RIP Jochen Bludau

German producer, director, playwright, writer and actor Jochen Bludau died in Elspe, Sauerland, Germany on March 9, 2023. He was 82. Bludau was the heart and soul of the Elspe Karl May Festival and played many roles on stage and behind the curtains, He wrote all the plays from the Karl May novels, appeared as Winnetou for many years and then switched to playing villains. He was instrumental in getting Pierre Brice to play the stage character of his film character of Winnetou. Bludau was also a co-producer on the 1993 Euro-western "Texas - Doc Snyder hält die Welt in Atem". In the summer of 2013, Jochen Bludau was presented with the aforementioned "Scharlih", the honorary award of the Karl May Archive, which until then had mainly only been awarded to participants in the Karl May films. This showed the special status that the festival maker from the Sauerland enjoyed in the scene and will probably always enjoy.