Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Fassbinder redirects here. For other names related to Fassbinder, see Fass (onomastics). |
Rainer Fassbinder in 1977. |
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (
May 31,
1945 –
June 10,
1982) was a
German movie director and
actor, one of the most important representatives of the
New German Cinema.
He 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 1/2 hour
Berlin Alexanderplatz), but he also worked as an
actor (film and theatre),
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
Kurt Raab and
Hanna Schygulla), technicians and cameramen (notably
Michael Ballhaus) in a similar way to
John Cassavetes.
Fassbinder died of a
drug overdose at the age of 37. There is debate as to whether this was a deliberate drug overdose. 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).
Bibliographies
*
Fassbinder Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)*http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de
*http://www.rafamorata.com/fassbinder.html
*
Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database*
filmportal.de including biography, filmography, photos, texts
*
Rainer Fassbinder's Gravesite
