Maria Wismeth

Maria Wismeth is a German scholar of English and German studies who, as a cinema operator, cultural manager and long-serving managing director of the Hessische Filmförderung (Hessian Film Funding), has championed Hesse as a film location.

Through her work on bodies such as the Bundesvereinigung des Deutschen Films (BUFI, Federal Association of German Film), she also took part in nationwide debates on the German film landscape. In Frankfurt am Main she is involved in the local film scene as a board member of the Kinothek Asta Nielsen e. V.

Film club, Mondpalast and Frankfurter Filmschau

Even as a school pupil, Maria Wismeth showed an interest in film and organised a film club. Once a week, the film club presented a film at the cinema in Lohr am Main. The programme included films by Ingmar Bergman and Alain Resnais, among others.¹

After studying German, English and philosophy at the universities of Erlangen and Marburg, Wismeth worked as a teacher of German and English, but gave up her career as a civil servant after a short time.²³ Together with Eva C. Heldmann and Malu Frank, she founded the arthouse cinema “Mondpalast” in Niederbrechen near Limburg/Lahn in 1979.⁴ Alongside film classics such as “Harold and Maude”, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and “Hiroshima mon amour”, the “Mondpalast” also screened experimental works of film art, including works by performance artists from New York.⁵⁶ In addition, the cinema operators put together film series, for example on expressionist film, on revue films of the 1930s and 40s, or on the theme of the “vamp”.⁷

As part of her work for the “Mondpalast”, Wismeth published a programme magazine and organised film, music and theatre events.⁸⁹ The guests included directors who presented their films and discussed them with the audience, among them Hans Noever.¹⁰

After the birth of her son, Wismeth withdrew from the “Mondpalast” and worked in advertising.¹¹ In 1995 she returned to the film industry and took over the management of the film festival “Frankfurter Filmschau” in Frankfurt am Main.¹²

Hessische Filmförderung (Hessian Film Funding)

In 1997 Maria Wismeth was appointed chief managing director of the Hessische Filmförderung, a position she held until her retirement in 2014. With short interruptions, Wismeth had already been in charge of cultural film funding since 1995. ¹³ In 1997 a joint office for cultural film funding and the Hessische Rundfunk Filmförderung (HFF-hr, Hessian Broadcasting Film Funding) was set up in Frankfurt am Main, the management of which was entrusted to Wismeth and her co-managing director Verena Metze-Mangold.¹⁴¹⁵

During her term of office, Wismeth championed film production in Hesse. With the Film Commission Hessen, she established a service facility that supports film producers in many areas with services and advice, for instance in scouting locations or with questions of logistics.¹⁶¹⁷¹⁸ Supporting young talent was also very important to Wismeth. Together with Anja Hennigsmeyer, she developed a concept for an excellence programme for young Hessian filmmakers, which, however, could not be implemented owing to a lack of funds.¹⁹²⁰ In addition, she was a co-initiator of the Drehbuchcamp (Screenwriting Camp), a training event for screenwriters for which scholarships are awarded that graduates of Hessian universities can apply for.²¹²²

Wismeth attached great importance to ambitious and culturally valuable productions. She regarded documentaries, projects by young filmmakers and experimental works beyond the mainstream as central to Hesse’s profile in the German film landscape.²³²⁴ Among the successful films by young talents funded during her term of office is Sung-Hyung Cho’s award-winning documentary “Full Metal Village”.²⁵ However, Wismeth also considers commercially successful films important, such as Matthias Schweighöfer’s “Schlussmacher”, a comedy that was partly shot in Frankfurt.²⁶

A notable change in the structure of the Hessische Filmförderung, which Wismeth initiated and developed together with other industry representatives, is Hessen Film und Medien, which has brought together all film funding programmes in Hesse since 2016.²⁷²⁸²⁹ Before Hessen Film und Medien was founded, Wismeth had argued that the Hessian film funding system was too complicated and that a joint funding pool would help to improve the conditions for film production and to strengthen Hesse as a film region.³⁰ In this context, she also pointed out that the available budget was too low and that an increase would be desirable, particularly in the area of cultural film funding.³¹ With the funds available up to that point, cultural film funding could not have worked in a way that built on previous efforts; given the financial situation, major feature films would have been inconceivable.³²³³

Wismeth also influenced regional film activity as chair and member of decision-making committees and juries, for example for the Hessischer Filmpreis (Hessian Film Award), the Goldener Herkules, Hessen Invest Film or the Hessischer Rundfunk Filmförderung (HFF-hr).³⁴³⁵³⁶³⁷ She represented the films supported by the Hessische Filmförderung at national and international festivals, including, for example, David Sieveking’s documentary “Vergiss Mein Nicht”, which was screened at the Berlinale.³⁸

Wismeth also spoke out nationally in debates on the German film landscape. One of her criticisms concerned what she considered the excessive influence of TV broadcasters. In her view, television representatives should no longer sit on regional funding bodies, as this did not contribute to supporting film producers.³⁹⁴⁰ As an alternative, she proposed returning to the model of broadcasters acquiring films. This would allow film producers to build up equity capital, which in turn would lead to the production of a more original range of films. According to Wismeth, the television broadcasters could then choose from this wide-ranging selection.⁴¹ In her capacity as a board member of the Bundesvereinigung des Deutschen Films (BUFI), Wismeth criticised the fact that the “Bündnis für den Film” (Alliance for Film), launched by former Minister of State for Culture Michael Naumann, had failed to implement measures to limit the power of the television broadcasters and to strengthen film producers. The Bundespresseamt (Federal Press Office) rejected the accusation of failure, pointing out that the “Bündnis für den Film” was not a one-off event but a longer-term working process.⁴²⁴³⁴⁴

Commitment to women’s filmmaking

Beyond her work at the Hessische Filmförderung, Maria Wismeth has been involved with the Kinothek Asta Nielsen e. V. To this day she is a board member of the Frankfurt association, which is dedicated to women’s film work in history and the present.⁴⁵

The programme that Wismeth devised together with Heldmann and Frank for the “Mondpalast” cinema also bears witness to her awareness of women filmmakers. In September 1980, the three “cinema women” announced film series on topics such as ecology, the family and the women’s movement.⁴⁶ The programme booklet published in February 1981 presents a series on the topics of prostitution and violence. In addition, the cinema operators advertise a discussion of Margarethe von Trotta’s award-winning film “Schwestern oder die Balance des Glücks” and a new film series in which a different woman director is presented every month.⁴⁷ Further thematic series were devoted to female vampire films and to films about cruel women.⁴⁸

In 2000, Maria Wismeth published a review of Ulrike Ottinger’s film “Bildnis einer Trinkerin – Aller jamais retour” in the film journal “Frauen und Film”. In the review, she recalls her first reaction to the film, which she praised for its artificiality at the film festival in Hof in 1979 and now perceives as excessively stylised. In 2000, she sees herself walking around the film as if in a museum; “Bildnis einer Trinkerin” makes her think of her youth in a small town in the 1960s.⁴⁹

Publications

Wismeth, Maria (2000): Bildnis einer Trinkerin – narzißtisch-pessimistischer Kult der Einsamkeit. In: Frauen und Film, No. 62, June, pp. 48–49.

External links

Website of Hessen Film und Medien
Website of the Hessischer Film- und Kinopreis (Hessian Film and Cinema Award)
Website of the journal Frauen und Film

Machine translation: This article was translated automatically from the German original.

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n.a. (1983): Programmheft „Mondpalast“, September. ↩︎
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20
Wismeth, Maria (2013): Film- und Mediennachwuchs in Hessen. In: GRIP, No. 47. Online at: https://www.filmhaus-frankfurt.de/de/grip/grip-47/film-und-mediennachwuchs-in-hessen/ (accessed on 27 October 2020). ↩︎
21
Madeisky, Uschi (2015): Zum Abschied von der Branche gefeiert. In: GRIP, No. 51. Online at: https://www.filmhaus-frankfurt.de/de/grip/grip-51/zum-abschied-von-der-branche-gefeiert/ (accessed on 27 October 2020). ↩︎
22
Wismeth, Maria (2013): Film- und Mediennachwuchs in Hessen. In: GRIP, No. 47. Online at: https://www.filmhaus-frankfurt.de/de/grip/grip-47/film-und-mediennachwuchs-in-hessen/ (accessed on 27 October 2020). ↩︎
23
Seipel, Regine (2019): Kulturelle Filmförderung stärken. In: Frankfurter Rundschau, article of 16 January. Online at: https://www.fr.de/frankfurt/kulturelle-filmfoerderung-staerken-11258825.html (accessed on 2 December 2020). ↩︎
24
Maier, Karl (2014): Kulturelle Filmförderung stärken: Abschied in Hessen. In: Film- & Medienbüro Niedersachsen: Rundbrief 115. Online at: http://filmbuero-nds.de/rundbrief/jahrgang-2014/rundbrief-115.html (accessed on 27 October 2020). ↩︎
25
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26
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Dosch, Andreas (2013): Für Hessen auf der Berlinale. In: Journal Frankfurt, article of 6 February. Online at: https://www.journal-frankfurt.de/journal_news/Kultur-9/Fuer-Hessen-auf-der-Berlinale-Alles-fuer-den-Film-17868.html (accessed on 27 October 2020). ↩︎
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Seipel, Regine (2019): Kulturelle Filmförderung stärken. In: Frankfurter Rundschau, article of 16 January. Online at: https://www.fr.de/frankfurt/kulturelle-filmfoerderung-staerken-11258825.html (accessed on 2 December 2020). ↩︎
30
Dosch, Andreas (2013): Für Hessen auf der Berlinale. In: Journal Frankfurt, article of 6 February. Online at: https://www.journal-frankfurt.de/journal_news/Kultur-9/Fuer-Hessen-auf-der-Berlinale-Alles-fuer-den-Film-17868.html (accessed on 27 October 2020). ↩︎
31
Seipel, Regine (2019): Kulturelle Filmförderung stärken. In: Frankfurter Rundschau, article of 16 January. Online at: https://www.fr.de/frankfurt/kulturelle-filmfoerderung-staerken-11258825.html (accessed on 2 December 2020). ↩︎
32
Lemhöfer, Anne (2009): Mehr als Türme. Interview mit Maria Wismeth. In: Frankfurter Rundschau, article of 19 October. Online at: https://www.fr.de/rhein-main/mehr-tuerme-11496391.html (accessed on 9 October 2020). ↩︎
33
Seipel, Regine (2019): Kulturelle Filmförderung stärken. In: Frankfurter Rundschau, article of 16 January. Online at: https://www.fr.de/frankfurt/kulturelle-filmfoerderung-staerken-11258825.html (accessed on 2 December 2020). ↩︎
34
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35
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36
Seipel, Regine (2019): Kulturelle Filmförderung stärken. In: Frankfurter Rundschau, article of 16 January. Online at: https://www.fr.de/frankfurt/kulturelle-filmfoerderung-staerken-11258825.html (accessed on 2 December 2020). ↩︎
37
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39
Madeisky, Uschi (2015): Zum Abschied von der Branche gefeiert. In: GRIP, No. 51. Online at: https://www.filmhaus-frankfurt.de/de/grip/grip-51/zum-abschied-von-der-branche-gefeiert/ (accessed on 27 October 2020). ↩︎
40
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41
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42
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43
DDP (2000): „Bündnis für den Film“: Die Nächste Gesprächsrunde findet im Herbst statt. In: Tagesspiegel, article of 22 August. Online at: https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/buendnis-fuer-den-film-die-naechste-gespraechsrunde-findet-im-herbst-statt/161166.html (accessed on 9 October 2020). ↩︎
44
hgr (2000): Nach zwei Jahren: Das „Bündnis für Film“ tritt auf der Stelle. In: Die Welt, article of 30 September. Online at: https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article536048/Nach-zwei-Jahren-Das-Buendnis-fuer-Film-tritt-auf-der-Stelle.html (accessed on 18 October 2020). ↩︎
45
Kinothek Asta Nielsen e. V. (n.d.): Verein. In: Website of the Kinothek Asta Nielsen e. V. Online at: http://kinothek-asta-nielsen.de/verein/ (accessed on 10 December 2020). ↩︎
46
n.a. (1980): Programmheft „Mondpalast“, September. ↩︎
47
n.a. (1981): Programmheft „Mondpalast“, February. ↩︎
48
n.a. (1983): Programmheft „Mondpalast“, September. ↩︎
49
Wismeth, Maria (2000): Bildnis einer Trinkerin – narzißtisch-pessimistischer Kult der Einsamkeit. In: Frauen und Film, No. 62, June, pp. 48–49. ↩︎

Feminist, Film, Film funding, Women and media

Empfohlene Zitierweise

: Maria Wismeth. In: Equalpedia.

Online unter:

https://www.equalpedia.org/en/maria-wismeth-2/

(Zugriff am 26. September 2026).

Erstellt am: 22. September 2026
Zuletzt bearbeitet am: 24. September 2026
Biographies, Culture, Film
Feminist, Film, Film funding, Women and media