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Ula Stöckl
Ula Stöckl
Born	Ulm
Alma mater	Ulm School of Design
Occupations	Actress; film director; filmmaker; screenwriter;

Ula Stöckl is a German feminist film maker and director, screenwriter and occasional actress.^[1]^[2]^[3]

She believes passionately that there should be more women exerting their influence in the film business.^[4]

Life

Provenance and early years

Ula Stöckl was born in Ulm a few weeks before the (largely uncontested) incorporation of Austria into an enlarged Germany. Alfons Stöckl, her father, was a professional orchestral clarinettist.^[5] He was sent away to fight in the war, but survived.^[4] After the war the wages of the players in her father's orchestra were halved, and in order to support the family budget Ula's mother, born Katharina Kreis, took factory work in the textiles sector.^[6] Katharina Stöckl-Kreis had grown up in an orphanage, looked after by nuns who had solicitously educated her in a formidable range of house-wifely skills, and brought a steely practicality to the challenges of raising a family on her own during the war years.^[4] But as her daughter later recalled, during the first four decades of her life she had not been well prepared for factory work: her fingers were almost always bandaged.^[6] Many of Ula's most vivid childhood memories relate to her family's experiences of the wartime bombing of Ulm, clutching one of her mother's hands while her younger sister clutched the other and night after night they watched the city burn.^[6] Their home and the surrounding area were destroyed on 17 December 1944: collateral damage included three dead siblings, but both her parents had survived.^[6] She never thought to ask whether they were paying any rent for the succession of little rooms in which they were accommodated over the next few months.^[6] Subsequent memories included the flu epidemic and starvation winter in 1946. The birth of another sister in 1948 meant that she was no longer her parents' only surviving child and represented some kind of a new beginning for the family.^[6] Stöckl quit school in 1954 and trained for secretarial work,^[7] which would remain her principal source of paid employment till 1963.^[2] In February 1958 she embarked on languages courses in Paris and London.^[8] Between 1961 and 1963 she worked as a trilingual executive secretary.^[6] Between May and August 1963 she worked as an editorial assistant with the publishers DM-Verlag at Sandweier (at that time still just outside Baden-Baden, into which the little town has subsequently been subsumed).^[9]

Student

In 1963 Stöckl enrolled as a student at the "Institut für Filmgestaltung" (loosely, "Institute for Making Films"), a department of the School of Design ("Hochschule für Gestaltung") which had been set up ten years earlier in Ulm, and which had built a reputation for its innovative approach to teaching. She was the first female student to be admitted to the course,^[6] which she completed in 1968.^[10]

She produced her first film, "Antigone", in 1964 as part of her course, using a silent 35-mm Arri camera.^[6]^[11] Just seven minutes long, it is of necessity episodic, relating just a few of the key moments in the Greek myth on which it is based.^[12] Her graduation feature film, "Neun Leben hat die Katze" (1968: "The cat has nine lives"), subsequently acquired a cult status among supporters, seen by some as "West Germany’s first feminist film".^[11]^[13] These two productions identified the themes and set the direction for much of Stöckl's later work. It failed to go on general release when first produced due to the insolvency of the selected distributor, but subsequent critics and film scholars have nevertheless born witness to its enduring significance.^[14]

Film career

In 1968 Ula Stöckl set up her own production company, "‚Ula Stöckl Filmproduktion".^[7] The next year she teamed up with Edgar Reitz to produce "die Geschichten vom Kübelkind" (loosely, "Tales of the Dumpster Kid"), a film of 22 episodes from the life of a girl who does not conform to the norms of civil society.^[8] The shortest episode lasts just 66 seconds: the longest 25 minutes. Reitz described it as the story of a "perverse polymorph, an infantile monstrous person",^[a] but it also gave an insight into how such a combination of characteristics might be instilled by a deeply challenging succession of childhood experiences.^[15] Originally intended for showing in experimental cinemas and, according to at least one source, in pubs, starting in 1971 sections of it began to find their way onto television, thereby garnering a larger more mainstream audience and establishing more broadly the public reputations of its two co-producers.^[15] "Kübelkind" was part of a new wave of films from a younger generation of producers, often categorised as the New German Cinema genre.^[8]

Through the 1970s Ula Stöckl worked almost exclusively on television films, and much of her professional focus continued to focus on the "small screen" through the 1980s and 1990s. Her theme was frequently that of human conflict, viewed from the - in her hands very distinctive - perspective of women or children. She took care to avoid one-sidedness and confronted her characters with almost unbearable problems, often based on dreams.^[16]

In 1984 she returned to the cinema with one of her most acclaimed productions, "Der Schlaf der Vernunft" ("Sleep of Reason"). The themes were familiar, but by now she was working with a level of assurance and self-confidence which meant that critics were a little less inclined to challenge the various quirkinesses in the approach taken.^[16]^[17]^[18] Another important milestone in Stöckl's film career was "Das alte Lied" ("The old song"), one of the first so-called "Spielfilme" (loosely, "narrative films"), and appeared in 1992. While again revisiting her theme of conflict in human relationships, it also dealt with some of the themes arising out of reunification, and thereby touched on matters which at the time were preoccupying very many Germans. "Das alte Lied" was, and seems likely to remain, the last of Ula Stöckl's films for cinema.^[4]

Stage

Ula Stöckl has only briefly involved herself with theatre. In 1974 she co-produced with Werner Fassbinder Strindberg's stage drama "Fräulein Julie" at the Theater am Turm in Frankfurt. For one reason and another, the experience was not an entirely happy one.^[19]

Teaching

Stöckl has undertaken teaching contracts for the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin and, in North America, at the venerable Hollins University in Roanoke VA.^[6] Since 2004 she has also held a professorship at the University of Central Florida on the edge of Orlando FL where she focuses on film direction and production and, inevitably, on the place of women in film.^[6]^[11]

Film festivals

She has shown particular dedication to film festivals, through which she is also able to progress her feminist ambitions for society. For fifteen years following its foundation in 1978 she was closely engaged with the International Women's Film Festival in Créteil (Paris). Since 1982 she has worked for the "Berlinale" film festival in connection with "competition and panorama", also finding a niche as a moderator and presenter of the festival's press conferences and public discussions. For a couple of years between 2002 and 2004 she was also employed as a programme adviser in the selection committee for the Venice International Film Festival.^[11]

Filmography

1964: Antigone (Short film: Screenplay, Direction, Editing)
1965: Miniaturen (Short film: Direction)
1965: Do You Have a Dregree? (Short film: Screenplay, Direction, Co-production, Editing)
1966: Saturday at 5 P.M. (Short film: Screenplay, Direction)
1967: Lust for Love (Screenplay, Co-direction)
1968: The Cat Has Nine Lives (Screenplay, Direction, Co-Production)
1969: Das schwache Geschlecht muß stärker werden / Weibergeschichten (TV-documentary film: Co-directoion)
1970: Stories of the Dumpster Kid (with Edgar Reitz - Screenplay, Direction)
1971: The Golden Thing [it] (with Edgar Reitz, Alf Brustellin and Nikos Perakis - TV film: Screenplay, Direction)
1971: Brainworks (TV film: Screenplay, Direction, Production)
1973: The Little Lion and the Big Ones (TV film: Screenplay, Direction, Production)
1973: A Very Perfect Couple (TV film: Screenplay, Direction, Production)
1974: Die Schildkröte (TV film: Screenplay)
1974: Rabbit and Porcupine (TV film: Screenplay, Direction, Production)
1975: Popp and Mingel (TV film: Screenplay, Direction)
1976: Erika's Passions (TV film: Screenplay, Direction, Production)
1978: A Woman With Responsibility (TV film: Co-author screenplay, Direction)
1980: Palermo or Wolfsburg (Production)
1981: Freak Orlando (Production)
1981: Day of the Idiots (Production)
1982: The Heiresses; Episode 4: Den Vätern vertrauen, gegen alle Erfahrung (TV film: Screenplay, Direction, Production)
1984: Sleep of Reason (Screenplay, Direction, Production)
1984: Jakob's Pigeons or Quarrel in Tomorrow Already (TV film: Screenplay, Direction, Production)
1985: Oranisches Tor (TV film: Production)
1987: Equal Opportunity in Principle (TV documentary film: Screenplay, Direction, Production), Part of the television series Unerhört – Die Geschichte der deutschen Frauenbewegung von 1830 bis heute
1987: Is Nobody Listening? (TV documentary film: Screenplay, Direction), Part of the television series Unerhört – Die Geschichte der deutschen Frauenbewegung von 1830 bis heute
1991: Don't Talk About Fate (Direction)
1991: The Old Song (Screenplay, Direction)
1993: Turn Of The Heart (TV-documentary series Lebenslinien: Screenplay, Direction)
1993: The Wild Stage (TV: Screenplay, Direction)

Awards and honours (selection)

1968: Screenplay prize from the Kuratorium junger deutscher Film^[20]
1985: Film critics' prize for "The Sleep of Reason"
1985: Movie Silver Ribbon for "The Sleep of Reason"^[6]
1999: Konrad Wolf Prize for her life's work^[6]

Notes

^ "...polymorph-perversen, infantilen, monströsen Person..."^[15]

References

^ Christian Berndt (6 February 2015). "Pionierin des feministischen Films". Regisseurin Ula Stöckl. Deutschlandradio, Köln. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b Marc Silberman. "Do away with taboos". Interview with Ula Stöckl: from Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media. Jump Cut (journal). Retrieved 17 June 2020.
^ Robert Stephens (26 March 2018). "The Life and Films of Ula Stoeckl". UCF Professor Ula Stoeckl has been making films for more than 40 years, and recently had them screened at the Berlin Film Festival. University of Central Florida, Orlando FL. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Marie Rövekamp (10 February 2015). "Und Mutter trug die Bombe weg". Portrait von Ula Stöckl .... "Neun Leben hat die Katze" war einer der frühen feministischen Filme. Nun läuft er in den "Classics". Eine Begegnung mit der Regisseurin Ula Stöckl. Verlag Der Tagesspiegel GmbH, Berlin. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^ "A Berlin tribute to filmmaker Ula Stöckl on her 75th birthday". The Sleep of Reason ("Der Schlaf der Vernunft") in Berlin’s Moviemento on February 5. Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation, Gemeinnützige Nachlaßstiftung GmbH, Berlin. 2 April 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m Claudia Lenssen; Bettina Schoeller-Bouju (12 September 2014). Ula Stöckl: Regisseurin Autorin Professorin. Schüren Verlag. pp. 191–205. ISBN 978-3-89472-805-2. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^ ^a ^b Rosemarie Kuheim (compilation) (5 October 2018). "Ula Stöckl :Regisseurin Drehbuchautorin Produzentin". Ihre Filme. Deutsche Filmhaus. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Edgar Reitz & Ula Stöckl ... Ula Stöckl was born in Ulm, Germany in 1938 ..." Tales of the Dumpster Kid. Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival. 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
^ "Biografie". Ula Stöckl: Darstellerin, Regie, Regie-Assistenz, Drehbuch, Schnitt, Sonstiges, Produzent, Produktionsleitung05.02.1938 Ulm. DFF - Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum e.V. ("Filmportal"), Frankfurt am Main. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
^ Jeanne Richter (2003). "Unerhört weiblich". Ula Stöckl: Filmemacherin Professorin. University Of Central Florida. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Ula Stöckl Retrospective". Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V., Berlin. February 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^ "Antigone, 1964 Directed by Ula Stöckl". Letterboxd Limited, Auckland NZ. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^ "Neun Leben hat die Katze". Berlinale Classics. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^ Martin Körber. "Neun Leben hat die Katze .... Recovered & Restored". Film Notes. Biblioteca Renzo Renzi (Il Cinema Ritrovato). Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Unbeschnittenes Kind". Trotz Einspruchs der FSK, die am Verbum „ficken“ Anstoß nahm, werden 22 „Geschichten vom Kübelkind“ der Regisseure Edgar Reitz und Ula Stöckl unverändert in Kinos und sogar im Fernsehen gezeigt. Der Spiegel (online). 19 July 1971. p. 110. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^ ^a ^b Bert Rebhandl (5 February 2018). "Filmemacherin Ula Stöckl: Kritische Traumarbeit". Heirat und Scheidung sind auch keine Lösungen: Ula Stöckl öffnete den Neuen deutschen Film für eine Sensibilität, die vor ihr keiner wagte. An diesem Montag wird die Filmemacherin achtzig Jahre alt. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^ Enjott Schneider (26 January 2018). "Der Schlaf der Vernunft" (1984) von Ula Stöckl. BoD – Books on Demand. p. 114. ISBN 978-3-7445-1335-7. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^ Caroline Fetscher (7 May 1984). "Medea träumt". "Der Schlaf der Vernunft". Spielfilm von Ula Stöckl. Deutschland, 1984; 82 Minuten; schwarzweiß. Der Spiegel (online). p. 244. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
^ David Barnett (24 November 2005). The Big Tome. Cambridge University Press. pp. 175–228. ISBN 978-0-521-85514-3. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
^ "Für Vielfalt in der deutschen Filmkultur: Förderung von Talent- und Kinderfilmen". Das Kuratorium junger deutscher Film ist die älteste und die einzige von den Ländern gemeinsam getragene Filmförderinstitution. Zu den Förderbereichen gehören Talent-/Nachwuchsfilme und Kinderfilme. Kuratorium junger deutscher Film, Wiesbaden. Retrieved 20 June 2020.