Hans Helmut Prinzler (1938-2023)

Hans Helmut Prinzler at the 1989 FIAF Congress in Lisbon. Photo courtesy of Eva Orbanz.

We heard the sad news of the passing on 18 June of our colleague Hans Helmut Prinzler, a key figure of the Deutsche Kinemathek from 1979 to 2006. From 1979 to 1990, he was responsible for events and publications as well as retrospectives at the Berlin Film Festival. In 1990, following Heinz Rathsack's passing, he took over as Director of the Deutsche Kinemathek, which from 2000 included the newly opened Filmmuseum Berlin (later named Museum für Film und Fernsehen) until his retirement in 2006. After becoming a member of the Akademie der Künste in 1996, he held several responsible positions in the Akademie’s “Film and Medienkunst” section.

One of Hans Helmut Prinzler’s great interests was film literature. For many years, he presented his "film book of the month" on his own website. His last book of the month entry appeared in June 2023.