The filmmaker, artist and writer Harun Farocki has died. The news was confirmed by Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac. Farocki was one of the pioneers of the ‘essay film’ and is quoted as saying his work was ‘against the cinema and against the television’. Farocki was born in 1944 in German-annexed Czechoslovakia, moving to Berlin to attend the Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB) from 1966 to 1968. The artist would go on to make close to 90 films, including three feature films, essay films and documentaries. At Documenta 12 he presented Deep Play (2007), which broke down footage from the 2006 World Cup, held in Germany, across 12 monitors. He was also a prolific writer and from 1974 to 1984 had been editor and author of the magazine Filmkritik (München).
31 July 2014
