Fassbinder - lieben ohne zu fordern

Rainer Werner Fassbinder was probably Germany’s most significant post-war director. His swift and dramatic demise at the early age of 37 in 1982 left behind a vacuum in European filmmaking that has yet to be filled, as well as a body of unique, multi-layered and multifarious work of astonishing consistency and rigour. From 1969 onwards, Danish director and film historian Christian Braad Thomsen maintained a close yet respectfully distanced friendship with Fassbinder. Fassbinder - Lieben ohne zu fordern is based on his personal memories as well as a series of conversations and interviews he held with Fassbinder and his mother Lilo in the 1970s. The film also contains current interviews with Irm Hermann and Harry Baer, both of whom were close to Fassbinder. Beginning with Fassbinder’s extraordinary childhood in traumatised post-war Germany, the film, which is divided into seven chapters, provides an illuminating, intimate and moving tribute that bears witness to the enduring relevance of both the man and his work. Today in particular his oeuvre continues to provoke us to engage with controversy and tension – be it aesthetical, creative or critical.

details

  • Runtime

    106 min
  • Country

    Denmark
  • Year of Presentation

    2015
  • Year of Production

    2015
  • Director

    Christian Braad Thomsen
  • Cast

    Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Irm Hermann, Harry Baer, Lilo Pempeit, Andrea Schober, Margit Carstensen
  • Production Company

    Kollektiv Film ApS
  • Berlinale Section

    Panorama
  • Berlinale Category

    Feature Film

Biography Christian Braad Thomsen

Born in 1940, he made his debut at the Venice Film Festival in 1972 with DEAR IRENE. Alongside feature films he has also directed documentaries about Karen Blixen, amongst others, and has written numerous books about film history greats such as Hitchcock, Pasolini and Godard. In 1984 his LADIES ON THE ROCK received a special screening in the Berlinale Competition. His film THE BLUE  MONK won the Carl Th. Dreyer Prize in Copenhagen in 1999.

Filmography Christian Braad Thomsen

1971 Dear Irene | 1972 The Squattor Trilogy | 1972 Dusan Makavejev | 1976 Wellspring of my World | 1999 Morten Korch - You Are My Sunshine | 2006 The Voice of Iran - Mohammed Reza Shajarian | 2011 Blues for Montmartre

Biography Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Born in Bad Wörishofen on 31.5.1945, he died in Munich on 10.6.1982. He began making films and stage plays in Munich in 1966/67. He directed his first feature film in 1969. An actor, dramatist, radio playwright and producer, he was the most productive force in New German Cinema. Today, all rights to Fassbinder’s works are owned by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation. The foundation’s aim is to preserve and disseminate the director’s comprehensive oeuvre.