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Munich Film Museum to hold comprehensive RWF retrospective

2. Bild (rechts) für Filmmuseum München_30012 examples of “Fassbinder’s Munich” screening from April to June

All the films selected for this retrospective marking the thirtieth anniversary of Fassbinder’s death have one thing in common: they are set and were shot in the Bavarian capital and its environs. This year Munich’s theaters are presenting several of RWF’s works, and the city’s theater museum is holding an exhibition from May 24 to September 9 focusing on Fassbinder’s role as a theater director. In its retrospective, the Munich Film Museum is also focusing on a particular subject. While there is an inseparable connection between Fassbinder and Munich, the city rarely plays a major role in his films. In stark contrast to the role of Berlin in BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, Munich’s metropolitan character hardly emerges at all in the director’s films. As film journalist Hans Günther Pflaum puts it, “By contrast, Fassbinder’s Munich is always at risk of sinking into anonymity, something that above all the heroes of his early gangster films battle against.” The role of Munich settings essentially consists in providing the description of a certain milieu. External shots frequently feature the same restricted perspective that constitutes a significant stylistic device – beside the mirror effects – for describing a sense of hopelessness in the interior shots.

The screening schedule has been organized chronologically and thus presents a changing view of the city over more than a decade. The films will all be screened on Tuesdays at 9 p.m.:

  • April 3 LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH (1969)
  • April 10 KATZELMACHER (1969)
  • April 17 GODS OF THE PLAGUE (1970)
  • April 24 WHY DOES HERR R. RUN AMOK? (1970)
  • May 1 THE AMERICAN SOLDIER (1970)
  • May 15 RIO DAS MORTES (1971)
  • May 22 MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS (1972)
  • May29 FEAR EATS THE SOUL (1974)
  • June 5 FIST RIGHT OF FREEDOM (1975)
  • June 12 I ONLY WANT YOU TO LOVE ME (1976)
  • June 19 SATAN’S BREW (1976)
  • June 26 VERONIKA VOSS (1982)

Further information
Programmheft des Filmmuseums München (Munich Film Museum program)

The film museum is a department of the Münchner Stadtmuseum, St.-Jakobs-Platz 1, 80331 Munich, Tel. 089/233 96450.

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