Ulrike Ottinger (born 6 June 1942) is a German filmmaker and photographer.

Ottinger was borin in Konstanz, Germany. Her mother, Maria Weinberg, was a journalist and her father, Ulrich Ottinger, was a painter.

In 1959, Ottinger began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and worked as a painter.

From 1962 to 1968, Ottinger worked as a freelance artist in Paris and studied etching with Johnny Friedlaender, among other techniques. They participated in several exhibitions.

Ottinger's films have been said to "reject or parody the conventions of art cinema and search for new ways to construct visual pleasure, creating various spectator positions usually neglected or marginalized by cinematic address." Her films include strong elements of stylization and fantasy, as well as ethnographic explorations.

In 1966 she wrote her first screenplay, entitled Die Mongolische Doppelschublade.

Ottinger returned to West Germany in 1969 and, in cooperation with the Film Seminar at the University of Konstanz, founded the film club "Visuell", which she directed until 1972. She also headed a gallery and the associated press, which edited works by contemporary artists.

During this time, she met Tabea Blumenschein and Magdalena Montezuma, both of whom have been lead actors in her films since 1972. Ottinger developed her own surrealist film style which was marked by an abandonment of a linear plot and long scenes lingering on mostly female casts in extravagant costumes.