Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 25, 2026

Muscha

Jürgen Muschalek, known as Muscha, was a German artist and film director. He is known for his cult classic film Decoder.

Last revised
Jul 25, 2026
Read time
≈ 2 min
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354 w
Citations
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Wikipedia ↗
Muscha
Born
Jürgen Muschalek

(1951-11-28)28 November 1951
Meinerzhagen, Germany
DiedJuly 2003(2003-07-00) (aged 51)
Occupations
  • Film director
  • artist
  • musician
Notable workDecoder (1984)

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.

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 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 Syndrome4 and it's available to watch in the streaming platform Tubi.5

Muscha ended his life on 29 July 2003.67

Filmography

Short films

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

Feature films

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

References

  1. "Katalog | Stiftung imai". stiftung-imai.de. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  2. Teipel, Jürgen (2001). Verschwende Deine Jugend (in German). Suhrkamp Verlag. ISBN 978-3-518-39771-8. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  3. Humanes Töten - IMDb, retrieved 26 June 2022
  4. "Decoder – Vinegar Syndrome". 10 August 2019. Archived from the original on 10 August 2019. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  5. "Watch Decoder (1984) – Free Movies | Tubi". 18 May 2021. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  6. "Überall - Ciencia ficción y ciberpunk en el cine alemán". Goethe-Institut website (Spain).
  7. Seibert, Marcus; Fürst, Christian (2022). Achtung, Achtung, Hier spricht das Filmbüro!. Strzelecki Books. ISBN 978-3-910298-01-9.
  8. "Blitzkrieg-Bop | Stiftung imai". stiftung-imai.de. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  9. "Suicide | Stiftung imai". stiftung-imai.de. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  10. "Mirakel Wip | Stiftung imai". stiftung-imai.de. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
Further reading

Further reading

  • Maeck, Klaus; Hartmann, Walter (1984). DECODER-Handbuch – Muzak, Cut-Ups, Piraten, Frogs, Burger, Der Film (in German). Duisburg: TRIKONT Verlag. ISBN 978-3-7700-2067-6.
External links