Rainer Rother

Dr. Rainer Rother has been head of the Berlinale's Retrospective since April 2006. He is also responsible for the Berlinale Classics.

He was born in 1956, studied German literature and history and completed his doctorate in 1988. From 1989 to 1991, he was lecturer at the University of Hanover and from 1991 to 2006, he was director of the cinematheque of the German Historical Museum (Berlin), where he also curated exhibitions (incl. The German Empire of Images. Ufa 1917-1945; The Final Days of Humanity. Images of the First World War; Paths of the Germans 1949-1999. Unity and Law and Freedom).

He has primarily published articles on film history in journals such as Merkur and in various newspapers (FAZ, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt, Frankfurter Rundschau, Berliner Zeitung). He has regularly contributed to books and lexicons and has published numerous books, as an author amongst others: “Time Pictures. Films of National Socialism” (2019), “Nina Hoss” (2009), “Leni Riefenstahl. The Seduction of Talent” (2000); as a publisher: "King Vidor" (2020), “Selbstbestimmt. Perspektiven von Filmemacherinnen” (2019), “Weimarer Kino – neu gesehen” (2018), “Linientreu und populär: Das Ufa-Imperium 1933 bis 1945“ (2017), “Film Dictionary” (1997) as well as various exhibition catalogues.

From 2001 to 2019 Rother has been a member of the selection committee of the Competition of the Berlin International Film Festival. Between 2004 and 2006 he co-curated the Berlinale series Selling Democracy. In April 2006, Rother was appointed artistic director of the Deutsche Kinemathek and head of the Berlinale’s Retrospective section.