Peter Lilienthal (27 November 1927 – 28 April 2023) was a German film director, writer, actor and producer. He is most associated with being a liberal director of New German Cinema in the 1970s.

Early life

As a child, in 1939, Lilienthal emigrated to Montevideo, Uruguay, with his parents to escape the Nazis. He only returned to Germany in 1956 to attend a film school.

Career

In the 1960s and 1970s, Lilienthal was among directors who focused on social criticism, along with Wim Wenders and Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In 1970 he directed Malatesta with Eddie Constantine and Christine Noonan, which contains some biographical aspects of the life of the Italian anarchist Errico Malatesta. The film was featured at the 1970 Cannes Film Festival. In 1975, Lilienthal shot Calm Prevails Over the Country (Es herrscht Ruhe im Land), based on a screenplay by Antonio Skármeta. The picture was screened at the Hof International Film Festival. His 1979 film David, about a son of a rabbi wo survives the Nazi regime, won the Golden Bear at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1982 he directed American actor Joe Pesci in Dear Mr. Wonderful, his first American endeavor. The Uprising (1980 film) (Der Aufstand or La insurrección) followed, another collaboration with Skármeta in 1980, a film which was made in Costa Rica and depicts the Nicaraguan Revolution. Lilienthal's 1984 film Das Autogramm was entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival. Lilienthal was the first director of the department Film- und Medienkunst (The art of film and media) of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin from 1985, holding the position until 1996. In 1996, he was a member of the jury at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival. He was awarded the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2000. Lilienthal died in Munich on 28 April 2023, at the age of 95.

Filmography

Director

Documentaries

Actor