Known for Directing
His family emigrated to Uruguay in 1939. 1956 scholarship at the Hochschule der Kuenste (HDK) in Berlin, Germany. Between 1959 and 1964 he worked at the German TV channel Suedwestfunk, first as an assistant, later as a director. 1967/68 he was lecturer at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin. Co-founder of the German distributor Filmverlag der Autoren. Since 1985 headmaster of the section Film- und Medienkunst at the Akademie der Kuenste in Berlin.
Born
November 27, 1929
Died
April 23, 2023 (age 93)
Birthplace
Berlin, Germany
Filmography
63 films, 2 shows


Camilo: The Long Road to Disobedience
2008 · 1h 26m
country: Germany
The award-winning filmmaker Peter Lilienthal is dedicated to this extremely poignant documentary of U.S. military policy and the living conditions of former resistance fighters in Latin America.
Ein Fremder
Ein Fremder
2001 · 58m
country: Germany
Sixty years after the Holocaust, director Peter Lilienthal, himself a victim and refugee of the Nazi regime, sheds a light on Jewish life in Germany in the early 2000s.


Angesichts der Wälder
1995 · 1h 22m
country: Unknown
Feature film.


Der Radfahrer von San Cristóbal
1988 · 1h 27m
country: Germany
A cyclist decides to go for everything and win the 'Tour of Chile' Race, so he can finance the medical treatment for his ill mother with the prize. However, he must soon recognize that the sporting event is corrupted by commercial and marketing interests, in addition to the political goals of the military regime.


The Silence of the Poet
1987 · 1h 42m
country: Germany
This drama comes from one of Germany's greatest contemporary directors, Peter Lilienthal; and is one of the few to be released outside of the country. It is the story of an Israeli poet's struggle to create in an inhospitable environment. The poet is suffering from severe writer's block and much of the film centers upon the reasons why. Among those reasons is a brother blinded during the Yom Kippur War, the drawn out illness and subsequent death of his wife, and the simpleton son she bore before she became ill. Most of the time the poet blames his son for his inability to write; the father resents having to care for him night and day but he refuses to institutionalize the lad.


The Autograph
1984 · 1h 32m
country: France
The bandoneon player Daniel and the boxer Toni arrive independently from each other in a provincial town in Latin America where they are booked to perform at a folk festival. Both of them are completely apolitical but are forced by external circumstances to take a political position. Toni falls in love with the daughter of an influential attorney but has to keep his love a secret. Meanwhile, Daniel learns about the atrocities committed by the Junta from the town’s residents.


Dear Mr. Wonderful
1982 · 1h 40m
country: Germany
Ruby Dennis is an middle-aged man with an unfulfilled ambition as a singer. As he begins to pursue that ambition, his family falls apart.


The Uprising
1980 · 1h 41m
country: Costa Rica
In Nicaragua, 1977, corruption and abuse of power are everyday occurrences under the Somoza family’s dictatorship. Eruptions of violence lead to a civil war, which the Sandinista revolutionaries win – at least for the time being. Against this backdrop, the conflict between a young soldier of the Somoza regime and his family, who sympathize with the insurgents, is illustrated.


David
1979 · 2h 7m
country: Germany
Although members of the Hitler Youth chant anti-Semitic paroles in front of his house during the Purim festival, Rabbi Singer is still profoundly convinced that Germany will stay a safe country for him, his family, and his fellow believers. But several years later, his son David is banned from going to school because he is a Jew. Shortly after, Rabbi Singer and his wife are deported. Now, young David also fears for his life. In constant fear of being detected, he tries to find a way to leave Germany.
Kadir
Kadir
1977 · 1h 15m
country: Germany
Documentary film about the 20-year-old Turkish guest worker's son Kadir, who tries to find his way between his father's traditional ideas and


Es herrscht Ruhe im Land
1975 · 1h 43m
country: Austria
A fictitious country in South America: the military has taken power in the state and rules with an iron hand. Anyone who expresses criticism of the system is imprisoned. In a rebellious small town, however, the citizens show solidarity with the numerous political prisoners - until all the town's inhabitants are arrested. Now "peace reigns in the land" again.
Hauptlehrer Hofer
Hauptlehrer Hofer
1975 · 1h 45m
country: Germany
1919. Released from the teacher training college, Joachim Hofer takes up his first job as an assistant teacher in an Alsatian village. But only a few students come to class in the pigsty converted to school.


La Victoria
1973 · 1h 25m
country: Germany
The young Marcela leaves her small Chilean village and travels to Santiago in order to find work as a secretary.


Shirley Chisholm for President
1972 · 51m
country: Unknown
About the election campaign of the first female member of the US Congress.


Jakob von Gunten
1971 · 1h 37m
country: Germany
Adaptation of Robert Walser's novel about a young man who enters an oppressive servant school.
Die Sonne angreifen
Die Sonne angreifen
1971
country: Germany
Based on motifs from the novel "Pornografia" by Witold Gombrowicz. The action takes place during the hot summer of 1970 in Cicero, a suburb of Chicago. An aging crime boss tries to compensate for his guilt by making a young couple guilty.
Malatesta
Malatesta
1970 · 1h 26m
country: Germany
Enrico Malatesta (Eddie Constantine) leads a group of Latvian dissidents in the siege of Sidney Street. Chief of police Winston Churchill organizes against the anarchist who threaten to disturb the peace to make their demands known to the British aristocracy. Authorities break up the volatile gang and Malatesta is deported to Italy. Constantine gives a sympathetic portrayal of the agitator that organizes the revolt that shocked the Edwardian sensibilities of London in this historical drama.
Horror
Horror
1969 · 1h 18m
country: Germany
After an eight-month stay in a mental hospital, a tormented man comes home to live with his sister; but a mysterious boarder may be trying to kill him.


Noon in Tunisia
1969 · 53m
country: Germany
The two-part film "Noon in Tunisia" by Peter Lilienthal is a meeting of jazz and Arabic music at various public or open-air venues in Tunisia. Under the direction of George Gruntz, European and US jazz musicians play his suite-like composition "Maghreb Cantata", which is based on original Bedouin dances, together with Arab performers. The highlight is the Fazani, a rhythm of Bedouin tribes from the desert region of the Libyan-Tunisian border. The recording took place from 5.5. - 24.5.1969 in and around Tunis.
Tramp or the Only and Incomparable Lenny Jacobsen
Tramp or the Only and Incomparable Lenny Jacobsen
1968 · 1h 14m
country: Germany
The drifter has a name - Lenny Jacobsen" - An outsider is chased to his death. The case remains uncertain, while what otherwise interests at best incidentally, the sensitivities of the victims and the perpetrators, to seemingly trivial expressions, gestures, sentences becomes the main thing.
Verbrechen mit Vorbedacht
Verbrechen mit Vorbedacht
1967 · 1h 15m
country: Germany
The examining magistrate Hopek goes to a lonely manor house to settle a property matter with the lord of the manor. When he arrives, he learns that the lord of the manor has died of a heart attack during the night. Although everything suggests that the lord died of natural causes, the strange behavior of the lord's family and servants arouses the suspicion of the examining magistrate, and he begins to investigate. The very first results strengthen his doubts. He finally succeeds in unmasking the landowner's son. The film is based on a short novella by Witold Gombrowicz, who was awarded the International Literature Prize in 1967.
Claire
Claire
1967 · 36m
country: Germany
The handicapped John Tuthill Crane is seized by his mother with "cannibal love". The heavily rich woman knows how to arrange his life in such a way that he is and remains dependent on her in every way. In his 37th year, John meets a girl on a vacation trip who also claims him completely for herself. She persuades him to murder his mother and he agrees. But at the moment when his lover and him want to throw his mother from a train running over a viaduct, John becomes weak, and his mother and him together plunge John's lover into the depths.
Der Beginn
Der Beginn
1966
country: Germany
Abschied
Abschied
1966 · 1h 12m
country: Unknown
The burial of an old woman leads to several complications among family and friends.
Robert
Robert
1966 · 46m
country: Germany
Miss Giehse, an elderly teacher in a boarding school, tries with a lot of good will for her student Robert. The boy seems strangely withdrawn and depressed to her. Robert, whose behavior can be traced back to his parental home, which lacks orderly family relationships, disrupts the lessons with his defiant and rebellious behavior. All her attempts to investigate the causes of this behavior, however, only lead to increasingly serious misunderstandings. In almost hysterical exaggeration, provoked by Robert's tormenting behavior, she finally believes that he is trying to poison her and knocks the boy down during a break. The principal of the boarding school inadvertently witnesses this incident and dismisses Miss Giehse after a heated controversy. The teacher does not overcome the shame of the dismissal and the pain of her own actions and dies on the day she has to leave the boarding school on a trip with the school bus.
Seraphine or the Wonderful Story of Aunt Flora
Seraphine or the Wonderful Story of Aunt Flora
1965 · 1h 20m
country: Germany
Following the life of the eccentric Aunt Flora, a woman of great imagination and curiosity. When her niece, Seraphine, visits her in a small town, she uncovers a world of peculiar happenings, strange traditions, and unexpected adventures. As Aunt Flora's colorful personality and quirky ways draw Seraphine into a world of wonder and mystery, the two women form an unbreakable bond, navigating love, loss, and the unknown. A heartfelt and magical story about the extraordinary in the ordinary.
Das Martyrium des Peter OHey
Das Martyrium des Peter OHey
1964 · 56m
country: Germany
Poetic fable about the sophisticated rape of civil rights by a totalitarian power. The orderly existence of Peter O'Hey and his family is shaken one day by the announcement that a tiger has taken up residence in his bathroom. The state, represented by a civil servant, a tax collector and a protocol chief, as well as the private company, represented by a scientist, a circus director and an old hunter, take a keen interest in this news and try to exploit the unusual situation for their personal interests. They besiege the apartment of Peter O'Hey and finally also claim his life by abusing him as a decoy for the tiger.
Jede Stunde verletzt und die letzte tötet
Jede Stunde verletzt und die letzte tötet
1963 · 30m
country: Germany
Bit by Bit
Bit by Bit
1962 · 1h 6m
country: Germany
A mother wants to buy a bike for her son, but she doesn't have enough money.
Biographie eines Schokoladentages
Biographie eines Schokoladentages
1961
country: Germany
Die Nachbarskinder
Die Nachbarskinder
1960 · 35m
country: Germany
A left-behind woman, through a surprising act, comes to receive two marriage proposals in one day, both of which she accepts, leading to grief and trouble for her and others involved.