Starting a research and preservation process on German Peruvian filmmakers Christine and Kurt Rosenthal

26 May 2025

On 22 and 23 May, Isabel Seguí attended the international workshop "The Rosenthals: Mainz-Lima-Mainz" organised by Alexandra Schneider and Mark Siegel at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. The event, part of the programme Arsenal On Location, gathered film scholars, curators, archivists, friends and family to discuss the lives and work of Christine and Kurt Rosenthal, German filmmakers who resided in Peru for 26 years. The workshop aimed to kickstart a collaborative project to preserve their films, custodied at the Deutsche Kinemathek and Arsenal.

Julio Gonzales (PUCP), who will visit our department next fall as a British Academy Visiting Fellow, presented his ongoing research to locate the films of the Rosenthals and introduced a screening of archival 16 mm copies of their documentaries MADE IN USA (1974) and ORO EN MADRE DE DIOS (1981).

Alexandra Schneider, María Barea and Isabel Seguí talking at a table — From left to right, Alexandra Schneider (Universität Mainz), María Barea (filmmaker and close friend and collaborator of the Rosenthals), and Isabel Seguí (St Andrews).