Werner Dütsch, a commissioning editor at the German television station WDR, was, for a time, one of the most influential figures in the film culture of the nation – and surely recognisable to many an older regular of IFFR! In Rotterdam, Dütsch was either looking for films he could buy for TV, or presenting co-productions. Together with his colleagues at the WDR film department, he became a mentor to generations of German cinephiles due to the film historical documentaries they produced, as well as thanks to the directors they cultivated for the television masses, including luminaries like Johan van der Keuken, Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub, but also genre movie axioms like Joseph H. Lewis and Jack Arnold.