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Books by and about Fassbinder

Fassbinder_Werkverzeichnis_rechtsThere are currently a number of new publications on the market dealing with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and his work – or written by the filmmaker himself. The volume of RWF’s own writings Im Land des Apfelbaums: Gedichte und Prosa aus den Kölner Jahren 1962/63 (In the Land of the Apple Tree: Poems and Prose from the Cologne Years) recently reissued by Schirmer/Mosel is a testament to Fassbinder’s literary talent at an early age – added to is an original review of 2005 by novelist and theater author Albert Ostermeier. The texts collected here were written when he was 17, during the brief period he lived with his father and attended evening school. This month Schirmer/Mosel is also publishing the lavishly illustrated R.W. Fassbinder: Die Filme: Illustriertes Werkverzeichnis 1969–1982 (R.W. Fassbinder: The Films: An Illustrated Catalog of Works 1969-1982), which is edited by Juliane Maria Lorenz and Lothar Schirmer.

Supplementing the exhibition Fassbinder – NOW, which opens to the public on Wednesday in the Martin-Gropius-Bau, is a catalog titled Film/Stoffe. Kostüme Barbara Baum (Film/Materials. Barbara Baum Costumes), which is devoted to the work of the costume designer who outfitted eight of Fassbinder’s productions, including BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN and QUERELLE.

On 5 May the publishers Matrosenblau Verlag are bringing out the book “Hinter den Bildern die Welt: Die untergegangene Bundesrepublik in den Filmen von Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Ein Briefwechsel” (Behind the Images, the World. The lost Federal Republic of Germany in the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder – An exchange of letters). In the book the writer Hans-Eckardt Wenzel and the politician Antje Vollmer discuss works by the director made available to them by the Fassbinder Foundation. Fassbinder’s films are from a time in which West Germany still existed, yet when the two interlocutors encountered them in the cinema, they were surprised to find how current and relevant they remain today. A highly personal and political exchange of letters.

The book Goodbye, Fassbinder: Das deutsche Kino nach 1989, which was published by Alexander Verlag at the end of last year, deals with the question of what came after RWF. Its central focus is German cinema, which was suddenly forced to get by without one of its most well-known and productive protagonists.

More information:

Press release by Schirmer/Mosel

Fassbinder – NOW press release

Matrosenblau Verlag website

Alexander Verlag website

Film info on BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ

Film info on THE MARRIAGE OF MARIA BRAUN

Film info on QUERELLE

 

Photo left: © Matrosenblau
Photo right: © Schirmer/Mosel

 

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