Klaus Eder Received Homage at the 42nd Filmfest Munchen

On July 3, 2025, during the 42^nd Filmfest Munchen, the FIPRESCI General Secretary of 38 years Klaus Eder received homage from the international film critics’ community. The honorary speech and statuette was delivered by a FIPRESCI member, German film critic Thilo Wydra.

How does one approach – especially in the brief space of a few moments – a life and, let’s call it what it is, a body of work spanning several decades?

Perhaps by first highlighting a few key points – as briefly and concisely as possible – that already tell us a great deal about this life rich in experience, about this multifaceted journalistic oeuvre that turned to film at an early stage.

Born in Augsburg in 1939, Klaus Eder studied German language and literature at the University of Stuttgart from 1959 and was editor of the monthly magazine Film from 1966 to 1968. He also published reviews and essays in the magazine Filmkritik – at its time one of the most important and innovative organs of German-language film journalism, which was published from 1957 to 1984.

From 1968 onwards, he worked as a film critic for Bayerischer Rundfunk, specifically for the BR 2 radio programme. At the studio microphone – whether here in Munich, at the Bavarian Radio broadcasting centre, or at festivals around the world – he was an important voice in German film criticism for several decades, an important voice in both senses of the word.

During this time, Klaus Eder also wrote books – work biographies of Luis Bunuel and Nikita Mikhalkov, as well as Arturo Ripstein and Nagisa Oshima, among others. In addition, he co-authored two books with Alexander Kluge.

In 2002, he curated a series of 30 films from the German post-war period – After the War, Before the Wall – at the renowned New York Film Society of Lincoln Center. In 2007, he curated a DVD film series for the Goethe Institute featuring the works of Helmut Käutner, a German post-war director who had been unjustly forgotten for a long time, also writing the accompanying booklet.

From 1986 to 2007 – a period spanning 21 years – he was programmer for the International Section of the Munich Film Festival and also served as a consultant for a number of international film festivals.

It was during his early days at the Munich Film Festival that something very significant happened in Klaus Eder’s life. 1987 was the year he took up his position as General Secretary of FIPRESCI, the umbrella organisation for all national film critics associations worldwide, initiated in Brussels in 1925, which is now celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

So, in 1987, alongside all his other activities, Klaus Eder embarked on a journey that, looking back today, would prove to be a long one. It was to last a full 38 years, until the end of 2024, when Klaus Eder decided to leave FIPRESCI, marking a turning point for everyone involved: for the International Federation of Film Critics, for the approximately 80 film festivals worldwide that have FIPRESCI juries, and not least for himself.

During these nearly four decades, Klaus Eder has had a decisive influence on FIPRESCI, helping to shape it. From Munich, the centre of his life, where he still lives in Schwabing today, he has composed countless juries around the globe: juries in which, theoretically, every conceivable nation could be represented, juries at festivals that could hardly be more different in terms of structure, size and programmatic orientation, juries that have sometimes spawned long-lasting friendships.

It certainly wasn’t always easy and was a logistical and organisational masterpiece in itself. Not to mention everything else that goes with it – all the conceivable uncertainties, festival negotiations in several languages in different time zones, the initiation of new festival jurys, the suitability of initial jury appointments, right through to involuntary jury reshuffles at the very last minute.

Over the decades, he himself sat on the jury at film festivals around the world, including Venice, Montreal, Istanbul, Moscow, Karlovy Vary, Odessa, Jerusalem and, always a favourite, Bari in southern Italy, a festival he was particularly close to.

His successors have already taken up their posts, and they certainly have big shoes to fill.

When asked what he wishes for himself and for us, our profession of film publicists, film critics and film book writers, Klaus Eder says today:

“Of course, I wish that film criticism would remain an independent profession and a passion.”

A wish, as we all know, that in times like these, in which we now live, encounters more hurdles and obstacles every year, increasingly difficult circumstances of a media, social and political nature – just think, for example, of the continuing difficult situation for film production and the associated film journalism in Iran. The increasing hurdles and obstacles encountered also include the ongoing decline of print media, partly as a result of digitalisation, the increasing use of AI, and a decline in cinema audiences and readership.

Nevertheless, or perhaps precisely because of this: Klaus Eder’s wish, expressed by someone who dedicated his life to film, is likely to resonate all the more with those who pursue this profession, which may well be a calling, with passion. Today more than ever.

Finally, another quote from Klaus Eder that beautifully sums up what FIPRESCI also stands for – in addition to all its journalistic professionalism and passion for film, cinema and film festivals:

“Writing about films can be very personal. I have always seen the colleagues I have met around the world as part of a big family and often as friends.”

In this spirit, FIPRESCI would like to thank Klaus Eder for almost 40 years of work in, through and for the International Federation of Film Critics – combined with the wish that we may all continue to be one big family.

Thilo Wydra
Translated by Verband der deutschen Filmkritik, VDFK
©FIRPESCI 2025