Ernst Schmidt Jr.

[Peter Tscherkassky on Ernst Schmidt Jr.]: "If I had to name a single Austrian filmmaker who to this day has not received the international recognition deserved for the artistic level his work attained, I would unhesitatingly name him. When he died in 1988 at the early age of 50, Ernst Schmidt Jr. left behind a body of work that could hardly be more multifaceted, including experimental documentary films, material films, expanded cinema, abstract films, project films, conceptual films, Lettrist text films, compilation films, and a feature length dramatic film. The catalogue of a posthumous exhibit at the Vienna Secession in 2001 and his home page (initiated and maintained by his half brother Helmut Benedikt) encompasses close to 100 works. In 1980 Schmidt Jr. drew from this abundance to create a compilation of films entitled 20 Aktions- und Destruktionsfilme 1965-1979. This compilation is now available for the first time on DVD."