Betty
Lerche

Betty Lerche Filmmaker from Berlin: 1980 - 1983 She completed an agricultural apprenticeship on the bio-organic Demeter farm of Herbert Vogel in Upper Franconia near the city Hof In 1983 she began her film studies at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin, DFFB, before moving to Frankfurt am Main. There she studied „Independent Cinema“ at the Academy of Arts, Städelschule, in the film class of the well-known avant-gardist Prof. Peter Kubelka. After graduating from the film class, she became a master student of Prof. Peter Kubelka in Vienna. Afterwards Anthology Film Archives New York with Jonas Mekas.Due to her short films ‘Rose’ and ‘Amor’ she was granted an artist residency in Tokyo by Fuji Film Japan 20214.

“The world is full of despair/ the artist... even though he knows how sad the world is/ he sings in colors and movements.../ Nowadays there are poets of film who sing so beautifully/ that ugliness must weep.” Jonas Mekas

Filmography - selection of cinema and short films as director and author ROSE color, 3min, S/8 1985, director, Oberhausen Film Festival Short Film Award GILGAMESH AND ENKIDU color, B/W, 35min, S/8, sound, 1986, director, Berlin a-tonal Film Festival Short Film Award AMOR B/W, 3min, S/8, sound, 1987/88, director; Berlin a-tonal Film Festival, Film Crash Festival New York 1988 Short Film Award WALD BERGE SCHÖN Kurdish Documentary, color, 40min, 16mm, sound, 1990, director, San Francisco Independent Film Festival; Short Film Award SHADOWS Documentary, color, B/W, 30min, 16mm, sound, 1993, director, New York Independent Film Festival; Short Film Award ROADMOVIE THE WALL I Documentary, color, B/W, 45min, 16mm, sound, 2002, director; The European Film Academy ROADMOVIE THE WALL II Documentary, color, 30min, S8, sound, 2002, director; The European Film Academy YUM YUM TOKYO Documentary, color, 45min, 16mm, sound, 2015, director (during my stay in Japan: Artist for Residence by Fuji Film)Tokyo International Film Festival WHEN ICEBIRDS CATCH FIRE Documentary/Experimental film, color, B/W, 115min, 2023/24, director; FFA Berlin film funding; Berlin Women's Film Festival at the Arsenal cinema - Terre des Femmes LONG-TERM COLLABORATION WITH LOTHAR LAMBERT (selection) TOP & BOTTOM Documentary, color, black and white, 87min, 2018, co-director, camera IN PLACES SUPER SHARP Feature Film, color, black and white, 77min, 2023, co-director, camera FRONT & BACK - Five documentary episodes with Harry Baer (actor and best friend of Rainer Werner Fassbinder), among others, color, 71min, 2024, co-director, camera Some of the films are in the MOMA Collection New York.