Katharina Otto-Bernstein

Katharina Otto-Bernstein
Born
Katharina Otto

Hamburg, Germany
EducationColumbia University (BA, MFA)
Occupations
ParentWerner Otto (father)
RelativesMichael Otto (brother)
Frank Otto (brother)
Alexander Otto (brother)

Katharina Otto-Bernstein is a German-American filmmaker and producer. She is best known for directing and producing films including The Price of Everything, Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures, Absolute Wilson, When Night Falls Over Moscow, The Need for Speed: Bicycle Messengers in New York, and Beautopia. She is also the author of An Intimate Memoir of Theatre and Opera and directed the stage play Absolute Wilson—The Biography.[1]

Early life and education

Otto-Bernstein (née Otto) was born in Hamburg, Germany. She attended St. Clare's Hall in Oxford, England. She later earned a bachelor's degree and an MFA in Film from Columbia University School of the Arts.[2]

Career

As an undergraduate, Otto-Bernstein worked for Town & Country and wrote a lifestyle column for German Vogue. In 1989, while enrolled in the Columbia University graduate film program, she was hired by British director Don Boyd (Aria, Twenty-One, My Kingdom) to work on an East-West thriller. When the production crew arrived in Berlin, Otto-Bernstein witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the unification of East and West Germany. This event led her to direct the television documentary Coming Home (1990), which focuses on the reunification of German families. She also compiled the interview collection In the Shadow of the Wall, which featured interviews with East German personalities, including intelligence agents Günter Guillaume and Ruth Kuczynski (aka Red Sonja).[3]

After returning to the US, Otto-Bernstein directed the comedy The Second Greatest Story Ever Told (1992), starring Mira Sorvino and Malcolm McDowell; the television documentary The Need for Speed: Bicycle Messengers in New York (1993); and the American segments of the documentaries When Night Falls Over Moscow - Arms Dealing in the Former Soviet Union and The Industrialists Hall of Fame (1993).

Otto-Bernstein's Beautopia premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998.[4] The film explores the modeling industry and features fashion figures such as Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, Karl Lagerfeld, and Calvin Klein. Beautopia was nominated for the Grand Prize at Sundance and won the Silver Hugo award at the Chicago International Film Festival.[5] Janet Maslin of The New York Times described the film as "a terrific and lively feminist analysis".[6]

In 1998, Otto-Bernstein met American theatre and opera director Robert Wilson (Einstein on the Beach, Black Rider, Lohengrin) at a cocktail party.[1] This meeting led to a seven-year collaboration on the biopic Absolute Wilson. The film features collaborators such as Philip Glass, David Byrne, Tom Waits, Jessye Norman, and Susan Sontag in one of her last interviews. Absolute Wilson premiered at the 2006 Berlin International Film Festival[7] and was shown at various international festivals, earning the Art Film of the Year award from Art Basel. Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that "An artist who operates on such a ground-breaking, international level as Robert Wilson deserves a documentary as good as Absolute Wilson."[8] A. O. Scott of The New York Times noted that "Absolute Wilson makes you wish you had been there. Ms. Otto-Bernstein has performed heroic work."[9]

Since 2006, Otto-Bernstein has completed several projects:

Otto-Bernstein is a founder of Film Manufacturers Inc.[15], an international production company that develops, produces, and co-produces fiction and non-fiction entertainment. The company has offices in New York and Munich.[15]

Personal life

Otto-Bernstein is married to New York art dealer Nathan A. Bernstein, with whom she has two children.[16] She is currently the chair of the Columbia University School of the Arts Dean's Council.[17]

Works

  • Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016) - producer
  • Fables for Global Warming (2013). Armitage Gone! Dance. Choreography by Karole Armitage - dramaturge
  • No Better Friend: Celebrities and the Dogs They Love (2013), ISBN 0762783745, Edited by Elke Gazzara - writer
  • Robert Wilson: The Watermill Center: A Laboratory for Performance - (2012), ISBN 9783871350542 - writer
  • Absolute Wilson: The Biography (2006), ISBN 9783791334509 - writer
  • Absolute Wilson (2006) writer, director, producer
  • Beautopia (1998) - writer, director, producer
  • When Night Falls Over Moscow (1994) - writer, director
  • The Second Greatest Story Ever Told (1994) - director, producer
  • Industrialists Hall of Fame (1993) - writer, director
  • The Need For Speed (1993) - writer, director, producer
  • Coming Home (1990) - writer, director
  • Teething with Anger (1989) - actress

Selected awards and honors

  • Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures (2016) - Nominee for Primetime Emmy Award,[18] Cinema Eye Award,[19] Critics Choice Award,[20] The Grierson Award[21] and GLAAD Media Award[22]
  • Columbia University Alumni Medal of Achievement (2009)[17]
  • Absolute Wilson (2006), Winner of Art Film of the Year Award, Art Basel , Nominee for Best Documentary, Warsaw International. Film Festival[23]
  • Beautopia (1998) – Winner, Best Documentary, Chicago International Film Festival, 1998.,[24] Grand Prize Nominee, Sundance Film Festival[25]

References

  1. ^ a b Gold, Sylviane. "Austere, Enigmatic Innovator. And Charming Fellow, Really." The New York Times, October 22, 2006
  2. ^ "Katharina Otto-Bernstein CC'86, SOA'92". 14 January 2025.
  3. ^ Littman, Shany. "How an Israeli and German became New York's artistic power couple". Haaretz.com. Archived from the original on 2022-06-25. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
  4. ^ "Sundance Institute". www.sundance.org.
  5. ^ "Beautopia (1998) - Awards - IMDb" – via www.imdb.com.
  6. ^ Maslin, Janet. "Sundance as Documentary Support Group", The New York Times; January 22, 1998
  7. ^ "| Berlinale | Archive | Programme | Programme". www.berlinale.de.
  8. ^ Honeycutt, Kirk. "Absolute Wilson", The Hollywood Reporter, October 27, 2006
  9. ^ Scott, A.O. "An Avant-Garde Enigma Made Personal and Concrete", The New York Times, October 27, 2006
  10. ^ "Globe Pequot Press Website". Archived from the original on 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
  11. ^ "Touring Repertoire - ARMITAGE GONE! DANCE". www.armitagegonedance.org.
  12. ^ "Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures | Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com.
  13. ^ "Für Umme - Staffel 1 : Michael Schumacher, Oliver Korritke, Martin Semmelrogge, Sabine Vatua, Heiko Pinkowksi, Eva Habermann, Vlady Oszkiel: Amazon.de: Prime Video". Amazon Germany.
  14. ^ "Presselounge - WDR". 2 February 2021.
  15. ^ a b "FMI | About". www.filminc.com. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  16. ^ https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/2016-08-13/ty-article-magazine/how-an-israeli-and-german-became-new-yorks-artistic-power-couple/0000017f-e2aa-d804-ad7f-f3fa59680000
  17. ^ a b "Columbia University The Record, Vol. 34, No. 11; May 15, 2009" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on June 23, 2010. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
  18. ^ "Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures". Television Academy.
  19. ^ Lacey, Dan (October 23, 2016). "Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures". Cinema Eye Honors.
  20. ^ "2016 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards - Critics' Choice AwardsCritics' Choice Awards". November 10, 2017. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017.
  21. ^ "The Grierson Awards 2016: Shortlist". Archived from the original on 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2018-08-28.
  22. ^ "GLAAD Media Awards 2017: Complete List of Nominations". E! Online. January 31, 2017.
  23. ^ "Warsaw International Film Festival (2006)". IMDb.
  24. ^ "Short Takes, December 1997 | International Documentary Association". Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2025-05-04.
  25. ^ "1997 Sundance film festival - Awards" (PDF). www.sundance.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016.
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