Ruth Beckermann

Director

Ruth Beckermann image

Born in Vienna in 1952, filmmaker Ruth Beckermann is a defining voice in Austrian documentary cinema. In her essayistic works, she often explores history, Jewish identity, and societal power structures. Her films are regularly screened at renowned international festivals and have received multiple awards. For instance, she received the Encounters Award at the Berlinale for *Mutzenbacher* (2022), where *The Waldheim Waltz* (2018) had already been awarded Best Documentary Film. Her film *Favoriten* also premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2024.

Films on Sooner

  • Mutzenbacher

    2022

    101 mins

    Documentary, Independent

    One hundred men read porn and talk about desire, shame, and power. A casting call becomes a mirror of male lust and social taboos.

  • The Waldheim Waltz

    2018

    94 mins

    Documentary

    This documentary tells the incredibly shocking story of how a Nazi officer became a top politician and UN Secretary General.

  • American Passages

    2011

    120 mins

    Documentary, Independent

    An epic documentary panorama about a journey through the United States.

  • The Dreamed Ones

    2016

    89 mins

    Documentary, Independent

    The film is about love and hate, about right and wrong words. At its centre are Ingeborg Bachmann and Paul Celan, who met in post-war Vienna.

  • East of War

    1996

    112 mins

    Documentary, Classics

    The testimonies of former Wehrmacht soldiers collected by Ruth Beckermann are still horrifying today.

  • Towards Jerusalem

    1990

    85 mins

    Documentary, Classics

    Beckermann's subjects offer a dramatic range of candid opinions about Arab-Jewish relations, immigration, the intifada, religion, and the economy.

  • Those Who Go Those Who Stay

    2013

    75 mins

    Documentary, Independent

    THOSE WHO GO THOSE WHO STAY is Ruth Beckermann's meta-film - an analysis of her own cinematic works, a kind of progress report.

  • The Paper Bridge

    1987

    92 mins

    Documentary, Classics

    A journey through Austrian filmmaker Ruth Beckermann's own family's history and at the same time, the story of Central Europe's Jews and of a region.

  • Return to Vienna

    1983

    91 mins

    Documentary, Classics

    Franz West (1909-85) remembers his youth in Vienna: the diverse Jewish population the Red Vienna labor movement and the rise of Austrofascism.

  • A Fleeting Passage To The Orient

    1999

    82 mins

    Biography, Classics

    This captivating film shows the less-knon sides of the Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, aka Empress Sissi on her travels to Egypt in 1885 and 1891.