When the camera gazes from the deck of the ship towards the endless horizon of the Mediterranean, the picture of a woman who travelled tirelessly across the world takes shape. Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, who gradually went out of the picture, as it were: from the age of 30, she refused to be photographed any more.
- Berlinale (2000)
- Jerusalem Film Festival (2000)
- Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (2000)
- Kassel Dokumentary Film & Video Festival (2000)
- Frauenfilmfestival, Köln (2000)
- Krems - Kontraste (2000)
- Vancouver International Film Festival (2000)
- Viennale Film Festival (1999)
She was born in Vienna where she also spent her childhood. After her studies in journalism and history of art in Vienna, Tel Aviv and New York, she got her PhD degree in 1977 at the University of Vienna. She has since contributed as a journalist to several Austrian and Swiss magazines.
In 1978 she (co-)founded the distribution company Filmladen, where she was active for seven years. During this period, Ruth Beckermann started to make films and write books. Since 1985 she has been working as a writer and filmmaker. Her film The Dreamed Ones was selected at many international festivals and won several awards. In 2018, Ruth Beckermann finished her latest film The Waldheim Waltz and won, among other awards, the Glashütte-Original Documentary Award from the Berlin International Film Festival.
Filmography: The Dreamed Ones (2016); The Missing Image (2015); Those Who Go Those Who Stay (2013); Jackson/Marker 4am (2012); American Passages (2011); Mozart Enigma (2006); Zorros Bar Mizwa (2006); Homemad(E) (2001); A Fleeting Passage to the Orient (1999); East of War (1996); Towards Jerusalem (1991); Paper Bridge (1987); Return to Vienna (1984); The Steel Hammer Out There on the Grass (1981); Suddenly, a Streik (1978); Arena Squatted (1977).