Before his career in film, Roland Klick (b. 1939) found success in jazz and painting, and then in theater. He ultimately decided to take the entrance exam for the DIFF, the Institute for Film and Television in Munich. There, he wrote his first scripts and directed his first short films—Noël, Ludwig, and Zwei—starting in 1962. These shorts circulated widely at festivals, attracting so much attention that he was considered the most promising filmmaker of his generation. Klick was never truly accepted into the German New Wave, allegedly because his films were "too commercial". Regardless, Klick made a series of films—two or three of which are now considered cult classics—by asserting his relationship with cinema through a simple equation: the filmmaker's point of view on film + audience = cinema. This was his way of saying that he wasn’t interested in the dogmatic side of the New German Cinema, which he considered a kind of lobby. He preferred to work outside of any "movement", on the fringes of the fringe.

His medium-length film, Jimmy Orpheus, and his first feature, Bübchen, earned him some notoriety and critical recognition. But it was his second feature, Deadlock, that propelled Roland Klick to cult status. To produce this psychedelic western, Klick knew that no German producer would be interested, so he spent months looking for an Italian producer. During his time in Rome, he even collaborated with Fellini on the preparation for his Satyricon (1969). This dark and delirious western elevated Roland Klick to the rank of a cult filmmaker, much in the same way Tarantino was with Pulp Fiction. As the first German western, Deadlock pioneered a new genre, the "Sauerkraut Western".

Four years later, he produced a second cult film, Supermarket, considered one of the greatest German films of the 1970s. For each of his films, including his next two, Lieb Vaterland magst ruhig sein (1976) and the documentary Derby Fever USA (1979)—which did not achieve the expected success—Roland Klick always risked everything he had to bring his projects to life. In 1983, he directed his most unhinged film, White Star, inviting Dennis Hopper to play the lead role. Though the film was a commercial failure, it has become a cult classic not only for its wild production but also for resurfacing from the forgotten depths of time. The shoot was one of those happy disasters, a hellish experience that ultimately gave birth to a small masterpiece. Dennis Hopper, alcoholic to the bone and high on cocaine, gradually lost his grip on reality, identifying with his character even off-set. Many scenes with Hopper ended up on the cutting-room floor, but those included in the film are considered some of the most intense and personal performances Hopper ever delivered on screen.

Although other great filmmakers like Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino admired him, and his films were repeatedly awarded the Bundespreis (a German equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Film or Best Director, his work has unfortunately fallen into obscurity. CINEMATEK now invites you to discover it.

Presented as part of German Language Week.

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