The Berlin International Film Festival mourns the loss of festival photographer Erika Rabau
Long-time Berlinale photographer Erika Rabau passed away on April10, 2016. For over 40 years, she accompanied the Berlinale as an official festival photographer, where she used her special status to make possible a glimpse behind the scenes, in addition to snapshots of stars and festival glamour.
“Erika Rabau’s Berlinale photos are documents of unforgettable festival moments. We will miss Erika, her distinctive energy and her temperament, as well as her willfulness, on the Red Carpet. We had a lot of fun together, and she loved the brightly striped Berlinale scarf I wrapped around her neck for her tireless work on the Red Carpet. We will miss her,” says Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.
In 1972, Dr. Alfred Bauer, founding director of the Berlin International Film Festival, noticed the energetic young photographer and soon hired her as an official Berlinale photographer. Ever since, Erika Rabau shot for the festival seamlessly, year after year. Neither the Red Carpet nor the Press Conferences would have been imaginable without her presence in an either blue or black leather suit. She was forced to sit out for the first time due to illness in February of 2016.
Besides her career as a photographer, Erika Rabau also played more than 30 small parts in films over the years, working with directors like Wim Wenders, R.W. Fassbinder and, above all, Lothar Lambert.
And in 2008, she herself became the subject of a film. The Berlinale screened the documentary Erika Rabau: Puck of Berlin (Director: Samson Vicent) in the Panorama section.
For her work on and with the Berlin International Film Festival, Erika Rabau was awarded a Berlinale Camera in 2004.
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