11/27/201501/12/2016

Newsletter December 2015

It is not only this Fassbinder anniversary year that is slowly drawing to an end but also Eva Matthes’ role as a police inspector in the popular German crime series “Tatort”. After fourteen years working on episodes set around Lake Constance, the actress will give her farewell performance in a show that “has it all.” The last episode, UND WOFÜR ES SICH ZU LEBEN LOHNT (What is Worth Living For), is currently being shot and features several actresses who worked regularly with Fassbinder. Along with Mattes, the episode features performances by Irm Hermann, Margit Carstensen and Hanna Schygulla. Not to be missed!

This is in any case a special month for Hanna Schygulla. On 25 December she will celebrate her seventy-second birthday, for which we send her our best wishes. As an actress she worked on twenty of Fassbinder’s films and shaped his work perhaps more than any other collaborator. While today she remains an internationally renowned performer who has worked with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Béla Tarr and Aleksandr Sokurov, she is also someone who enjoys looking back at a long and exciting career, and will be doing so for the public on two occasions in December. On 8 December she will be reading from her biography “Wach auf und träume” (Wake Up and Dream) live in the Berlin bookshop Karl Marx Buchhandlung (more information and tickets at: https://www.karlmarx-buchhandlung.com/_/event/hanna-schygulla-wach-auf-und-traume/), and on 12 December she can be seen performing “17/70 eine Zeitreise” (17/70 – a Journey through Time) at the Staatstheater Kassel ( http://www.staatstheater-kassel.de/hanna-schygulla-denkt-an-rainer-werner-fassbinder-in-worten-und-liedern,s127316.html), a piece with which she marked the anniversary of Fassbinder’s birth in summer this year.

This month is also a special one for another of Fassbinder’s former collaborators. On 12 December the cinematographer Jürgen Jürges turns 75. Jürges not only worked on Fassbinder films such as FEAR EATS THE SOUL, EFFI BRIEST (second phase of shooting), FEAR OF FEAR and SATAN’S BREW but was an active participant in the New German Cinema movement, working with directors such as Roland Klick, Ulli Lommel, Helma Sanders-Brahms and Wim Wenders. He has continued to work with talented contemporary directors, including Florian Gallenberger, and most recently performed cinematographic duties on Wolfgang Becker’s ICH UND KAMINSKI (Kaminski and Me). We wish Jürgen Jürges the very best and would also like to congratulate him on the Marburger Kamerapreis (Marburg Cinematography Award) he is due to receive in 2016.

The coming weeks will again see several exciting events that we would like to inform you about. From 30 November to 6 December the Tbilisi International Film Festival (http://tbilisifilmfestival.ge/index.php?lang=2) is taking place in the Georgian capital and will include screenings of BEWARE OF A HOLY WHORE and THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT. There will also be screenings of Volker Schlöndorff’s adaptation of Brecht’s BAAL – with Fassbinder in the title role – and Christian Braad Thomsen’s personal remembrance FASSBINDER – TO LOVE WITHOUT DEMANDS. Meanwhile Annekatrin Hendel’s documentary FASSBINDER, which was coproduced by the RWFF, is coming to the big screen in Finland and Russia. In Helsinski it is being screened at the DocPoint-Festival (http://docpoint.info/en/), which runs from 25-31 January 2016, and on 4 December it is being shown in St. Petersburg at the Festival of German Film

(http://www.goethe.de/ins/ru/pet/ver/def/deindex.htm). On 15 September Juliane Maria Lorenz will also be in St. Petersburg. As part of a three-day event marking the opening of the International Cultural Forum, she will be taking part in a discussion entitled “Movies on a Big Screen: Restoration and Development.” More information will be available soon on this page: http://culturalforum.ru/en/about

Fassbinder’s work is also featuring on stage. December will see performances of The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant in the Slovenian capital Ljubljana. Directed by Arthur Nauzyciel, the production can be seen on 2, 9, 12 and 17 December in the Mini Teater (http://www.mini-teater.si/en/articles/1446/the-bitter-tears-of-petra-von-kant ). On 10 December a production of Katzelmacher directed by Andreas Rehschuh will premiere at the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam. This is a studio production performed by third-year acting students from the Konrad Wolf Babelsburg Film University. There will be further performances on 11 and 17 December and on 21 and 22 January 2016 (http://www.hansottotheater.de/spielplan/spielplan/katzelmacher/514/).

With Christmas approaching, we would also like to suggest a couple of gift ideas. The Italian label Ripley’s Home Video (https://www.facebook.com/RIPLEYS-HOME-VIDEO-118686660055/) has extended its Fassbinder collection with two films. It released FOX AND HIS FRIENDS on 25 November on DVD and on 9 December will release EFFI BRIEST. The book “Der Müll, die Stadt und der Skandal: Fassbinder und der Antisemitismus heute” (Garbage, the City and the Scandal: Fassbinder and Antisemitism Today) published by Nomen Verlag (http://www.nomen-verlag.de/admin/bilder_nomen/55_Fassbinder%20fuer%20NOMEN-Web.pdf) explores the controversy around the play Garbage, the City and Death. Although the play had already been performed internationally, including in the USA, France, Holland and Israel, its official German premiere did not take place until 2009, when it was performed at the Theater an der Ruhr in Mühlheim in a production directed by Roberto Ciulli. The new book brings together different points of view that both defend and criticize the play, showing that it remains a work that evokes strong reactions.

As for us: Over December we will be focusing on internal archival work and for this reason the Fassbinder Foundation will remain closed for the entire month. All inquiries to the RWFF will therefore only be answered in writing. We would thus like to take this opportunity to wish all our readers and friends a restorative holiday and a Happy New Year. We will be contactable by telephone again from 11 January.

Film info on FEAR OF FEAR:

http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/movies/angst-vor-der-angst/?lang=en

Film info on SATAN’S BREW:

http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/movies/satansbraten/?lang=en

Film info on BEWARE OF A HOLY WHORE:

http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/movies/warnung-vor-einer-heiligen-nutte/?lang=en

Film info on THE BITTER TEARS OF PETRA VON KANT:

http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/movies/die-bitteren-traenen-der-petra-von-kant/?lang=en

Film info on FOX AND HIS FRIENDS:

http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/movies/faustrecht-der-freiheit/?lang=en

Film info on EFFI BRIEST:

http://www.fassbinderfoundation.de/movies/fontane-effi-briest/?lang=en