FILM SCREENINGS

Mondo Lux

2011. Germany. Directed by Elfi Mikesch. With Rosa von Praunheim, Isabelle Huppert, Wim Wenders. MoMA presents the U.S. premiere of Mondo Lux, an essential portrait of Werner Schroeter during the last four years of his life, offering revelatory insights into his artistry and legacy. Mikesch, whose refulgent cinematography gave so many of Schroeter’s films their haunting, oneiric quality, follows Schroeter as he rehearses his play Antigone/Electra at Berlin’s Volksbühne; attends an exhibition of his photographs; supervises a dubbing session for his last film, This Night; and reflects profoundly—and irreverently—on his own work. Mikesch also gathers many of Schroeter’s longtime collaborators and friends to offer reminiscences, including Rosa von Praunheim, Isabelle Huppert, Wim Wenders, and Maria Montezuma; and turns her intensely intimate camera on the filmmaker as he suffers from terminal cancer, his ravaged body recalling all those he exalted in his own films. Digital projection; courtesy Filmgalerie 451. In German; English subtitles. 97 min.