Fassbinder

Fassbinder. Please click to enlarge.

    Director: Annekatrin Hendel
    Country: Germany­
    Year: 2015
    Length: 92 min
    Rating: K16
    Format: DCP
    Cinematography: Martin Farkas
    Editing: Jörg Hauschild
    Audio: Patrick Veigel
    Music: Christian "Flake" Lorenz
    Production: Maria Wischnewski / IT WORKS! Medien
Language: German
Subtitles: English
    Featuring: Margit Carstensen, Irm Hermann, Juliane Maria Lorenz, Hanna Schygulla, Harry Baer, Hark Bohm, Hubert Gilli, Wolf Gremm, Günter Rohrbach, Fritz Müller-Scherz, Volker Schlöndorff, Thomas Schühly - archival footage: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
    In collaboration with Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation.
    DocPoint, Helsinki. Screener link viewed at home.
    Andorra: Monday 25.1. at 18:00. Korjaamo / Galleria-sali : Thursday 28.1. at 18:30. Kinopalatsi 7: Sunday 31.1. at 21:15

Festival catalogue and website: "In 1981, Rainer Werner Fassbinder died at the age of 37, holding a bloody manuscript for a film about Rosa Luxemburg’s life. During the preceding decade, the manic film director had already created almost 50 films for the silver screen. Fassbinder’s death marked the end of an era, leaving West Germany struggling to understand its history in absence of its most relentless critic."

"Through rare interviews, those close to Fassbinder talk with honesty and love about what it was like to live and work with the drug­addicted political critic. The film paints a picture of a charismatic tyrant whose life goal was to break the post­war taboos of his country. Neither people nor ideas were saved from Fassbinger’s sharp critique. Sexual norms, Hitler’s legacy, bourgeois culture, and leftist terrorism – they all received the same treatment."

"But the unconditional and extreme lifestyle came with a high price: series of strained personal relationships and a complete burnout. The documentary features a comprehensive selection of archival material that effectively guides us into the expansive web of work, love, and obsession that was to become his fate." Saara Tamminen / Translation: Sanna Parikka

AA: This is a period of excellent documentary portraits of film artists. Annekatrin Hendel's authorized portrait of Rainer Werner Fassbinder belongs to the same class with Stig Björkman's Jag är Ingrid and Ron Mann's Altman. They are all intimate portraits with authorized access to the artist's personal archive with a lot of previously unknown material, including home movies, outtakes, and other special items. They can be added to the artist's oeuvre as distinguished posthumous reflections and overviews. All are rewarding for a programmer as introductions to the artists.

First of all I must say I especially enjoyed the clips from Fassbinder's movies themselves. I have seen many but not all, and some not for a long while. There are also true rarities such as outtakes from Liebe ist kälter als der Tod or glimpses from Fassbinder's theater production of Miss Julie with him as Jean. Volker Schlöndorff's comments on Fassbinder's contribution to Deutschland im Herbst are remarkable. Besides the best-known Fassbinder star ensemble it is touching to see and hear Margarethe von Trotta in Der amerikanische Soldat.

Gradually we learn to understand something of the miracle of Fassbinder's creativity and productivity. He learned to work with a small team and keep many projects going: one in production, one in pre-production, one in post-production. And he had a strong and trusted team.

I like all the interviews. It cannot have been easy to get them. Fassbinder was a terrible guy, and in this movie we learn that two of his male lovers died after he had abandoned them, including the leading male actor of Angst essen Seele auf, who was a decent and calm guy. "I had to lead the life I led".

I like the honesty, I like the fact that there is a mystery and a contradiction, with no neat solution or explanation. This is a story of Fassbinder, but this is also a story of a talented group of artists, of New German Cinema, and of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The documentary compilation contains many kinds of materials, including tv footage and amateur footage. There is also animated material specially produced for this feature. The interviews are beautifully photographed.

FILMPORTAL INFO:

FILMPORTAL INFO:

Regie:    Annekatrin Hendel
Drehbuch:    Annekatrin Hendel (Konzept)
Idee:    Juliane Maria Lorenz
Kamera:    Martin Farkas
Szenenbild:    Albrecht Konrad
Animation:    Leif Heanzo
Schnitt:    Jörg Hauschild
Ton:    Patrick Veigel
Mitwirkung:    Margit Carstensen, Irm Hermann, Juliane Maria Lorenz, Hanna Schygulla, Harry Baer, Hark Bohm, Hubert Gilli, Wolf Gremm, Günter Rohrbach, Fritz Müller-Scherz, Volker Schlöndorff, Thomas Schühly, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Produktionsfirma:    It Works! Medien GmbH (Berlin)
in Co-Produktion mit:    Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation (Berlin), Südwestrundfunk (SWR) (Baden-Baden), Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) (Köln), Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) (Berlin + Potsdam), Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) (München)
in Zusammenarbeit mit:    Arte Deutschland TV GmbH (Baden-Baden)
Produzent:    Annekatrin Hendel, Juliane Maria Lorenz, Simone Reuter (SWR), Petra Felber (BR), Andrea Hanke (WDR), Rolf Bergmann (rbb)
Producer:    Maria Wischnewski
Erstverleih:    Real Fiction Filmverleih (Köln)
Filmförderung:    FilmFernsehFonds Bayern GmbH (FFFB) (München), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg GmbH (MBB) (Potsdam), Film- und Medien Stiftung NRW (Düsseldorf)
Länge:    92 min
Format:    DCP, 1:1,85
Bild/Ton:    Farbe, Dolby
Aufführung:    Kinostart (DE): 30.04.2015;
TV-Erstsendung (DE): 25.05.2015, Arte

Dokumentarisches Porträt des legendären Filmemachers Rainer Werner Fassbinder, der 1982 im Alter von nur 37 Jahren starb. Er gehört zu den Ikonen des Neuen Deutschen Films, drehte über 40 Filme und behandelte auf oft provokante Weise Themen wie Familie, Ehe, Terrorismus, Kapitalismus, Fremdenfeindlichkeit und Korruption. Er scharte einen künstlerischen "Clan" um sich und machte Schauspielerinnen wie Margit Carstensen, Hanna Schygulla und Irm Hermann berühmt. Fassbinder war ein von seiner Arbeit besessener Künstler, führte ein exzessives Leben, konsumierte Alkohol und andere Drogen. Neben Weggefährten erzählen in dem Film auch Regisseure nachfolgender Generationen von Fassbinders Einfluss auf ihr Werk. Darüber hinaus gewährt "Die Fassbinder Story" erstmals Zugang zu exklusiven Bildern, Texten und Tönen aus dem Archiv der Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation.