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Katja Riemann (photo: German Films) ACTRESS’ PORTRAIT Katja Riemann was born in Kirchweyhe near Bremen. She studied Dance in Hamburg, and Acting at the College of Music and Drama in Hanover and at the Otto Falckenberg School in Munich. On the stage of the renowned Munich Kammerspiele, she performed in productions by Dieter Dorn, Alexander Lang and Volker Schloendorff. After her first leading role – for which she was awarded the Adolf Grimme Prize – in the TV event Sommer in Lesmona by Peter Beauvais (1986), the sensational success of the short, 60-minute HFF/M graduation film Making Up (Abgeschminkt, 1993) by Katja von Garnier not only triggered Riemann’s film career, but also the German cinema boom of the 1990s. This was followed by leading roles in audience successes such as Soenke Wortmann’s Maybe, Maybe Not (Der bewegte Mann, 1994), Talk of the Town (Stadtgespraech, 1995) by Rainer Kaufmann (German Film Award for the Best Leading Actress) and the music film bandits (1997), also in cooperation with Katja von Garnier, for which she again (together with her achievement in The Pharmacist/Die Apothekerin by Rainer Kaufmann) received the German Film Award in Gold for the Best Actress. After a period during which she also worked abroad, including roles alongside Gérard Dépardieau in the multi-part international TV film Balzac (1999) by José Dayan and in the German- Canadian production Desire (2000) by Colleen Murphy, she could be seen in various TV films and was in Hermine Huntgeburth’s successful children’s feature Bibi Blocksberg (2002). In addition to film, Riemann has recently become more involved in music; today she is the lead singer of an eight-man band that has already recorded several CDs and been on concert tours. “Triumph for German Cinema” was the headline marking Riemann’s greatest international success to date: at the Venice film festival in 2003, she received the Coppa Volpi as Best Actress in Margarethe von Trotta’s film Rosenstrasse, a drama about civil courage during the Nazi period shown at cinemas in more than 20 countries. Riemann won another German Film Award for the Best Supporting Actress in Oskar Roehler’s Agnes and his brothers (Agnes und seine Brueder, 2004). Measured by the audiences that have viewed her cinema films and the national and international awards she has received, Katja Riemann is probably the most successful German actress since the beginning of the nineties. And like many of the most famous German actresses before her – from Romy Schneider to Nastassja Kinski – she has been through some remarkable changes in image. For a long time, she was identified primarily with German comedy successes such as Maybe, Agent: Erna Baumbauer Management Keplerstrasse 2 · 81679 Munich/Germany phone +49-89-47 85 77 · fax +49-89-4 70 21 98 MANY FACES, MANY TALENTS A portrait of Katja Riemann Maybe Not or Talk of the Town, but now every new film role for Riemann seems to be a surprise to both press and public; whether in the context of great historical-political cinema, melodramatic satire or humorous children’s films, her versatility and credibility are always remarkable, enabling her to embody a huge range of female characters. german films quarterly actress’ portrait 4 · 2005 20
Katja sees these changes in perception, but her attitude towards the film material has remained the same: “With respect to the films that I have acted in, I never look at the genre first, but at the role I am to play and the complexity of the characters. Sometimes, I also embodied completely different characters in the so-called comedy roles; take Talk of the Town and The Pharmacist, for example, although superficially it was all considered comedy.” And indeed, Katja’s artistic career has never followed a straight line: even today – as a famous film and theater actress, the author of children’s books, and the leader of a band singing her own songs – she still recalls the doubts she felt about the acting profession at the beginning of her career. In 1989, after three years at the Munich Kammerspiele, she even considered leaving the profession altogether in her early twenties. She explains her philosophy: “I need team work and an exchange, I am not a soloist. The most exciting thing is being able to work together with people, to feel your way forward, to develop a role – a psychogram – or to build up tension by means of dialogue with others. Acting is interaction between a person and the role, and between oneself and one’s fellow actors.” Since then, the orientation on teamwork has been augmented by Katja’s music. All the members of a band are dependent on one another, as Katja knows – at the latest since she had to learn to play the drums for her role as a member of a women’s combo (together with Jasmin Tabatabai and Nicolette Krebitz) in bandits. The desire for music of her own developed between 1998 and 2001, when she was also attempting to put some distance between herself and German comedy by working abroad a lot. Her experiences with international productions like the large-scale biopic Balzac, the Italian-French production Nobel (Fabio Carpi, 2001), or the romantic thriller Desire (which brought her a nomination for the Canadian Genie Award as Best Leading Actress) have also altered her view of the German film business, which she sometimes believes revolves around itself too much. Katja sees the importance of an international echo for German films, but knows that this is not yet a matter of course: “When films that I have acted in are praised abroad, I still regard it as a particular honor. The exchange with directors and actors at international festivals means a lot to me, and my experiences with Rosenstrasse and Agnes and his brothers – in Venice, Toronto, Eastern Europe, etc. – were gigantic in that respect.” When there is an additional political-moral intention – that is, “to use the film to tell the unique story of women’s protest against the Nazis in Berlin’s Rosenstrasse during 1943”, as the politically and socially committed actress adds – “those are the moments when this profession gives you the most sublime feeling imaginable.” Katja also cites another aspect regarding this orientation on other countries: “After three English films, fortunately it is no problem for me to act in English as well. Perhaps my music helps there, because I sing mainly in English and write English song texts.” As far as Katja’s immediate plans for the future are concerned, she sees a continuing mix of film, music and the theater. After a certain delay, the prize in Venice has led to many interesting offers from abroad; she has been approached by American and French producers. In the near future, it will be possible to see her on the stage in Potsdam, playing the role of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler. In addition, Katja has just finished shooting a new film directed by Margarethe von Trotta, Ich bin die Andere, in which she plays a multiple personality. “A huge challenge as far as the role is concerned, but it also means marvellous cooperation with colleagues such as Armin Mueller-Stahl and August Diehl.” During the autumn, she will be in front of the cameras again – in Romania – for the American production Blood and Chocolate; this is a poetic werewolf story set before a “Romeo and Juliet” background, and will be the third film made with her friend Katja von Garnier as director. Transformation into a werewolf should present no difficulties for an actress with as many faces and talents as Katja Riemann … Felix Moeller (documentary filmmaker) spoke with Katja Riemann german films quarterly actress’ portrait 4 · 2005 21
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