Muscha

Jürgen Muschalek (28 September 1951 – 29 July 2003), known as Muscha, was a German artist and film director. He is known for his cult classic film Decoder.

Muscha
Born	Jürgen Muschalek (1951-11-28)28 November 1951 Meinerzhagen, Germany
Died	July 2003(2003-07-00) (aged 51)
Occupations	Film director artist musician
Notable work	Decoder (1984)

Biography

Muscha was born in Meinerzhagen, Germany on 28 September 1951. He was a childhood friend of Trini Trimpop, a German rock musician and film director, who directed many projects with him.^[1]

He was one of guitarists of the band Charley's Girls and was heavily involved in the punk scene.^[2]

He was nominated in 1981, alongside co-director Trini Trimpop, to the Max Ophüls prize for his avant-garde film Humanes Tötem (1980).^{[3][better source needed]} It was his first feature film.

He eventually moved to Berlin and made his second feature film, Decoder (1984). Many counterculture personalities were involved, including Christiane F, Genesis P-Orridge, FM Einheit, William S. Borroughs, among others. The film was re-released in 2019 by Vinegar Syndrome^[4] and it's available to watch in the streaming platform Tubi.^[5]

Muscha ended his life on 29 July 2003.^[6][7]

Filmography

Short films

• Blitzkrieg-Bop (1977)^[8]
• Suicide (1978)^[9]
• Mirakel Wip (1979)^[10]

Feature films

• Humanes Töten (Humane killing) (1980)
• Decoder (1984)