Page 217 - Alternative Europe Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema Since 1945

CHAPTER 17
A V E R Y G E R M A N P O S T - M O R T E M : J Ö R G B U T T G E R E I T
AND C O - W R I T E R / A S S I S T A N T D I R E C T O R F R A N Z R O D E N K I R C H E N
S P E A K

Interviews by Marcelle Perks

Academic books didn't used to run interviews. The old school considered this the province of the
popular press or more fitting within the pages of specialist publications. Traditionally, academic
papers are published as a fait accompli, which the unwitting director might only occasionally encounter
retrospectively. Of course, directors like Jorg Buttgereit, who has described his necrophiliac-themed
films as 'corpse-fucking art', have only recently been deemed suitable for 'academic' introspection.
David Kerekes wrote the interview-based book Sex Murder Art (1994) on the Buttgereit phenomena,
but Linnie Blake's article in this book is the first to contextualise Buttgereit within the historical
framework of German cinema.
Unusually, this interview bridges both populist and academic discourses because Blake allowed
me to send her article to Buttgereit and his co-writer/assistant director Franz Rodenkirchen. After an
initial interview with Buttgereit, there was a marked change in his approach after he received Blake's
article; the next interview was more personal and introspective. Rodenkirchen also generously gave

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