Jörg Buttgereit was the focus of a dedicated section of the 20th Edition of MOTELX, the Lisbon International Horror Film Festival from September 3rd to 13th 2026. He presented a masterclass entitled “Things to Do with the Dead in West-Berlin” and also participated in a conversation entitled “Talking About Death (Never Killed Anyone)” organized by the Goethe-Institut Portugal. – Photos by Renata Auliana / Motel X
The Golden Ticket of the B-Retina Festival 2026 in Barcelona will be awarded to the legendary and iconoclastic German director Jörg Buttgereit, born in West Berlin in 1963. A filmmaker, playwright and film critic, he became the foremost exponent of European ultra-gore cinema in the late 1980s, standing out on the international underground film scene.
The highlight of his visit to the B-Retina Festival will be the special screening of his masterpiece, Nekromantik (1987), a disturbing necrophiliac love triangle in which the corpse becomes the central object of a domestic passion, with poetry of decay and genuine practical effects. We will screen a special version never before seen in Spain, digitised directly from 35 mm celluloid. A print that preserves the harshness, the grain and the colours of the original with the utmost cinematic fidelity to the 1980s, exactly as its creator conceived it. A session that vindicates freedom of expression after years of banning, censorship and court proceedings. On September the 19th 2026 you will have the unique chance to see Nekromantik on the big screen, in this special version and alongside Jörg Buttgereit, as part of the 11th edition of the B-Retina Festival.
Jörg Buttgereit will be a special guest at MOTELX, the Lisbon International Horror Film Festival in September 2026.
Talking About Death (Never Killed Anyone) – A special section created in partnership with Goethe-Institut Portugal, featuring three central works of German-language genre cinema: „The Death King“ (1989), by Jörg Buttgereit / „Nekromantik“ (1987), by Jörg Buttgereit / „Nosferatu the Vampyre“ (1979), by Werner Herzog.
Talking About Death (Never Killed Anyone) offers a reflection on death through panels and three essential works of German horror cinema, which approach it as metaphor, obsession, fate and existential experience. Jörg Buttgereit will attend MOTELX from 5th to 7th of September 2026 for panels, a Masterclass and personal introductions to his films.
The only experiences as formative as the movies that made us are the cinemas we saw them in. Severin Films welcomes you to MY FLEAPIT, MY PALACE, an international exploration with friends, colleagues and icons through the movie theaters and moviegoing adventures of their youth.
In this episode, writer/director Jörg Buttgereit takes us on a tour of Berlin’s iconic cinema culture, from the still-active Xenon (where Buttgereit worked as a teen projectionist and filmed several memorable scenes from NEKROMANTIK) to the repurposed Metropol (whose exterior is familiar to all fans of DEMONS), the long-gone Royal-Palast (once Europe’s largest screen) and more, with special guests that include German Godzilla, The Damned (sans a dosed Dave Vanian), Christiane F. and COMBAT SHOCK writer/director Buddy Giovinazzo who opines, “If your date can sit through NEKROMANTIK, marry them.”
How does a no-budget filmmaker, once outlawed on the pretext that he glorified violence, hold sway in a changing world? The 3rd revised and updated edition of the book Sex Murder Art – The Films of Jörg Buttgereit is published by Headpress in the UK.
Originally published in 1994, Sex Murder Art is the definitive account of the director’s work, filled with contemporaneous interviews and framed around the author’s visit to Berlin for the filming of Schramm. Unknown at the time, this ambitious psychedelic serial killer feature would prove Buttgereit’s last; at the age of thirty he effectively retired from making movies.
Revised and expanded, this new edition looks at the volatile era in which Buttgereit emerged, and the youth culture of a Berlin divided by the Wall. It questions how and why a no-budget filmmaker, once outlawed on the pretext that he glorified violence, can still hold sway as a cause célèbre. In the 2020s, the author David Kerekes returns to a very different Berlin for a new series of interviews, considers his own place in this changed world, and meets a fresh legion of Buttgereit fans while on a road trip to promote German Angst, an anthology movie of which Buttgereit is part.
Detailed analysis of Buttgereit’s feature films, plus the director’s early short film work, complement this comprehensive and illuminating study. Sex Murder Art remains the ultimate testament to the obsession, paranoia and politics of underground filmmaking.
SEX MURDER ART
The Films of Jörg Buttgereit (revised and updated)
Author: David Kerekes
Publisher: Headpress (UK)
Street Date: November 5, 2026
Special Edition Hardback only available from Headpress
Join us on Sat, May 23 for the Headpress 35th Anniversary Extravaganza – a day in Manchester of author talks and panels celebrating cult films and TV, weird music, and a Q&A with special guest Jörg Buttgereit.
Jörg Buttgereits Underground-Klassiker Nekromantik (1987) erscheint im Mai 2026 erstmals offiziell in Italien. Das Label Rustblade veröffentlicht den Film auf Blu-ray und DVD in verschiedenen Ausführungen mit diversen Extras und Devotionalien.
Außerdem erscheint der Nekromantik Soundtrack auf CD, als Picture Disc LP (limitiert auf 450 Stück) und auf „Blood Red Liquid Vinyl“ (limitiert auf 69 Exemplare).
„Who knows what those Germans do?!“ New Jörg Buttgereit interview at „The Horror, The Horror!“
Patrizia Dahlia Thompson has a great conversation with Jörg Buttgereit at „The Horror, The Horror!“ Podcast. Another true independent artist! Topics Include: How Jörg was always queer without being gay / Jörg’s upbringing and West Berlin in the 80s / why he stepped away from feature filmmaking etc.
A special „evening of death and love“ featuring Jörg Buttgereit, director of Nekromantik, with a talk dedicated to the film and his artistic career. This will be followed by Hermann Kopp, who will perform live the most iconic tracks from the original soundtrack, before the screening of the film, released for the first time in Italy in April 2026 on Blu-ray and vinyl via Rustblade Records.
The event will take place on April 26, 2026 at Legend Club in Milan, and is limited to 150 seated guests, ensuring a unique and immersive experience.
Presale tickets
Lange schon werde ich gelöchert, wann endlich der dritte CAPTAIN BERLIN Sammelband erscheint. Nun ist es endlich soweit: Der CAPTAIN BERLIN SUPERSAMMELBAND # 3 kann ab sofort im Comicfachhandel erworben oder im Weissblech Online-Shop bestellt werden.
Der Band enthält sämtliche Comics aus den Heften CAPTAIN BERLIN # 9, CAPTAIN BERLIN #10, CAPTAIN BERLIN #11 und CAPTAIN BERLIN #12. – Bizarre Bösewichter wollen Captain Berlin den Garaus machen! Seine alte Erzfeindin Ilse von Blitzen kehrt zurück – angeschwollen auf Riesengröße. Space-Hitler beamt ihn ins All und lässt seine Robo-Blondie auf ihn los. Und auch sonst hat der Held der Hauptstadt es nicht leicht: Ein unechter Captain Berlin will ihm seine Identität stehlen, man geht gerichtlich gegen ihn vor – und dann soll er auch noch für den ganzen Schaden bezahlen, der bei den Riesenschlägereien verursacht wurde …
Jörg Buttgereit`s
CAPTAIN BERLIN Supersammelband # 3
Weissblech Comics
116 Seiten, Paperback im Heftformat, Voll in Farbe
ISBN 978-3-86959-150-6
Ab 24.11.2025 findet am Schauspiel Köln eine neue Gesprächsreihe über Pop- und Trivialkultur mit Jörg Buttgereit und Christian Fuchs statt: „EIN SUPERHEISSES DING – Der Film-Talk des Grauens!“
Menschen, Monster, Mutationen: Arthouse-Horror-Regisseur Jörg Buttgereit und FM4-Radiomacher Christian Fuchs laden zu cineastisch-diskursiven Talkshows, in denen der Mainstream irrlichternd mit Trivialkultur kollidiert. Exkursionen ins Reich japanischer Riesenmonster, bizarrer Arthouse-Werke und in ein Kino der Grenzüberschreitungen stehen auf der Agenda. Aber: Nur für Erwachsene!
EIN SUPERHEISSES DING – Der Film-Talk des Grauens!
Ausgabe 1 am 24.11.25: „Godzillas 71. Geburtstag!“ – Zwei Monsterspezialisten verbeugen sich vor dem Kaiju-König.
Der nächste Film-Talk des Grauens mit dem Titel „Triggeralarm: Schlimme Filme“ findet am Freitag den 6. Februar 2026 im Schauspiel Köln statt.
