Alexander Kluge, New German Cinema Pioneer, Dies at 94

Kluge won the 1968 Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion with “The Artists in the Big Top: Perplexed"

By Nick Vivarelli

Nick Vivarelli

International Correspondent

Latest

• Alexander Kluge, New German Cinema Pioneer, Dies at 94 46 minutes ago
• Turkish TV Series ‘Vendetta’ Expands Global Footprint With Sales Reaching 70 Countries 21 hours ago
• Aurelio De Laurentiis to Bow Napoli Soccer Doc in U.S. With L.A. Mayor Karen Bass Expected to Attend 1 day ago

German filmmaker Alexander Kluge, who pioneered the 1960s New German Cinema movement and won the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion in 1968 with “The Artists in the Big Top: Perplexed,” has died. He was 94.

News of Kluge’s death was confirmed on Wednesday by his publishing company, Suhrkamp Verlag, who said he died in Munich, Germany.

Born in 1932 in the central German town of Halberstadt, Kluge started his career as a lawyer, but soon veered towards literature and cinema. By working as legal counsel at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, he developed and close rapport with seminal social philosopher Theodor Adorno, who became his mentor. Then, in 1958, Kluge started working as assistant to German cinema great Fritz Lang.

Related Stories

Steven Spielberg Says Ballet and Opera Are Just Like Moviegoing Amid Timothée Chalamet Controversy: 'We Want' Them to 'Go Forever'