Event series
New German Cinema - Rainer Werner Fassbinder

As part of our monthly film screening series German Cinema in Focus, we bring to you four iconic films directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder from the art movement New German Cinema.

New German Cinema includes a collection of films made in West Germany during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s by a new generation of German directors influenced by the French New Wave and Italian Neorealism, who worked with low budgets producing art house movies. The movement propped up as a reaction to the artistic and economic stagnation of German cinema. The biggest element in this movement were the funding criteria and opportunities, due to which the ‘new cinema’ was based on an artisanal mode of production which facilitated close collaborations and a high degree of experimentation. The movement existing due to the efforts of a small number of dedicated and talented creatives, their films were examined for the strong personal vison, both thematically and visually and hence were discussed as a ‘cinéma des auteurs’.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a filmmaker, actor, and dramatist regarded as one of the important figures in New German Cinema. His work was deeply rooted in post-war German culture including the aftermath of Nazism, the German economic miracle, and the terror of the Red Army Faction. Despite having a career that lasted less than two decades he was very prolific having completed over 40 feature films, 24 plays, and 2 television serials.