Bettina Ehrhardt
Since the mid-1990s, I have been directing and producing documentaries with bce films. They have taken me into very different worlds – to the Sherpas in the Himalayas and the Tuareg in the Sahara, to Cape Horn, and into the Vodoun tradition of West Africa. My films explore climate change and the “Flying Rivers” of the Amazon, questions of freedom and social responsibility.
Music – classical and contemporary – and the people who shape it are at the heart of many of my films: composers, conductors, festival directors.
I studied Romance languages and literature, linguistics and semiotics, philosophy, art history and film in Hamburg, Munich and Lyon. I graduated from Université Lumière Lyon 2 with a Maîtrise de lettres modernes, writing my thesis on Henri Michaux.
My films have been made for or co-produced with ARTE, ZDF, WDR, SWR, BR, 3sat, SRF, SVT, Radio-Canada, ARTV and RAI.
I have written travel features as well as book and film reviews for the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
I live in Munich and Berlin.
Selected films
Music
- 2026 Open End – Michael Haefliger, The Festival Maker 55 min., SRFWith the support of Thyll-Stiftung Stansstad, Abreziel Foundation, Karitative Stiftung Dr. Gerber-ten-Bosch, the Swisslos Lottery Fund of the Canton of Lucerne, Lucerne Festival Friends Foundation, Ernst Göhner Foundation, Arthur Waser Foundation, Meuli-Stiftung Davos and an anonymous donor
- 2022 Ohren auf! Hundert Jahre Donaueschinger Musiktage Open Your Ears! 100 Years of the Donaueschingen Festival 90 min., SWR
- 2020 Wir fangen ganz von vorn an – Neue Musik für ein Deutschland nach dem Krieg We are Starting All Over Again – New Music for Postwar Germany 56 min., ZDF / ARTEWith the support of FFF Bayern
- 2017 Markus Hinterhäuser – Ein Pianist leitet die Salzburger Festspiele Markus Hinterhäuser – A Pianist at the Helm of the Salzburg Festival 25 min., WDR / ARTE, in collaboration with Unitel
- 2016 Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds – The Conductor Zubin Mehta 90 min., theatrical version, ZDF / ARTE, in collaboration with UnitelGerman Record Critics’ Award; Building Bridges Jury Prize, Atlanta Jewish Film Festival 2018 TV-version Zubin Mehta – Dirigent und Weltbürger Zubin Mehta – Conductor and Citizen of the World 53 min., ZDF / ARTE, in collaboration with Unitel
- 2015 Nine Secrets – Ute Lemper singt Paulo Coelho Nine Secrets – Ute Lemper Sings Paulo Coelho 60 min., ZDF / ARTE; co-produced with m-quadrat
- 2013 Mönch und Dionysos – Der Komponist Bernd Alois Zimmermann Monk and Dionysos – The Composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann 60 min., WDR
- 2012 Klangmyriaden – Pierre Boulez’ Pli selon pli, portrait de Mallarmé Myriads of Sounds – Pierre Boulez’ „Pli selon pli, portrait de Mallarmé“ 60 min., WDR
- 2011 Ich bin dein Labyrinth – Rihm. Nietzsche. Dionysos I am Your Labyrinth – Rihm. Nietzsche. Dionysos 52 min., WDR
- 2010 Kent Nagano – Montreal Symphony 97 min., co-produced with Ciné qua non, Montréal, ZDFtheaterkanal, National Film Board of Canada, Radio-Canada and ARTVWith the support of FFF Bayern and Téléfilm Canada.Best Canadian Film, International Festival of Films on Art, Montréal
- 2006 Wo ich noch nie war – Der Komponist Helmut Lachenmann Where I’ve never been before – The Composer Helmut Lachenmann 87 min., WDR / SRF; co-produced with Schwenkfilm.With the support of MFG Film Funding Baden-Württemberg, GEMA Foundation, Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne
- 2004 Intolleranza – Luigi Nono’s Scenic Action seen today 58 min., WDR and MusikTriennale KölnBest Film on Art, Asolo Art Film Festival, 2004; Best Essay Film Award, International Festival of Films on Art, Montréal 2005; Award of the President of the Italian Republic for Best Film on Italian Music, Music Doc Fest Rome 2005; SACEM Prize, Classique en Images, Louvre, Radio France Musique, 2006
- 2004 We Play – Chick Corea & Bobby McFerrin 60 min., SWR / ARTE, co-produced with Loft Music
- 2001 A Trail on the Water – Abbado. Nono. Pollini 60 min., WDR / ARTE, with the support of Carnegie Hall, New YorkCo-written with Wolfgang SchreiberErnst von Siemens Music Foundation Award; Jury Prize, International Festival of Films on Art, Montréal 2002
- 1998 Tristan und Isolde – Ausstieg in die Utopie Tristan and Isolde – Exit Into Utopia Peter Konwitschny and Zubin Mehta Reinterpret Wagner’s Music Drama35 min., BR, co-written with Wolfgang Schreiber
- 1995 Oslo Drumming – With Pulsation Lots of Space The percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky and the trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær at the Rainbow Studio in Oslo45 min., co-produced with Manfred Eicher, ECM; co-written with Wolfgang Schreiber
World
- 2022 Mama Irene – Healer of the Andes 75 min., co-directed with Elisabeth MöhlmannProduced by Blaze a Path Productions, New York
- 2022 Drug Quality and Safety in Africa 28 min., Two Projects by Prof. Julia Stingl at the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM)
- 2018 Flying Rivers – No Forest, No Water 26 min., GIZ / BMZWorld premiere at the World Water Forum, Brasília 2018
- 2012 Wir wollten die Republik verändern – Der Liberale Gerhart Baum We Wanted to Change the Republic – The Liberal Politician Gerhart Baum 90 min., theatrical version, 45 min., TV version; WDRWith the support of the Film and Media Foundation NRW
- 2011 Hans-Dietrich Genscher und Hildegard Hamm-Brücher im Gespräch Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Hildegard Hamm-Brücher in Conversation 35 min. each
- 2009 Der Erwählte des Vodoun – Der, dem das Meer gehört L’Élu du Vodoun – Celui à qui appartient la mer Vodoun, The Chosen One – He to Whom the Sea Belongs 90 min., ARTE France; co-produced with Novaprod OWL and Zadig ProductionsWith the support of the CNCAudience Award at the Quintessence Film Festival, Ouidah, Benin 2010
- 2009 Die Sklavenstraße von Ouidah – Voodoo und Versöhnung in Westafrika The Slave Route of Ouidah – Voodoo and Reconciliation in West Africa 30 min., BR, „Kompass“ – Reports from AbroadMedia Award of the Conference of German State Film Services 2009
- 2004 Electricity for the Sherpas – Modern Times at Mount Everest 30 min., BR, „Kompass“ – Reports from AbroadToura d’Or Award 2005
- 2003 Gegen den Strom – Das Kloster St. Nikola in Passau Against the Current – The Monastery of St. Nikola in Passau 45 min., part of the series „Donauklöster“ (Danube Monasteries); produced by BR, ORF and TelluxCommissioning editor: Martin Posselt
- 2002 Wir werden immer wieder in die Wüste gehen – Bei den Tuareg in Südalgerien We will Always Return to the Desert – Among the Tuareg in Southern Algeria 30 min., BR, „Kompass“ – Reports from Abroad
- 2001 Charles de Foucauld und der Garten Gottes – Spurensuche in der Sahara Charles de Foucauld and God’s Garden – In His Footsteps Through the Sahara 45 min., BR
- 1997 Cabo de Hornos a vela – A bordo del gran velero ucraniano Khersones Cape Horn Under Sail – Aboard the Ukrainian Windjammer Khersones 1h, co-produced with Bustamante Producciones, Santiago de Chile
Art and Theatre
- 2017 Sculpting the Space, Fred Sandback’s Sculptural Studies 12 min., for the Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich
- 2016 Helmut Klewan – Leidenschaften eines Sammlers Helmut Klewan – A Collector’s Passions 30 min., film for the exhibition „Rendezvous of Artists – Masterpieces from the Klewan Collection“ at the Schaezlerpalais Augsburg
- 1997 De Sade in Berlin – Yoshi Oida inszeniert Madame de Sade von Yukio Mishima De Sade in Berlin – Yoshi Oida Stages Yukio Mishima’s „Madame de Sade“ 35 min., 3sat; produced by Central FilmFeaturing Tina Engel, Corinna Kirchhoff, Imogen Kogge, Jutta Lampe and Libgart Schwarz
Performances
- 2023 Richard Wagner, Tristan und Isolde – Staged by Stephan Märki 3 hrs. 51 min., Staatstheater Cottbus. Philharmonic Orchestra and Opera Chorus of Staatstheater Cottbus, Alexander Merzyn
- 2022 Elaine Mitchener – On Being Human As Praxis 61 min., SWR, Donaueschinger Musiktage; MAM – Manufaktur für aktuelle Musik
- 2018 Georges Bizet, Carmen – Staged by Stephan Märki 2 hrs., Bern Symphony Orchestra, Chorus of Konzert Theater Bern, Children’s Choir of Singschule Köniz, Mario Venzago
- 2017 Alphaville – Heartbreak City 4 min., Music Video, Universal Music
- 2015 Nine Secrets – Ute Lemper Sings Paulo Coelho 100 min., ZDF / ARTE Concert; co-produced with m-quadrat
- 2012 Pierre Boulez’ Pli selon pli, portrait de Mallarmé 70 min., Ensemble Musikfabrik Köln, Pascal Rophé
- 2011 Wolfgang Rihm, Dionysos – Eine Opernphantasie 2 hrs. 55 min., WDR, Unitel; Libretto by Wolfgang Rihm based on Friedrich Nietzsche’s Dionysos-DithyrambenStaatskapelle Berlin, Ingo MetzmacherWorld premiere at the Salzburg Festival 2010
- 2004 Helmut Lachenmann, Ausklang, Piano Concerto 50 min., Ensemble Modern Orchestra, Markus Stenz; Ueli Wiget, pianoRecorded at the Lucerne Festival
- 2004 Helmut Lachenmann, Concertini 42 min., Ensemble Modern, Brad LubmanWorld Premiere at the Lucerne Festival
- 2004 Helmut Lachenmann, Zwei Gefühle 23 min., Ensemble Modern, Brad Lubman; with Helmut Lachenmann as narratorRecorded at the Lucerne Festival
- 2004 Bobby McFerrin and the Chick Corea New Trio – Live at the Verbier Festival 60 min., co-produced with Loft Music, Gauting
- 2000 Luigi Nono, … sofferte onde serene … 14 min., Maurizio PolliniRecorded at the Salzburg Festival
- 2000 Luigi Nono, Prometeo suite 22 min., Berlin Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado