Ulrike Ottinger was born on June 6, 1942. She lived in Paris from 1962 to 1968, working as a painter and photographer. In 1966 she wrote her first screenplay, directed her first movie Laookon & Sons in 1972-73. In 1969, she founded the film club "Visuell" and and the art gallery and edition "galeriepress" in Konstanz. Since 1973 she has been living in Berlin. In addition to making films she stages operas and plays, and as well as exhibiting her photographs at international exhibitors and showing her films at retrospectives.