Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Director

1945-05-31 – 1982-06-10 · Bad Wörishofen, Germany

Rainer Werner Fassbinder (31 May 1945 — 10 June 1982) was a German film director, screenwriter, and actor. Considered one of the most important figures in the New German Cinema, Fassbinder was prolific; in a professional career less than fifteen years, he completed forty feature-length films, two television film series, three short films, four video productions, twenty-four stage plays, and four radio plays.

He had tortured, personal relationships with the actors and technicians around him who formed a surrogate family. However, his pictures demonstrate his deep sensitivity to social outsiders and his hatred of institutionalized violence. He ruthlessly attacked both German bourgeois society and the larger limitations of humanity.

Fassbinder died in June 1982 at the age of 37 from a lethal cocktail of cocaine and barbiturates. His death has often been cited as the event that ended the New German Cinema movement.

• Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974) — Eugen, Original Music Composer, Production Design, Producer, Director, Screenplay
• The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979) — Peddler, Director, Idea, Editor
• The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant (1972) — Screenplay, Director, Producer
• Querelle (1982) — Editor, Screenplay, Director
• Veronika Voss (1982) — Kinobesucher (uncredited), Director, Screenplay, Co-Producer
• Fox and His Friends (1975) — Franz "Fox" Bieberkopf, Producer, Writer, Director
• Lola (1981) — Screenplay, Director, Editor, Line Producer
• Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000) — Writer
• Peter von Kant (2022) — Original Story
• Chinese Roulette (1977) — Writer, Director
• Lili Marleen (1981) — Günther Weissenborn (uncredited), Editor, Director, Screenplay
• In a Year with 13 Moons (1978) — Director, Art Direction, Writer, Editor, Director of Photography, Producer
• Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (1970) — Screenplay, Director, Editor
• The Merchant of Four Seasons (1972) — Zucker, Screenplay, Director, Original Music Composer, Producer
• Martha (1974) — Director, Screenplay
• Beware of a Holy Whore (1971) — Sascha, Director, Writer, Editor
• Love Is Colder Than Death (1970) — Franz, Screenplay, Director, Editor
• Katzelmacher (1969) — Jorgos, Screenplay, Director, Editor, Production Design, Theatre Play
• Effi Briest (1974) — Narrator (voice) (uncredited), Screenplay, Producer, Director
• The Third Generation (1979) — Director, Producer, Screenplay, Director of Photography, Camera Operator
• Despair (1978) — Director, Editor
• Tenderness of the Wolves (1973) — Wittowski, Producer
• Satan’s Brew (1976) — Director, Writer
• Mother Küsters Goes to Heaven (1975) — Director, Writer