteaming with French actress Delphine Seyrig, with whom she first worked onFreak Orlando(1981) and would later collaborate onJoan of Arc of Mongolia(1989), filmmaker Ulrike Ottinger (who also wrote, shot, produced, production designed, and set decorated the movie singlehandedly) created a singular film that skewers both the media and capitalism, a criticism made palatable by her signature off-kilter tableaux and impeccable visual style.
Monday, Sep 29, 2025 @ 7:30pm  
PARIS CALLIGRAMMES  
In person: Ulrike Ottinger
Ottinger’s most recent film is at once a poetic essay, a moving autobiography, and a detailed document of the cultural and political scenes in 1960s Paris. The filmmaker narrates her own experiences finding her place and voice as a recent art school graduate during her seven years in the City of Light, where she frequented the Cinémathèque française, political lectures, and Librairie Calligrammes, a used bookstore whose books held a key to unlocking a past not otherwise accessible in her postwar Germany. This “beautiful autobiography and a captivating journey through time” (Berlinale) screens in Los Angeles for the first time.


Saturday, Oct 4, 2025 @ 2:30pm  
JOAN OF ARC OF MONGOLIA
When a group of European women is swept into the vast Mongolian steppe aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway, cultures collide and power structures shift in mesmerizing ways. Ulrike Ottinger’s bold cinematic vision fuses surreal imagery, stylized performance, and political nuance in a celebration of female agency and an interrogation of cultural encounters for an unforgettable odyssey across borders, identity, and tradition. Blending self-aware ethnographic documentary with feminist fantasy, the artist’s visually stunning, avant-garde masterwork dabbles inthe unique visual vernacular of opera.Unavailable on any streaming platforms in the US, this rare screening is the perfect conclusion to our series celebrating Ottinger’s mesmerizing world-building.


Academy Museum film programming generously funded by the Richard Roth Foundation.
Support for Ulrike Ottinger: Cinema Artist, Cinema Rebel provided in part by the German Film Office.
Special thanks to the Goethe-Institut LA.