Schroeter started out as an underground filmmaker in 1967. Garnering a small cult following, the director also made his mark on the international festival circuit. Defying categorization, his films lie somewhere between
avant-garde and art cinema.
Magdalena Montezuma was a German underground star that became his muse until her death in 1985. Other notable actors to star in his films include:
Bulle Ogier,
Carole Bouquet, and
Isabelle Huppert. His "total cinema" films were predominantly produced by Das kleine Fernsehspiel ("The Little Television Play"), a small experimental department of the German public-service station. The company supported some of Schroeter's most controversial projects including:
The Bomber Pilot (70),
Salome (71),
Macbeth (71), and
Goldflocken (76). '''' marked the director's shift toward more plot-driven films, commenting: "it is much more radical to play with the content than with the aesthetics of the image. The era of independence is over. Our society has not fulfilled the promises hoped for around '68-'70". The film won many prizes domestically and internationally and was his first commercial release. while his
1991 production
Malina was entered into that year's
Cannes Film Festival. Although he is mainly known for elaborate and excessive camp fables, the director also made some hard-hitting documentaries including
Smiling Star (83) and
For Example, Argentina (83–85) about the
Marcos regime in the Philippines and the
Leopoldo Galtieri military dictatorship in Argentina, respectively. At the time of his death Schroeter had been organizing a photography exhibition with his art-dealer friend Christian Holzfuss featuring his own works, most of which were manipulated portraits of the many actresses with whom he had worked over the years. In 2011 a documentary about the director was made by Elfi Mikesch, a close friend and collaborator, entitled
Mondo Lux: The Visual Worlds of Werner Schroeter In 2016 he was awarded posthumously with the
Traetta Prize for his work in the rediscovery of the roots of European music. ==Personal life==