Birgit Hein facts for kids

Birgit Hein (born August 6, 1942) is a German film director, producer, and screenwriter. She is also a university professor and a performance artist. Birgit Hein is famous for making experimental films since the 1960s.

Who is Birgit Hein?

Birgit Hein was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1942. She is known as one of the most important people who helped start German experimental films. Her work includes films with special structures, performance art, and documentary film essays. She also wrote many articles about film.

Early Life and Education

In the early 1960s, Birgit Hein studied art history and theater at the University of Cologne. From 1966 to 1988, she worked with Wilhelm Hein. They made many films and created performance art together.

Pioneering Experimental Film

In 1968, Birgit Hein helped start XSCREEN. This was a special place in Cologne where new and different art was shown. Her films were shown at a big art exhibition called Documenta V in Kassel in 1972. This was an important art show after World War II.

Her combined work with Wilhelm Hein was shown in many special exhibitions. These included shows in New York (1974), Frankfurt (1985), Cologne (1988), and Copenhagen (1989). In the 1970s, they also helped organize many shows about experimental film. Some of these were "Art Remains Art" (Cologne 1974) and "Film As Film" (Cologne, Berlin, Essen, Stuttgart 1977, and London 1979).

Teaching and Curating Art

Birgit Hein taught film art at different universities in the 1970s. She also organized many important art projects. One of these was the film section at Documenta VI. This was another major art exhibition.

Since 1990, Birgit Hein has been a professor at the Braunschweig University of Art. She retired from teaching in 2007.

Later Career and Recognition

Many of Birgit Hein's films have premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Her films have also been shown on television. Important art museums, like the Musée d'Art Moderne - Center Pompidou, have bought her films for their collections.

She has had several exhibitions of her works around the world. These include shows in Montreal (2000), Rotterdam (2000), and Madrid (2002). In 1993, Birgit Hein won the German Film Critics Association Best Experimental Film Award for her film Die Unheimlichen Frauen.

Since 2007, she has been a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. In 2012, she became the deputy director of the visual arts section there.

Filmography

• 1967: S & W
• 1968: Rohfilm
• 1969: 625, 16 mm, 34 Min
• 1978–82: Superman und Wonderwoman, Filmperformance
• 1982: Love Stinks
• 1986: Verbotene Bilder, 16 mm, 87 Min
• 1986: Washing of The Feet (episode) in Jesus – Der Film
• 1987–88: Die Kali-Filme, 16 mm, 70 Min
• 1992: Die Unheimlichen Frauen
• 1995: Baby, I Will Make You Sweat
• 1997: Eintagsfliegen, Video, 24 Min
• 2000: La Moderna poesia
• 2006: Kriegsbilder, Video, 10 Min
• 2013: Abstrakter Film, Video, 10 Min