Anthology Film Archives presents a selection of Udo Kier's most extraordinary films
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A living legend who’s still going strong almost sixty years after his screen debut, Udo Kier has amassed a truly incomparable body of work. To characterize his career as a distinctive one would be a bit of an understatement. Perhaps there’s another actor, conceivably even a living one, who can boast of having worked with such an extraordinary array of great filmmakers: in Kier’s case, the list of collaborators encompasses everyone from Fassbinder and Miklós Jancsó to Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey; Walerian Borowczyk and Lars von Trier to Christoph Schlingensief and Dario Argento; Gus van Sant and Guy Maddin to John Carpenter. But what other actor could boast of having played Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll, Jack the Ripper and the devil, Adolf Hitler and…Adolf Hitler (a role he’s returned to repeatedly)? What other actor has amassed such an extravagant collection of dramatic onscreen deaths (enough to inspire Jan Soldat’s recent supercut,
Staging Death)? What other actor has graced films as wildly diverse as
Spermula,
Suspiria,
Flesh for Frankenstein,
My Own Private Idaho,
Dancer in the Dark,
Dogville,
Blade, and
Ace Venture: Pet Detective?
With “The Strange Case of Udo Kier”, Anthology Film Archives realizes a years-long ambition to celebrate Udo Kier by presenting a selection of his most extraordinary films. Though even the most extensive repertory film program could only represent the tip of the iceberg of Kier’s career (he has appeared in well over 200 films, not to mention numerous TV movies and series), our series aims to reflect the mind-boggling variety of roles Kier has embodied over the years, and to emphasize his collaboration with many of the greatest filmmakers of our time.
The series will be graced by the presence of Udo Kier himself, who will appear on Fri & Sat, May 19 & 20 to present the screenings of Blood for Dracula, Egomania – Island Without Hope, and Bacurau!
“The Strange Case of Udo Kier” is co-presented by Anthology Film Archives and the German Film Office.
Film program:
Michael Armstrong,
Mark of the Devil (1970, 90 min., 35mm)
Walerian Borowczyk,
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne (1981, 92 min.)
Werner Schroeter,
Flocons D’Or (1976, 163 min.)
Paul Morrissey,
Blood for Dracula (1974, 106 min., 35mm)
Lars von Trier,
Medea (1987, 76 min.)
Christoph Schlingensief,
Egomania – Island Without Hope (1986, 84 min.)
Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles,
Bacurau (2019, 131 min.)
Gábor Bódy,
Narcissus and Psyche (1980, 261 min.)
Lines of the Hand + Udo Kier – Death of a Superstar + Staging Death
Christoph Schlingensief,
100 Years of Adolf Hitler (1989, 55 min.)
Gábor Altorjay,
Pankow ’95 (1983, 80 min.)
Paul Morrissey,
Flesh for Frankenstein (1973, 95 min.)
Todd Stephens,
Swan Song (2021, 105 min.)
Monika Treut & Elfi Mikesch,
Seduction: The Cruel Woman (1985, 84 min.)
Guy Maddin & Evan Johnson,
The Forbidden Room (2015, 130 min.)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder,
The Third Generation (1979, 111 min.)
Just Jaeckin,
The Story of O (1975, 97 min.)
Gus Van Sant,
My Own Private Idaho (1991, 104 min., 35mm)
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