Elisabeth Wilms

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Elisabeth Wilms (born July 22, 1905 in Lengerich ; † August 25, 1981 in Asseln ) was a German documentary filmmaker .

Life

The daughter of a sausage manufacturer from Münsterland and from 1932 the wife of a Dortmund master baker, deeply impressed by a small film showing , began filming herself from 1941 in the middle of the Second War , initially with a borrowed 16 mm camera. From 1943 she was active in the Dortmund Narrow Film Club. She shot her first feature films such as “The Christmas Baker” and “Münsterland - Heimatland” on Agfacolor, a new color material at the time . These were recognized by the film testing agency in 1944 because they fit into the National Socialist image of home. Although it was strictly forbidden, Elisabeth Wilms filmed bombing raids on Münster and Dortmund.

For the Evangelical Relief Organization, she documented the post-war misery of the population in order to collect donations abroad. The films "Dortmund 1947" and "Schaffende in Not" are valuable historical sources today and received the Federal Film Prize .

Despite the double workload as a businesswoman in the bakery and as a filmmaker, she made films about reconstruction, industry and social projects and schools. She filmed the construction of the Westfalenhalle , the federal horticultural show in Dortmund, the construction of power plants, the production of the Westfalenhütte and the construction of the Eiderstaudamm . Her Dortmund films were commissioned by the city, Stadtwerke and VEW , and the industrial films were commissioned by Dortmund companies. Also advertising and travel films as well as reports are part of her work.

Wilms strength lay in the extremely professional camera work. She cut her material herself at the living room table on an ordinary rewinder, her husband Erich was a tripod carrier and chauffeur.

In 1980 Michael Lentz and Jürgen Klauß shot the documentary "Bread and Films" about them for WDR .

Filmography

(Selection from more than 200 films)

  • 1943: The Christmas baker
  • 1944: Münsterland - home country
  • 1947: Dortmund 1947
  • 1948: workers in need
  • 1948: Everyday Life after the War (a 16 mm black and white silent film edited by the Institute for Film and Image (FWU) in 1981 and commented on by 75-year-old Wilms)
  • 1950: From iron ore to wire rod - Westfalenhütte Dortmund AG
  • 1952: Dortmund's new Westfalenhalle - the giant among the sports palaces
  • 1955: Flirt with the machine
  • 1955: Through the sunny country of Italy
  • 1956: From the Adige to the Belt
  • 1962: Henrichenburg ship lift in Waltrop
  • 1972: water more than H20
  • 1975: Thyssen-Klönne steel bridge construction

Honors

literature

  • Winkelmann-Filmproduktion (ed.): The films of Elisabeth Wilms , Dortmund 1993.
  • Hanne Hieber: Wilms, Elisabeth , in: Biographies of significant Dortmunders , Vol. 3, Dortmund 2001, pp. 214–217.
  • Erich, let's go! - The films of Elisabeth Wilms . Documentation from the LWL media center for Westphalia , Germany 2011, approx. 115 min. ISBN 978-3-939974-16-1 (DVD with booklet and five original films ); DVD booklet online (PDF; 377 kB)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wilms, Elisabeth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German documentary filmmaker
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Lengerich
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1981
Place of death Dortmund