Peter Przygodda, the renowned editor who worked with Wim Wenders, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, Volker Schlöndorff, Hans W Geissendörfer, Reinhard Hauff, Klaus Lemke, Peter Handke and Romuald Karmakar, has died at the age of 70. He was, as Ekkehard Knörer writes in die taz, the most important editor — a term he preferred over another commonly used in Germany, "Cutter" — of the New German Cinema of the 70s and early 80s.
Though he'd originally intended to become an architect, Przygodda founded a small theater with Rolf Zacher and shot his first short film in 1969, Der Besuch auf dem Lande (The Visit to the Country), with Zacher taking on the lead role. Later that same year, he began working with Wenders on Summer in the City, striking up a friendship and professional partnership that would see them all the way through Palermo Shooting in 2008. Przygodda won the German Film Prize (Gold) for his work on Wenders's The Wrong Movement (1975) and The American Friend (1977). Having edited nearly 100 films over four decades, he became, as Oliver Baumgarten puts it in Schnitt, a master of the "invisible" cut.
Przygodda also worked for many years with Irmin Schmidt of the legendary Krautrock group Can and, in 1971/72, shot the concert film with the straightforward title, Can.
Viewing (7'16"). The Cine-Fils interview with English subtitles.
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