Rosa von Praunheim

Dietmar: Who was the man who came to open the door for me?
Rosa: That’s Mike. Mike and I have been together for thirty years now. We work together. The first five years we were lovers, and since then we’ve been friends. He is the man of my life and the one I love most… I hope we can continue this adven ture as long as it is possible. He has been in relationships – he is more monogamous than I am and likes long-term relationships. I am very promiscuous. Being with him gives me a lot of peace of mind and I am not alone. We help each other as much as we can…
Do you have another lover besides Mike?
No! Not one – I have many! As I said, I’m very promiscuous and I’m not interested in having a lover at this point. I have Mike. That is enough. And if I meet others…you know, I am a very open person. I like men, I like women, but I don’t like animals.
But didn’t you have pythons, raccoons and parrots as pets at some point?
That was Mike. He has always had a good click with animals. I am too nervous and can’t treat them well. But I like people, you know, in general, all kinds of people.
What are you looking for in other people? What are you interested in most?
It’s not just ‘most’ – it’s EVERYTHING. I like people who collect worms, stamps or whatever: passionate people. I like the feeling that somebody has a purpose in life and doesn’t just sit around being depressed and watching TV. I like conversations about books, films, traveling…
Do you collect anything?
Not really. I collect things connected to my work. When I do a film about hell or cannibalism, I collect things that I come across and that fit into the subject.
What happened when your mother told you, before she died, that you had been adopted? How did you feel?
I didn’t feel anything. When my mother told me seven years ago that I was not her son, I thought it was funny. A child who is not his parent’s child seemed like something special to me, like a princess. It seemed kind of adventurous to me and I was curious what might come out of that story. I was born in a prison in Riga. I’m very thankful that my parents took me in during the war, protected me and offered me a wonderful life. I felt their love until the end of their lives – my mother died in 2003.
And you also gained something like a new family?
Yes, I found a new cousin and the sister of my mother, who actually has the same birthday as I do. I’m 65, she’s 90. But I only saw her once. She is almost blind already and does not hear so well anymore. Her son – my cousin – sent me some material and I’ve seen him twice. We are interested in each other’s lives, but we’re still strangers in a way.
I have a friend who did some research in Riga for your film ‘Two Mothers’.
Oh, who’s that?
Agnese.
Really? At first I didn’t really like Latvia. I had trouble connecting. I had the feeling that the people were extremely distant – a bit like the people in the north of Germany. But then Agnese and I became friends and that made things easier for me. I also think the Latvians are very good-looking. They have a special quality…
Weren’t you tempted to include the attacks on the gay pride event in Riga in your film? I heard that gay pride got quite aggressive reactions. People threw eggs at the organizers, and bystanders poured holy water over their heads…
The first gay parade was forbidden in Latvia and we were there during the second parade, which had been approved by the city government. But there were indeed some protests. In the end we kept this story out of the movie, cause the film was about finding my biological parents. While we were editing the footage, we realized that the gay pride story didn’t fit in with that.
You could make another film about it…
Jochen Hick has just made an interesting film called ‘EAST/WEST – SEX & POLITICS’. It’s about the gay parade in Moscow and the hatred against gays in Russia. I think that’s a good film.
Agnese once mentioned that she thought there were a lot of beautiful women in her country, but very few attractive men. At least that was her impression. What did you think?
I didn’t have that impression at all. I once had an affair with a guy from Riga. I met him in Berlin. He was extremely good-looking.
Did you check out the gay scene in Riga? Is there much of a scene?
Yes, we went to some clubs, but we didn’t have that much time.
Do you go to gay saunas or public toilets here in Berlin?
Most of the toilets in Berlin have been shut down or are gone. There’s one toilet around the corner from here at this little park, which you might have passed as you were coming from the subway. I have known it for 27 years, actually ever since I came to live in this flat. In that park you can find everything. During the summer a lot of Asians have picnics there, which is very nice. Then you have a little public toilet that looks like a small castle. It’s one of the very few public toilets left in Berlin, but the action has been more or less over for five years because there’s an operator sitting there now. Before that it had been really busy day and night, also early in the morning. People from all over the world visited the park and the toilet. I really liked it: having sex in the open air, talking to people. You’d also meet people from your neighborhood. I have very fond memories of being in the park, having sex, sitting in the moonlight for hours, having really nice conversations.
Sounds quite romantic.
It was not always romantic, but sometimes very, very nice.
Can you recall one really good story?
So many stories! I’ve kept them in a diary – I’ll probably publish them one day. In fact, there’s a book coming out this fall that includes part of my diaries.

Weren’t you doing hypnosis as a form of psychoanalytic therapy?
I did that for a while. Not anymore though.
I’m always curious about how hypnosis works. Do you clearly remember the things you spoke about afterwards?
Sometimes. Sometimes you go in and out of different levels of consciousness. I once saw this sign in my neighborhood advertising a “medical doctor who also does hypnosis”. I went there and found an older woman. I told her that I had a lot of sex in the park without talking to the guys and that I really wanted to change that and that I wanted to talk to them. She put me into hypnosis and when I walked out of her office I immediately met somebody who talked to me…
That’s funny!
…and we stayed together for a month. After that I went back to her and told her that we had split up. She just said that somebody else would come. I walked out of her office, and again, I met somebody, and we stayed together for three months. And then I met this Greek guy who I stayed with for two years. That relationship was so dramatic that I never went back to her.
Can you say something about how your sex life has changed over the years?
I was very handsome when I was young. I was famous, I was intelligent, I had lots of fans and I even received love letters. It was very easy for me to have sex. But I was also strangely insecure. I was very secure in my profession and regarding my talents, but privately I was as timid as a little girl. I wanted to be conquered. When I was 50 I had my last very hot love affair with a Greek guy who wanted to marry me and who was very possessive. It was wonderful sex, but I suffered because I felt that he wanted to possess me and keep me away from my friends. It was very hard and although I liked him, it only worked for a couple of years. Then I met a guy from Atlanta who was interested in German history and we had a wonderful, open relationship in the mid ’90s for about two years. Until I turned 60, I had still been a sex object sometimes. Of course it slowly became less and less so. The first sign that I was older appeared when people told me that their mother had been in one of my films. And then the last couple of years I started a project about hustlers – together with street workers. I had always had prejudices about hustlers.
What kind of prejudices?
Especially here in Berlin, I thought the scene was full of drugs and violence. When I passed by hustler bars, I didn’t find it very attractive. I guess I was afraid.
So you had never used a hustler?
Not until I started to talk to them and my impression of them changed and I also started to have sex with hustlers.
Where do most of the hustlers in Berlin come from? Are they mostly from Latin America or are there more from Eastern Europe?
Most of them are Roma or Sinti. At least that’s what the street workers say. I don’t have any statistics. Of course a lot of people do it out of poverty. But you have to have a talent for it as well. As a male hustler you have to get it up and you have to have some talent in attracting men in order to make money. It’s a service they offer like any other service job. You have to be friendly and you have to do your job well, because otherwise it doesn’t work. As a hustler you have to be able to adapt to the situation and to the person and you have to get a hard-on. Some of them are maybe even living out their hidden homosexuality or bisexuality, I think. You know, some hustlers do have backgrounds where homosexuality is still an absolute taboo. So doing it for money is one possibility, but sometimes it’s also pleasure. Some of them like older men, which is interesting – they don’t seem to mind the body…
Do you think that has to do with a different cultural perspective or is it just an effect of their daily work?
You have to get used to it – to the different bodies. Like a child who doesn’t judge you mainly by your looks. A child just wants to know whether you are kind and caring or if you’ll play with him or her. It’s quite different from the gay scene, where looks seem to be the main attraction. With hustlers I’ve found out that only filthiness is really a huge turn-off.
What kind of features are you looking for in a hustler?
It depends. I can’t generalize. I prefer guys between 30 and 40. Usually you don’t find that many hustlers over 40 because most men choose younger ones, so older ones don’t have any work. I have one Turkish hustler who is 36 and he’s extremely passionate. He likes to get fucked, and he kisses and fucks too. Some street worker told me that most clients fall in love with their hustlers and that happened to me too. I fell in love with a German street hustler who also studied and who was actually quite fat, which I liked since I had got fat as well. He was also very hairy and fleshy and I loved that.
Where did you meet him?
In the sex cinema.
Which one?
Close to the Zoo, near Beate Uhse. There are several sex cinemas around. Most of the hustlers go there and also most of the alternative guys who don’t like to visit sex clubs.
So what happened with the German hustler?
We developed a kind of friendship. He also came to my house, which I normally don’t allow, because I am afraid. There are all those stories… He still comes by from time to time. I am very interested in his life.
Are you more relaxed now regarding sex than you were when you were younger?
What’s wonderful about getting older and being with hustlers is that there is no possessiveness. You know, I fell in love once or twice, but the hustlers made it very, very clear that to them it’s mainly business. I think they are having fun as well, sometimes the sex is genuinely passionate, and it wouldn’t be possible to act that. Some things you can really act well, but in the cases I am thinking of I’d guess they enjoyed it too. But it’s clear that this is not their private life and they do it for money.
How much does one hustler cost?
It depends. Somewhere between 30 and 100 euros.
30 euros for fucking? Or is it just sucking?
It depends.
That’s depressingly cheap, isn’t it?
Male street hustlers don’t make a lot of money. If you’re an online callboy with your own apartment and you’re also involved in the porn business, the price can go up to 150 euros.
Do you have a fetish?
No. I don’t have any fetishes. It’s very simple – I love to fuck. When I was younger I didn’t actually like men so much. I liked women to talk to. I liked their personalities, their strength and their fantasies. I usually found men to be dull. Men go to war, they drink, they do sports… They are just good to fuck. It took a while before I found out that men are also human and interesting. In a lot of my films you’ll find a lot of female protagonists who go through a similar change. I developed friendships with men. But I mainly liked to fuck. I was not relaxed enough to be fucked.
Did that change?
Yes. Now I like to get fucked as well. But I am very careful, AIDS is still something that scares me. I use condoms but I also don’t want anybody to come inside of me because the condom could break.
Do you take drugs?
No.
Viagra?
No. When I found out about my real mother several years ago, and that she was hospitalized for schizophrenia in 1946, I thought I somehow must have had a guardian angel who had protected me from taking drugs. Because if I would have taken drugs, I might have become insane. Schizophrenia can be genetic. I didn’t take LSD like everybody else in the ’60s and ’70s because I was so afraid of drugs, without even knowing why. Looking back, I am very lucky that I never took drugs.
Since you did a film with gay porn legend Jeff Stryker, are there any interesting stories to tell about him?
Not really. I had always had the prejudice about porn stars that they are very undisciplined, doing drugs and stuff, but Jeff was just the opposite. I did the film in Hollywood and we started shooting at four or five o’clock in the morning and he was there. He came with his big limousine and his hash pipe. Very disciplined, very introverted, a very kind and sweet person and actually also a good actor. We really liked each other.
Did you have sex with him?
No. I would have loved to. But when I work with somebody I think it is better to keep a distance. Plus Jeff is straight, although he has done tons of gay porn.
There is a story that Rainer Werner Fassbinder had sex with you, although I don’t think you would really flaunt it.
I didn’t like Fassbinder on a personal level and I didn’t find him attractive. He was extremely mean to his actors, treated them like shit. I knew of all those stories, but I was never interested in him. There was also some jealousy or competition involved. I was glad that I didn’t belong to his circle. Fassbinder was very extreme on all levels. There’s this story about this bar in Frankfurt that we both went to. The bar had a darkroom, and somehow, later, he said that he had fucked me there. I know that somebody had sucked me off while someone else was fucking me. If this was him, I didn’t realize it.
And you also don’t care.
Exactly. I don’t care. I think he had a lot of complexes and was really into power games. Quite a lot of his actors were kind of dependent on him. People took their chances and literally swallowed shit.
You wouldn’t swallow shit for art?
Interesting that you’re asking me that, because that’s also what I tend to ask my students. ‘How much shit would you eat in order to do art?’
And? What do they answer?
It’s interesting. People from Eastern European countries like to eat shit. (laughs) Those from the more Western regions don’t.
Are you still teaching at university?
No. I was there for six years. The last workshop I did was about making feature films for the TV station ARTE.
They were extraordinary!
Thanks! When I started doing those workshops I tried collaborating with the TV company and they gave money for student films. First we did a workshop in Hollywood in 2001 and then we sent them to Calcutta. We did very extreme workshops with my students.
What exactly do you mean by that?
Like, I took them to a straight SM club where I introduced them to the women working there, who told their stories and explained everything about their torture instruments. I told them that as an artist or a director you’ll have to suffer, so try to suffer happily.
Were they involved in the SM scenes as well?
No, no. But some of them used the setting for their films. I also invited a big black boxer – they had to fight with him. The film and art business is really tough, you know. You have to fight to survive. Or I once hired a prison and put each student in a cell with an actor. They had to stay there for 10 days to make a film.
Did you enjoy your role as a prison guard?
Actually the prisoners enjoyed it much more.
(laughs) Because your students were masochists?
No, because they suddenly got in touch with their own fantasies.
One more question: you once got married, didn’t you?
Yes, I married the actress in my first films, Carla Aulaulu. We did three short films
together.
How come you ended up marrying her?
Young couples got money from the city of Berlin in those days; that’s why we got married. After the wedding night I never saw her again.