Herbert Achternbusch

Herbert Achternbusch (1938 to 2022) was a German film director, writer and painter, born Herbert Schild in Munich and raised in the Bavarian Forest. He first made his name with avant-garde prose, notably the novel Die Alexanderschlacht, and in 1974 turned to low-budget filmmaking with Das Andechser Gefuehl, producing almost thirty films, often starring himself and working with friends such as the actor Josef Bierbichler. His anarchic, surrealist films, including Bierkampf and Der Depp, are tied to Bavaria. Das Gespenst caused a scandal in 1983 over alleged blasphemy and lost public funding, and he won a long legal battle over broadcasting in 1992. He stopped making films in 2002 and also wrote plays and painted.