On the death of Wolfgang Petersen
These stations show his best works
Wolfgang Petersen was 81 years old.
© imago images/Everett Collection
Arte changed its program after the death of Wolfgang Petersen. These stations also show well-known works by the director.
Director Wolfgang Petersen (1941-2022) died on August 12 at the age of 81. He was internationally known as a filmmaker and made it to Hollywood. More and more German TV stations are paying tribute to him and his legacy and are presenting his works.
On Friday (August 19) at 3:30 p.m., the arte broadcaster will be showing the documentary “Das Boot – Global Success from the Deep”, which is about Petersen’s big film “Das Boot”. In 1976, the largest film studios in West Germany, the Bavaria Filmstudios, tried to make a German-American blockbuster out of the novel by the then war correspondent Lothar-Günther Buchheim. Buchheim vetoed it, the Americans showed him the soldiers too clichéd. The German director Wolfgang Petersen should take the helm and save “Das Boot”. Despite setbacks, he finished filming.
Successful “crime scene: certificate of maturity”
At prime time, arte will then show Petersen’s last “crime scene: certificate of maturity” from 1977 (8:15 p.m.). It is one of the most famous and most broadcast “Tatort” editions and was one of the few episodes that was also broadcast in the USA. In it, student Michael Harms is killed and his crush Sina reports that a man tried to rape her. Michael Harms rushed to her aid, the man grabbed a stone, killed Michael and then fled – but that wasn’t the case. The NDR and Radio Bremen are already showing the “crime scene” on August 18 at 11:35 p.m.
WDR will also be broadcasting a well-known work by the director on August 18: “Smog” (11:45 p.m.) is a dystopia from 1973. The film is about a fictitious smog catastrophe in the Ruhr area based on the screenplay by Wolfgang Menge (1924- 2012) and directed by Wolfgang Petersen. After a threatening smog weather situation, the environmental catastrophe is slowly looming. At first the residents are surprised that it isn’t getting light, then the housewives’ nylon stockings dissolve in the acid mist…