Franz-Josef Spieker (24 November 1933,

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn (district), Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pade ...

– 18 March 1978, near

Bali Bali (English:; Balinese language, Balinese: ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller o ...

) was a German filmmaker. Spieker studied theater and literary sciences at the DIFF (German Institute for Film and Television) in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. He worked as a photojournalist and film critic and later became an assistant director of Géza von Radványi in 1957,

Stanley Kubrick Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American filmmaker and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Stanley Kubrick filmography, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or sho ...

('' Paths of Glory'') and

Douglas Sirk Douglas Sirk (born Hans Detlef Sierck; 26 April 1897 – 14 January 1987) was a German film director best known for his work in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s. However, he also directed comedies, westerns, and war f ...

, as a production and editing assistant. In 1958, he shot his first short film, and in 1962, he signed the Oberhausen Manifesto. In the same year, he participated in the

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

' (''Look After Your Daughters''), a predecessor to the sex report film, with the producer Walter Koppel wanting to win over the signatories of the Manifesto. Spieker became famous in 1967 with his first full-length feature film ', a satire on stubbornness, which made him a hope-bearer of

New German Cinema New German Cinema () is a period in Cinema of Germany, West German cinema which lasted from 1962 to 1982, in which a new generation of directors emerged who, working with low budgets, and influenced by the French New Wave and Italian Neorealism, ...

. The satire on Bundeswehr, ' and the social satire ', while still acclaimed, but was not as popular as ''Wilder Reiter GmbH''. Spieker still made numerous short films and received the silver

Deutscher Filmpreis The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the Cinema of Germany, German film industry. Besides being ...

in 1977 for ''Persönlichkeitstest'' on behalf of his production company, Cinema 80. He was found dead on the beaches of

. As a signatory of the Oberhausen Manifesto, he was posthumously honored with the gold Deutscher Filmpreis in 1982.

Filmography

Feature films * 1964: ' (

) * 1967: ' * 1968: ' * 1969: ' * 1970: ''Drücker'' (TV film) Short films * 1958: ''Menschen bei 30 Grad'' (documentary) * 1958: ''El Salvador'' (documentary) * 1958: ''Insel in der Sonne'' (documentary) * 1959: ''Masken und Gesichter'' * 1960: ''Alltag der 7. Muse'' * 1961: ''Süden im Schatten'' * 1963: ''Doppelkonzert'' * 1964: ''Das Malschiff'' * 1965: ''Salzburg Sight and Sound'' (documentary) * 1972: ''Das Jodelsystem'' * 1972: ''Abstraktes Echo'' * 1973: ''Spuren und Kontakte'' (documentary) * 1974: ''Pashupatinath Abendraga'' * 1975: ''Straßenartisten'' * 1977: ''Der Persönlichkeitstest'' * 1978: ''Nirmala'' (unfinished)

External links

*
Franz-Josef Spieker on the website that commemorated 30 years of the Oberhausen Manifesto
1933 births 1978 deaths Film directors from North Rhine-Westphalia People from Paderborn {{Germany-film-actor-1930s-stub