Top 10 Interesting Facts about Laurens Straub

Old camera and film. Photo by Noom Peerapong. Unsplash

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Laurens Straub

Laurens Straub was born in 1944 in Doetinchem, the Netherlands. He moved to Munich in 1963 to attend drama school. He then primarily worked as a screenwriter, actor, dramaturge, and producer. In 1970, he founded the film publishing house of the authors, which he managed for five years in 1972, with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Volker Vogeler, Hark Bohm, and many others.

Laurens Straub, along with Christian Friedel and Michael Pakleppa, founded the film distributor Filmwelt in 1979, which, in addition to successful children’s and family films, also produced Monty Python films from George Harrison’s company HandMade Films, Stephen Frear’s My Wonderful Laundromat (1985), and films by Neil Jordan such as Mona Lisa (1981) brought to German cinemas.

1. Straub co-founded the Filmverlag der Autoren in 1970

This was a group of influential young filmmakers in Germany. The Filmverlag organized all the directors of the Neue Deutsche Film and released over a hundred features in just a few years.

In addition to successful children’s and family films, it also produced Monty Python films from George Harrison’s company Handmade Films, Stephen Frear’s My Wonderful Laundromat (1985), and Neil Jordan films such as Mona Lisa (1981) for German distribution.

2. Straub produced several important German gay films in the 1980s

Person holding clapperboard. Photo by Avel Chuklanov. Unsplash

Among them are Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s autobiography Ein Mann wie EVA (Radu Gabrea, 1984) and the controversial and award-winning comedy Taxi zum Klopfen (Frank Ripploh, 1981).

He co-founded the distribution company Filmwelt in 1979. In Germany, the company released films such as Stephen Frears’ My Beautiful Laundrette (1985) and Neil Jordan’s Mona Lisa (1986).

3. Laurens Straub joined the Next Film production company in the mid-1990s

The Next Film Productions. Photo by Actor Ijaaz Ebrahim. Wikimedia Commons

Laurens Straub took over completely and managed alone from 1999 to 2000, then with Clementina Hegewisch. As a producer, he was responsible for the films:

• Das Trio (1998, directed by Hermine Huntgeburth),
• Fisimatenten (2000, directed by Jochen Kuhn),
• Test Stand 7 (2001, directed by Robert Bramkamp),
• Führer Ex (2002, directed by Winfried Bonengel, Book: Ingo Hasselbach), and
• Max and Moritz Reloaded (2002, directed by Winfried Bonengel, Book: Ingo Hasselbach).
• (2004, directed by Thomas Frydetzki, book by Thomas Frydetzki and Eckhart Theophil).

4. In his career, he was primarily a screenwriter, actor, dramaturge, and producer

In 1970, he founded the film publishing house of the authors, which he managed for five years in 1972, with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Volker Vogeler, Hark Bohm, and many others.

Over 100 films were released during this time period. A lot was contributed to the long-awaited international breakthrough of the new German film by directors such as Fassbinder, Herzog, and Wenders.

5. He moved to Essen in 1963, then to Munich, where he finished his training

In Munich, he also studied theater and journalism. His teachers included the director Rudolf Noelte (1921-2002) and the actor Christian Doermer (1935), who introduced him to the “Oberhausen Manifesto” signatories. S. worked as a trainee and assistant at Axel v. Ambesser, Hans Lietzau, and Günther Rennert amBayer. Staatsschauspiel and was a co-organizer and actor in the “junge akademie” in 1967.

6. Lauren Straub founded the authors film publishing house with other filmmakers

Photography of camera reel film. Photo by Denise Jans. Unsplash

He founded the “Authors’ Film Publishing House” in 1971 with auteur filmmakers such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, and Hark Bohm to promote the production, exploitation of rights, and distribution of the shareholders’ films; Production 1 in the film publishing house of the authors (PIFDA) became part of the company.

After Michael Fengler, S. took over the management in 1972, he was also in charge of converting the company, which had been underfunded from the start, into a GmbH & Co. KG and resigned as a shareholder.

7. He left the management of the film publishing company in 1976

Lauren Straub left the film publishing company’s management and, after a stint as a consultant to the film companies Paramount and CIC in 1978, produced with Horst Schier and others.

Films by Frank Ripploh (“Taxi zum Klo”, 1981, about a gay teacher in Berlin), Radu Gabrea (“Ein Mann wie EVA”, 1984, a garish homage to RW Fassbinder, played by Eva Mattes), and Herbert Achternbusch (“Rita Ritter”, 1984, about an artistic self-assertion in a politically comatose Federal Republic).

8. Lauren Straub was a co-producer on Hermine Huntgeburth’s 1998 film

Hermine Huntgeburth. Photo by JCS. Wikimedia Commons

Although he also accompanied films such as “Fisimatenten” (2000) by experimental filmmaker Jochen Kuhn, who melancholy at the peculiarities of the art scene in his first feature film. S.a controversial discussion about the limits of depictions of violence with the production “Führer Ex” (2002, director: Winfried Bonengel), which deals with the rise of a young man in the neo-Nazi scene after the “Wende.”

The documentary film “Reverse Shot – The Filmmakers’ Departure,” which tells the story of the authors’ film publishing company, was made between 2006 and 2008. S. was in charge of co-directing and writing the screenplay, and he also spoke about his position in the film publishing company in the film.

9. Lauren Straub stated that film potential was more important to him than potential profit

Straub is respected in the industry for his communicative abilities; he was considered argumentative and an advocate of auteur films, but he also had an eye for expanding them into family-friendly films. When in doubt, he voted for the risk as a producer. He was a staunch supporter of low-budget productions, believing that the cinematic potential was more important than the potential profit.

10. He has been teaching at the Film Academy, Baden-Württemberg since 1996

Four reel films lying on white table. Photo by Denise Jans. Unsplash

In Vienna, he taught music and the performing arts. Disappointed with the state of German cinema, he turned to literature (an unpublished novel) and painting, organizing exhibitions for the Künstlerhaus Saarbrücken.