A00036 - Harun Farocki, Filmmaker of Modern Life

Farocki, Harun

Harun Farocki (January 9, 1944 – July 30, 2014) was a German filmmaker.

Farocki was born as Harun El Usman Faroqhi in Neutitschein, Sudetenland.  His father, Abdul Qudus Faroqhi, had immigrated to Germany from India in the 1920s; his German mother had been evacuated from Berlin due to the Allied bombing of Germany.  Farockii simplified the spelling of his surname as a young man. After World War II, Farocki grew up in India and Indonesia before resettling in West Germany.

Farocki, who was deeply influenced by Bertolt Brecht and Jean-Luc Godard,  studied at the German Film and Television Academy in West Berlin. He began making films — from the very beginning, they were non-narrative essays on the politics of imagery — in the mid-1960s.

From 1993 to 1999, Farocki taught at the University of California, Berkeley.  He later was a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. 

Farocki made over 90 films, the vast majority of them short experimental documentaries.  Farocki attended the Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin from 1966 to 1968.

Farocki's work was included in the 2004-05 Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

The filmography of Harun Farocki includes the following:

(D = Director, E = Editor, S = Screenplay, P = Production)

• 1969: Die Worte des Vorsitzenden (The Words of The Chairman)
• 1969: Nicht löschbares Feuer  (Inextinguishable Fire) (D)
• 1970: Die Teilung aller Tage (The Division of All Days) (D, E, S)
• 1971: Eine Sache, die sich versteht (D, S, P)
• 1975: Auf Biegen oder Brechen (S)
• 1978: Zwischen zwei Kriegen (Between Two Wars) (D, E, S, P)
• 1981: Etwas wird sichtbar (Before Your Eyes Vietnam) (D, S, P)
• 1983: Ein Bild (An Image)
• 1983: Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet at work on Franz Kafka's "Amerika"
• 1985: Betrogen (Betrayed) (D, S)
• 1986: Wie man sieht (As You See) (D, S, P)
• 1987: Bilderkrieg (D)
• 1987: Die Schulung
• 1989: Bilder der Welt und Inschrift des Krieges (Images of the World and the Inscription of War) (D, S, P)
• 1990: Leben: BRD (How to live in the Federal Republic of Germany) (D, S, P)
• 1991: Videogramme einer Revolution (Videograms of a Revolution) (D, S, P)
• 1993: Was ist los? (What's up?) (D, S)
• 1994: Die Umschulung
• 1995: Arbeiter verlassen die Fabrik (Workers Leaving the Factory)
• 1995: Schnittstelle
• 1996: Die Bewerbung (The Interview) (TV) (D, S)
• 1996: Der Auftritt (The Appearance)
• 1997: Stilleben (Still Life) (D, S)
• 1997: Nach dem Spiel (P)
• 1998: Worte und Spiele
• 2000: Die innere Sicherheit
• 2000: Gefängnisbilder (Prison Images) (D, S)
• 2001: Auge/Maschine
• 2001: Die Schöpfer der Einkaufswelten (The Creators of the Shopping Worlds) (D, S)
• 2003: Erkennen und Verfolgen (D, S, P)
• 2004: Nicht ohne Risiko (D, S, P)
• 2005: Die Hochzeitsfabrik (P)
• 2005: Ghosts (S)
• 2006: Am Rand der Städte (P)
• 2007: Aufschub
• 2007: Respite - first episode of Memories (Jeonju Digital Project 2007)
• 2009: Zum Vergleich (D, S)
• 2009/2010: Serious Games I-IV, Video series
• 2012 Barbara (S)
• 2014: Phoenix (S)

Farocki's first wife, Ursula Lefkes, whom he married in 1966, died in 1996.  His survivors included his second wife, Antje Ehmann, whom he married in 2001; his twin daughters from his first marriage, Annabel Lee and Larissa Lu; and eight grandchildren.