Die Frau mit der Kamera - Portrait der Fotografin Abisag Tüllmann (The Woman with the Camera)
Germany 2015

Opening 23 Jun 2016

Directed by: Claudia von Alemann
Writing credits: Claudia von Alemann
Principal actors: Barbara Klemm

Die Frau mit der Kamera is not just a documentary film essay about the photographer Abisag Tullmann but is simultaneously the story of a close three-decade friendship between Abisag and filmmaker Claudia von Alemann who met while studying in Ulm.

Abisag was born in Hagen in 1935 and by the end of the 1950s she had good contacts to art and culture. She found work doing theater and music photography and was always occupied with political and diverse social groups as well. In 1963 her book "Großstadt" (big city) - her portrait of Frankfurt - was released. From the ‘60s to the ‘80s she continued to photograph actors, intellectuals and political revolts and movements not just in Germany but also in Algiers and in Paris.

The film is comprised of more than 500 black and white photos as well as scenes from films that show Abisag at work. There are commentaries by friends and associates throughout including the well-known political photographer Barbara Klemm (born 1939). Abisag died in 1996 and by that time was a regular contributor to Spiegel, Die Zeit and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Posthumously a catalog of her theater photography was published in 2010.  (Thelma Freedman)