John Gottowt was an Austrian actor, stage director and film director for theatres and silent movies.

The Student of Prague is a 1913 German silent horror film. It is loosely based on "William Wilson", a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, the poem The December Night by Alfred de Musset, and Faust. The film was remade in 1926, under the same title The Student of Prague. Another remake was produced in 1935. The film stars Paul Wegener in his film debut. It is generally deemed to be the first German art film. Composer Josef Weiss wrote a piano score to accompany the film. It was the first film score written for a German language film in the history of cinema.