Biography
Christoph Rüter was born in Gelsenkirchen on 1st of January, 1957. He studied theatre science, philosophy and psychology in Münster. From 1985 through 1989, he worked as a dramaturge with the Freie Volksbühne Berlin. In 1989, Rüter began working on his first documentary film "Die Zeit ist aus den Fugen", which focuses on Heiner Müller’s work on "Hamlet" and his play "Hamletmaschine" at the Deutsches Theater in East Berlin.
In the following years, Rüter created numerous documentary films and essayistic reportages, mostly for the German broadcasters 3sat and Arte. Important works of his include "Inter City Express/Zwischen Städten Schnell" (1993) and "Neugier & Risiko" (1997) about the Hebbel Theater in Berlin. He also realized a series of films about artists, such as "Klaus Kinski - Ich bin kein Schauspieler" (2000), "Curt Bois - Charakterkomiker" (2001), "Einfach und Stolz" (2004) about the actress Angela Winkler, and "Jetzt bin ich allein" (2008) about the actor Ulrich Mühe.
For the big screen, he shot "Brasch - Das Wünschen und das Fürchten" (2011), a very personal film about writer Thomas Brasch, who Rüter had worked with at the Volksbühne. The film premiered at the Berlinale in February 2011 and was released in German cinemas later that same year.
Again for TV, he realized "Krimis und das Dritte Reich" (2016) about three successful European writers, whose crime stories are set in the Nazi era. In parallel, Rüter started working on his next documentary feature film: "Hans Blumenberg - Der unsichtbare Philosoph", in which four former students of Hans Blumenberg give a personal account of the impact of his work on their lives. The film was released in German cinemas in November 2018.