Karl Baumgartner, the German producer and champion of arthouse cinema who only last month received the Berlinale Camera prize, has died.
Baumgartner was born in 1949 and after a stint working in Rome from 1967-70 he relocated to Germany where he eventually launched the producer-distributor Pandora Film with Reinhard Brundig in 1982.
Pandora established itself as a beacon for arthouse cinema and championed the likes of Kim Ki-duk, Aki Kaurismaki and Sally Potter.
As a producer he brought a handful of films to the Berlinale including Emir Kusturica’s Super 8 Stories and most recently Pia Marais’ 2013 entry Layla Fourie.
Baumgartner produced Mostly Martha and Samsara, among others, and his co-producer credits include Kaurismaki’s Le Havre. He served as executive producer on Kusturica’s 1995 Palme d’Or winner Underground.
A Tweet from the Locarno Film Festival read, “Very sad for the loss of great producer and Locarno’s friend Karl Baumgartner, Premio Raimondo Rezzonico 2004.”
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