Biography

After school, Frank Beyer studied theater studies. He started his career with an internship at the theater and as a stage dramaturge. He later attended the Film School in Prague (FAMU). While still a student, he became Kurt Maetzig's assistant and accompanied films such as "Castles and Cats" (1957). With his graduation film "Two Mothers" from 1957, based on Berthold Brecht's "The Caucasian Chalk Circle", he also made his directorial debut. Beyer made anti-fascist films such as "Naked Among Wolves" from 1963 and "Jakob the Liar" from 1974. But he also worked on film comedies.

With the genre piece "Karbid und Sauerampfer" from 1963, he made his breakthrough as a celebrated director of comedies. Frank Beyer became the most important filmmaker in the GDR alongside Gerhard Klein, Joachim Kunert and Konrad Wolf, but his works also caused political controversy. His work "Trace of the Stones" premiered in 1966, but was removed from the cinema program after three days - due to anti-socialist content. The film with Manfred Krug was not shown in cinemas again until 1989. The director repeatedly challenged the ideas of those responsible for GDR culture.

This was followed by his expulsion from the state film production company DEFA. Beyer was then hired for the theater in Dresden, but he was constantly exposed to obstacles from the state. In 1980 he received permission to make films in the Federal Republic of Germany. The showing of his 1977 film "The Hideaway" was initially banned in the GDR because the main actor, Manfred Krug, had fled to West Germany. The film was only shown to the public a year later. In 1983, Beyer's film "The Stay" was not shown at the Berlinale due to Polish protests: a German SS man is innocently accused of murder while in Polish captivity.

Beyer's late film works dealt with socially critical and political themes. This is how the title "End of Innocence" came about in 1991, which is about the Germans and the atomic bomb based on a template by Wolfgang Menge. "She and He" followed in 1992, about a marital crisis. In 1995 "Nikolaikirche", a film about a family during the time of reunification, was made. Two years later, Beyer remade Carl Zuckmayer's "The Captain of Köpenick" with Harald Juhnke. The director delivered autobiographical information about Manfred Krug with the film title "Abgehaut". Other important film titles include "Königskinder" (1962), "The Seven Affairs of Dona Juanita" (1973), "The Second Skin" (1981), "Bockshorn" (1983) and "The Big Feast" from 1992.

- IMDb mini biography by: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth