Roland Klick, the West German cult auteur film director, writer and producer, is currently reliving his career. The English-speaking cinema public finally have access to his work 30 years after it was made, in a retrospective hosted by the Cambridge Film Festival, the London Goethe Institute and Filmgalerie 451, Berlin. 

It’s amazing that we have not had more exposure to his films. His life’s passion has been film since he was fourteen, and at seventy-four Klick still has the air of man who makes things happen. He seems touched by the creative spirits of joy and melancholy, and is driven by the same manic fire of creative film-making that is recognisable in the dancing eyes of Herzog and Jodorowsky.

Klick wrote and directed 6 feature films and a selection of short films between 1963 and 1989, but they didn’t get mass international distribution.  It’s not that the audiences didn’t like the films in Germany: he won German film awards and was considered a cult film maker at the time, but his style was uncompromising, and he was alienated from the ‘new German cinema’ movement. Labelled as a ‘maverick’ and a ‘lone wolf’, Klick became the outsider.

Klick would only make films he believed in, and self-financed them all. He threw himself into creating credible on-screen realities for subcultures including dystopian punk, Western, and homeless kids. As a hopeful rising star he achieved some success, then after a series of setbacks, retreated from filmmaking to become a novelist and teach at several film schools in Germany.

His work mantra was ‘film + audience= cinema’: each is an integral part of the whole.

His films told stories, and he told them on screen unflinchingly and without judgement. He filmed with passion and beauty, but the style was intense, and outlook introverted, with an acute awareness of the audience’s own social conscience. His work mantra was ‘film + audience= cinema’: each is an integral part of the whole. CFF is screening the new documentary premiered in Berlin this year, ROLAND KLICK: THE HEART IS A HUNGRY HUNTER, made by Sandra Prechtel, together with three of Klick’s experimental features, SUPERMARKT (1973) DEADLOCK (1970) and WHITE STAR (1983) plus a selection of his short films.

Klick worked with Mario Adorf (DEADLOCK) and Dennis Hopper (WHITE STAR) but he was his own director, writer, producer and editor, even writing the music for some of his films. THE HEART IS A HUNGRY HUNTER is a documentary about Klick’s career, in his own words; through a series of interviews, and archive footage of his work. It’s a great introduction to his work, or an accompaniment if you are familiar with him. He says that both a professor and a builder can enjoy his films: the same is true of Prechtel’s documentary.

Klick’s passion for filmmaking radiates throughout the documentary and he genuinely believes in film as an artistic format in which to tell stories.  Roland Klick comes across as a force of energy dark, bright and powerful. We know he is a man who laughs on screen, and a man who teaches young film makers his craft. We know that this documentary is a fascinating portrait of an artist and a passionate film maker. We have much to learn from him yet.

Meet Roland Klick on 25th September at the Q&A following the screening of WHITE STAR. Click here to book tickets.

httpvh://vimeo.com/63127216