Robert Dassanowsky(1956-2023)

Born in New York and raised in Los Angeles and Europe, Robert Dassanowsky attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, the AFI Conservatory and holds a Ph.D. from UCLA. A widely published film and literary historian, he is also an award-winning playwright and has written for television. As Professor of Germanic Studies and Film at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Dassanowsky is particularly known for his influential work on Austrian author Alexander Lernet-Holenia, on controversial German filmmaker and photographer Leni Riefenstahl, and on Austrian and Central European cinema in general. In 1999 he reestablished Belvedere Film, the postwar film company his mother Elfi von Dassanowsky co-founded, and has since been active as an independent international producer.