Pia Frankenberg

Pia Frankenberg and Bill Clinton at the White House, photographed by Elliott Erwitt, is one motif among many from around 170 photographic prints and slides in Frankenberg’s collection. In 2020 the filmmaker additionally gave the Deutsche Kinemathek posters, press kits and dialogue scripts for her films ‘Nicht nichts ohne Dich’ (1985, awarded the Max Ophüls Preis for Best Feature Film in 1986 at the film festival in Saarbrücken), ‘Nie wieder schlafen’ (1992) and ‘Brennende Betten’ (1988). The now legendary single with the jazzy title song “Burning Beds Salsa” from ‘Brennende Betten’ has also become part of the collection in several copies – sung by Frankenberg and the musician Ian Dury, who performs alongside her. In 2007 Pia Frankenberg arranged the transfer of the estate of Laurens Straub to the Deutsche Kinemathek. In February 2019, her film ‘Nie wieder schlafen’ premiered at the Berlinale “Retrospektive” entitled “Selbstbestimmt. Perspektiven von Filmemacherinnen” that was curated by the Kinemathek. The film met with enthusiastic acclaim and was later digitized and distributed by the Deutsche Kinemathek. ‘Nicht nichts ohne Dich’, ‘Brennende Betten’ and the short film ‘Der Anschlag’ were also digitized as part of the Förderprogramm Filmerbe (FFE), a funding programme for film heritage, so that they could be distributed by the Deutsche Kinemathek. (Text: Connie Betz)