Margarethe von Trotta

Director | Writer | Actress

Date of birth : 02/21/1942

City of birth : Berlin, Germany

“When I started out as a director, all my references and role models were men.” Margarethe von Trotta is a filmmaker who has distinguished herself for her ability to capture on screen the complexities of female identity and European historical memory with an artistic approach, emphasizing the resilience of her characters, where dialogue becomes a weapon and silence becomes a symbol of protest. Inspired by Ingmar Bergman and Alfred Hitchcock, her cinema transcends feminism to explore identity, power and inner conflict. From the radicalization in The Second Awakening of Christa Klages (1978) to the philosophical reflection on evil in Hannah Arendt (2012), von Trotta shapes characters who are agents of change while confronting them with ethical and moral dilemmas. Von Trotta not only makes films, she creates spaces where she seeks to balance social perspectives and give voice to marginalized social groups. Her films challenge, sensibilize, and make clear that each character, like each viewer, has the power to confront the abuses of their time. Her austere, almost theatrical style strips stories of unnecessary decorations, allowing the camera to explore her characters in depth, giving more importance to introspection than to action. A pioneer of feminist cinema and a reference for the New Wave of German cinema, Margarethe von Trotta uses movies as an act of resistance, transforming her art into a necessary perspective for understanding humanity.