Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus (born 27 July 1936) is a Germanfilm editor who was a member of theNew German Cinema movement and is noted particularly for her many films with directorWerner Herzog. Between 1966 and 1986, she was credited on more than twenty-five feature films and feature-length documentaries.[1]
Beate Mainka-Jellinghaus is the daughter of Hildegard (née Farbowski) and George Mainka, a bank official. She was born in the village of Vogt, nearOppeln,[2] which was then a part of Germany. At the end of the Second World War she and her parents left Oppeln, which became part ofPoland; they relocated toAnsbach. She was musically inclined, and her secondary school education from 1946 to 1951 included ballet instruction and acting; following her graduation in 1951, she attended a private film school inWiesbaden to train as a film editor.[3]
After schooling, Mainka worked for five months in a copy center, and became involved as an editorial assistant in the production of short documentary films by Harry Piel. In 1955, Mainka moved toMunich, where she worked atBavaria Film as an assistant film editor, working with editor Anna Höllering on several feature films directed byRolf Hansen.[3] Her first credit as an editor was for the television productionEin gewisser Judas (A Certain Judas) (1958), which was the only film directed byOskar Werner (under the pseudonym "Erasmus Nothnagel").
In 1959 she became acquainted with directorEdgar Reitz, with whom she worked on short documentaries through about 1966. Reitz introduced her to the directorAlexander Kluge; Reitz, Kluge, and Mainka became early exponents of theNew German Cinema. Mainka's long collaboration with Kluge began withPorträt einer Bewährung (Policeman's Lot) (1964), and extended through 1986 including the filmsYesterday Girl (1966) andArtists Under the Big Top: Perplexed (1968).
In 1967 and 1968 Mainka-Jellinghaus taught film editing at theUlm School of Design, where she was a member of theInstitut für Filmgestaltung (Institute for Film Design) founded by Edgar Reitz and Alexander Kluge.[3] Starting with the 1968 film,Signs of Life, Mainka-Jellinghaus worked with director Werner Herzog on twenty films, including several of Herzog's best-known films such asAguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) andFitzcarraldo (1982). Her last film with Herzog wasWhere the Green Ants Dream (1984).
Following her final film with Kluge,Miscellaneous News (1986), she retired into private life; the New German Cinema era was over.
Mainka-Jellinghaus is among the editors interviewed for the 2006 documentarySchnitte in Raum und Zeit (Cutting in Space and Time), which was produced by Gabriele Voss.[1]
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