Marianne Schaefer Trench

While still in Germany, Marianne Schaefer Trench progressed from painter to video artist to full-fledged film director.  In 1984 she produced, wrote and directed the 35-mm theatrical release, “Tears in Florence”. This feature film, which was presented at the Berlin Film Festival and was the surprise hit at the 1985 Max Ophüls Prize competition, got national and international distribution and was shown at the Museum of Modern Art and other prestigious venues.

Schaefer Trench’s documentaries range from investigative journalism to “fly-on-the-wall” style to cinema vérité. Her short films address mainly socio-cultural subjects and trends in fine art, music, subculture and high-technology. In 1990 she directed the ground-breaking feature film “Cyberpunk,” an overview of the computer counter-culture long before it was recognized as such.