Percy Adlon is best known for his film "Bagdad Cafe" aka "Out of Rosenheim". He was born in Munich, June 1, 1935, and grew up in Ammerland/Starnbergersee, in the Bavarian countryside. He studied art and theater history, and German literature at Munich's Ludwig-Maximilian University, took acting and singing classes, and was a member of the student theater group. He started his professional career as an actor, became interested in radio work, was a narrator and editor of literature series and a presenter and voice-over actor in television for 10 years. In 1970 he made his first short film for the Bavarian Television, followed by more than 150 documentary films about art and the human condition. His first one-hour portrait "Tomi Ungerer's Landleben" started a very successful co-operation with Benigna von Keyserlingk who became the Adlon's television producer of documentaries and feature films. Percy and Eleonore Adlon formed their film production company, pelemele FILM GmbH, in 1978. Their first project was the docu-drama "The Guardian and his Poet" about the Swiss poet Robert Walser for which they won 2 Adolf-Grimme Award s in Gold (best writer/director, best actor). Their first feature film "Celeste", drew international attention at Cannes in 1981. "Bagdad Cafe", 1987, started their co-operation with Dietrich v. Watzdorf (Bayerischer Rundfunk) The story of Jasmin Münchgstettner and the Cafe owner Brenda became a symbol of friendship and warmth, and is loved all over the globe. Marianne Sägebrecht whom Percy Adlon discovered in 1979 became a cult figure, and Bob Telson's song "Calling You" a classic. Percy and Eleonore Adlon live in Pacific Palisades, California, working together with their son Felix whose first feature film "Eat Your Heart Out" (1997) they produced with their US company Leora Films. Felix was also the lead in the Adlons' docu-fantasy "The Glamorous World of the Adlon Hotel". (Bavarian TV award ). In 1997 Percy Adlon started working with a digital camera. He filmed a three hour special about the draftsman Tomi Ungerer for ARTE; Mozart's "Magic Flute" with images of today's Berlin; Esa-Pekka Salonen and the LA Phil; 22 short films based on unknown masterpieces by Johann Strauss, Jr.; a 90 minute film about his past and present relationship with his hometown Munich, "Mein Munchen", and he completed his tenth feature film "Hawaiian Gardens" and a documentary Koenig's Sphere - the story of the monumental world trade center sculpture that was damaged but not destroyed in the 9/11 attack. Remembering his roots in theater, in 2002 Percy Adlon directed Donizetti's Elisir d'Amore at the State Opera unter den Linden, Berlin, followed in March 2004 by the world premiere of Wilfried Hiller's opera Wolkenstein at the State Opera Nuernberg, Germany. Percy and Eleonore Adlon's recent work also includes their own adaptation of Bagdad Cafe for the stage as a musical. Music by Bob Telson. It premiered on July 6, 2004, at the Barcelona Teatre Musical. In 2007, the Adlon's completed "Orbela's People", a documentary about a time with a Maasai family in Ngorongoro, Tanzania. Percy Adlon is the recipient of the Officer's Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Bavarian Order of Merit. He is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Father of Felix O. AdlonMember of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS)His great-grandfather, Lorenz Adlon, opened the famous Hotel Adlon in Berlin.Father-in-law of Pamela AdlonWas member of the dramatic jury at the Sundance Film Festival in 1993.
Out of Rosenheim (Bagdad Café) is a look into the minds and lives of some people most of us have met but few of us know much about. This movie exemplifies how one person in the right place can affect a community of lives. The Adlons seem to express the view that all change and "magic" comes from hard work and mutual acceptance. A well-crafted view of the lives of tourists everywhere and the difficulties they can face. A Whimsical and lovingly Photographed look at the vast wasteland that is too often ignored by much of humanity.
A woman who grew up in a small town in Alaska goes to the public library to try and find out who her parents were. She was brought to town as a baby in a cardboard box with "Kotzebue" on it, which is the name of the town and also the name of the family that founded the town. She eventually befriends the librarian, an East German immigrant who lost her husband while escaping from behind the Iron Curtain. They help each other try to find closure to the events in their past.
7.5 
