RAINER WERNER FASSBINDER

'Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder' (May 31, 1945 – June 10, 1982) was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.

Contents

Biography

Work

Filmography

Documentaries about Fassbinder

Bibliographies

External links

Biography

Fassbinder was born in the Bavarian town of Bad Wörishofen. In his short life he not only made 43 films (including two shorts and the 15 ½ hour ''Berlin Alexanderplatz''), but he also worked as an actor (film and theatre), author, cameraman, composer, designer, editor, producer and theatre manager.
Fassbinder's prodigious cinematic output is legendary. He made, on average, a film every hundred days. His intense discipline and phenomenal creative energy when working were in violent contrast with the excesses of abasement and tortured relationships of his personal life with the people he drew around him in a surrogate family of actors (including Udo Kier, Kurt Raab and Hanna Schygulla), Günther Kaufmann technicians and cameramen (notably Michael Ballhaus) and composer Peer Raben in a similar way to John Cassavetes.
Fassbinder was openly gay and many of his films dealt with gay characters - keeping with his interest in characters that were deemed outsiders by society.
Fassbinder died at the age of 37 from an overdose of cocaine and sleeping pills. There is debate as to whether the overdose was accidental or not. His death is often considered to mark the end of New German Cinema.
There is a biography in English, ''Fassbinder: The Life and Work of a Provocative Genius'' by Christian Braad Thomsen, translated by Martin Chalmers (ISBN 0-571-17842-1).

Work

Famous for his frenetic pace in film-making, Fassbinder completed 41 film projects between 1969 and 1982, including 24 feature-length films for cinema, 14 for television and 2 TV series. His first 3 films were B&W shorts financed by his aged lover, Christoph Roser, who also starred in two or three of them along Fassbinder, Fassbinder's mother (Lilo Pempeit), and some of his future regulars (Irm Hermann, Michael Fengler).

Filmography

★ ''This Night'' (1965, nonextant)

★ ''Der Stadtstreicher'' (''The City Tramp'', 1966)

★ ''Das Kleine Chaos'' (''The Little Chaos'', 1966/67)

★ ''Liebe ist kälter als der Tod'' (''Love Is Colder Than Death'', 1969)

★ ''Katzelmacher'' (''Cock Artist'', 1969)

★ ''Götter der Pest'' (''Gods of the Plague'', 1970)

★ ''Das Kaffeehaus'' (1970) (TV)

★ ''Warum läuft Herr R. Amok?'' (''Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?'', 1970)

★ ''Der Amerikanische Soldat'' (''The American Soldier'', 1970)

★ ''Die Niklashauser Fart'' (''The Niklashausen Journey'', 1970) (TV)

★ ''Rio das Mortes'' (1971) (TV)

★ ''Pioniere in Ingolstadt'' (''Pioneers in Ingolstadt'', 1971) (TV)

★ ''Whity'' (1971)

★ ''Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte'' (''Beware of a Holy Whore'', 1971)

★ ''Händler der vier Jahreszeiten'' (''The Merchant of Four Seasons'', 1972)

★ ''Die Bitteren Tränen der Petra von Kant'' (''The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant'', 1972)

★ ''Acht Stunden sind kein Tag'' (''Eight Hours Are Not a Day'', 1972-1973) (TV series, 5 episodes)

★ ''Bremer Freiheit'' (''Bremen Freedom'', 1972) (TV)

★ ''Wildwechsel'' (''Jail Bait'', 1973) (TV)

★ ''Welt am Draht'' (''World on a Wire'', 1973) (TV)

★ ''Nora Helmer'' (1974) (TV)

★ '' (''Ali: Fear Eats the Soul'', 1974)

★ ''Martha'' (1974) (TV)

★ ''Effi Briest'' (complete title: ''Fontane - Effi Briest oder: Viele, die eine Ahnung haben von ihren Möglichkeiten und Bedürfnissen und dennoch das herrschende System in ihrem Kopf akzeptieren durch ihre Taten und es somit festigen und durchaus bestätigen'', 1974)

★ ''Wie ein Vogel auf dem Draht'' (''Like a Bird on a Wire'', 1975) (TV)

★ ''Faustrecht der Freiheit'' (''Fox and His Friends'', 1975)

★ ''Mutter Küsters' Fahrt zum Himmel'' (''Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven'', 1975)

★ ''Angst vor der Angst'' (''Fear of Fear'', 1975) (TV)

★ ''Ich will doch nur, daß ihr mich liebt'' (''I Only Want You to Love Me'', 1976) (TV)

★ ''Satansbraten'' (''Satan's Brew'', 1976)

★ ''Chinesisches Roulette'' (''Chinese Roulette'', 1976)

★ ''Frauen in New York'' (''Women in New York'', 1977) (TV)

★ ''Bolwieser'' (''The Stationmaster's Wife'', 1977) (TV)

★ ''Deutschland im Herbst'' (''Germany in Autumn'', 1978) (Fassbinder directed 26-minute episode for this omnibus film.)

★ ''Despair'' (''Despair - Eine Reise ins Licht'', 1978)

★ ''In einem Jahr mit 13 Monden'' (''In a Year of 13 Moons'', 1978)

★ ''Die Ehe der Maria Braun'' (''The Marriage of Maria Braun'', 1979)

★ ''Die Dritte Generation'' (''The Third Generation'', 1979)

★ ''Berlin Alexanderplatz'' (1980) (TV series, 14 episodes)

★ ''Lili Marleen'' (1981)

★ ''Theater in Trance'' (1981)

★ ''Lola'' (1981)

★ ''Die Sehnsucht der Veronika Voss'' (''Veronika Voss'', 1982)

★ ''Querelle'' (1982)

Documentaries about Fassbinder

Year	English Title	German Title	Director
1982	''RWF Last Works''	''RWF Letzte Arbeiten''	Wolf Gremm
2000	''Fassbinder's Women''	''Für mich gab's nur noch Fassbinder''	Rosa von Praunheim

Bibliographies

External links

★ http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de

★ http://www.rafamorata.com/fassbinder.html

★

★ Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database

★ filmportal.de including biography, filmography, photos, texts

★ Overview of Fassbinder's cinematic and theatre careers

★ ''Holy Whore'': Remembering Rainer Werner Fassbinder

★ Fassbinder Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)

★ Interview with Hanna Schygulla about Fassbinder

★ Short film clip with Fassbinder's editor Julianne Lorenz

★ Essay on Fassbinder's Films in German

★ Rainer Fassbinder's Gravesite

★ DVD review of Whity