Eugen Schuhmacher

Eugen Schuhmacher (actually Eugen Josef Robert Schuhmacher) (October 4, 1906 Stuttgart, Germany ? January 8, 1973 Munich, Germany) was a German zoologist and pioneer of animal documentaries. Besides Bernhard Grzimek and Heinz Sielmann he belongs to the German documentary filmmakers with an international reputation.

Personal background

Eugen Schuhmacher's career began in the early 1930s with educational and cultural shortfilms about the wildlife in South America and the German Reich. In the next four decades he made documentaries (feature length and shortfilms) about animals, the Inka culture, and the natives from North America, South America and Papua New Guinea. This movies were awarded at festivals in Berlin, Venice, Cannes and Trent. His feature film In the Shadow of the Karakoram (Im Schatten des Karakorum) received the German Film Prize for best documentary in 1955. In 1958 he discovered the German television for his work and he made one of the first television series about endangered species. 37 episodes of On the Track of rare Animals (Auf den Spuren seltener Tiere) were shoot, a series which has taken the audience on a journey to Galapagos, Papua New Guinea, Africa, and other exotic places. This series was very popular in German television. Schuhmacher has died at age 66 of cancer. His last movie Europas Paradiese (Europe's paradises) had its premiere after his death.

Related Topics:
South America - German Reich - Inka - Natives - North America - Papua New Guinea - Berlin - Venice - Cannes - Trent - Karakoram - Galapagos - Africa

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