Rosa von Praunheim was born in 1942 as Holger Mischwitzky in Riga, Latvia. His artist name Rosa refers to the pink triangle (rosa Winkel) that homosexuals were forced to wear in the Nazi concentration camps. He has made more than 70 films, many of which deal with his favorite subjects: homosexuality, older women, New York City. In 1971 he achieved notoriety throughout Germany with his film It’s not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, but the Situation in Which He Lives. The self-critical film was crucial to the founding of the new German gay movement; over 50 political gay groups sprang up in the wake of this film’s showing in the cities and towns of Germany. His film Army of Lovers documented the American gay and lesbian movement from the 1950’s to 1976