Focus: Katja Raganelli
Programme IFFR 2025
Katja Raganelli started out in the mid-1970s, creating television documentaries that illuminated fellow female filmmakers, venerable masters like Agnès Varda and Valie Export, as well as pioneering figures like Margery Wilson. Her works, though scarcely reviewed and rarely re-aired, sparked curiosity about these filmmakers and their craft. Raganelli’s films were collaborative, educational, and accessible, making a mark by introducing audiences to seldomly spotlighted cinematic perspectives. IFFR’s first international retrospective of her work celebrates her nuanced portraiture and enduring legacy as a filmmaker and film historian. Interested in learning more about Katja Raganelli's work? Read IFFR programmer Olaf Möller's blog here.
Overview of films
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Joan Tewkesbury
Katja Raganelli | 48' | Germany | None
From Raganelli’s vault of unfinished films, filmmaker Joan Tewkesbury discusses her collaboration with Robert Altman. -
Die Liebe ist ein Mythos – Delphine Seyrig
Katja Raganelli | 59' | Germany | None
Raganelli meets Delphine Seyrig, conversations about art, activism and the women involved in both abound. -
Lotte Reiniger – Hommage an die Erfinderin des Silhouetten Films
Katja Raganelli | 60' | Germany | None
Another of Raganelli’s studies into (women’s) cinema history, here looking to Lotte Reiniger. -
Mann & Frau & Animal
VALIE EXPORT | 8' | Austria | None
A subversive and sticky tract without equal from VALIE EXPORT. -
Margery Wilson – Vom Stummfilmstar Hollywoods zur Filmregisseurin
Katja Raganelli | 44' | Germany | None
Katja Raganelli charmingly captures the stories of one of Hollywood’s first women directors, Margery Wilson. -
Márta Mészáros – Portrait einer ungarischen Filmregisseurin
Katja Raganelli | 55' | Germany | None
A multivocal portrait of the filmmaker during the shooting of Útközben (1979). -
Nicht Mann, nicht Frau, nur Rabe
Katja Raganelli | 43' | Germany | None
Raganelli turns her gaze to non-binary West German painter and performance artist, Rabe Perplexum. -
L’opéra-mouffe
Agnès Varda | 16' | France | None
Agnès Varda imagines the world her unborn child will arrive in, and finds answers on her doorstep. -
Das Ornament des verliebten Herzens
Lotte Reiniger | 5' | Germany | None
A breathtaking miniature, where dance and gesture have the power to express an utmost tenderness. -
Ein perfektes Paar oder die Unzucht wechselt ihre Haut
VALIE EXPORT | 12' | Austria | None
A visionary Exportian tract exploring modern indecency, where skin replaces nakedness. -
Qui donc a rêvé?
Liliane de Kermadec | 23' | France | None
Liliane de Kermadec’s adaptation of Lewis Carroll sees Delphine Seyrig as an unforgettable White Queen. -
Réponses de femmes: Notre corps, notre sexe
Agnès Varda | 8' | France | None
What does it mean to be a woman? Women of all ages, classes and states of dress respond.