New German Cinema

2012 film by Margarethe von Trotta

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

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. berlianle 2015

"The Fassbinder Story" narrates the fast and furious life of the German writer-producer-director and, above all, artist Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a life which had all the dynamics of a Hollywood blockbuster. A man who paid the price for a career shaped by ceaseless work and world fame. After his death in 1982, aged only 37, Fassbinder came to leave a total of 44 self-directed films, including two multi-part TV series. The chronological connection between his films, whenever showing autobiographical references to his life, sketches the madness of his being, uniting it with rare footage from film sets and previously undisclosed video and audio recordings into one composite whole.

Under the auspicious name "Magical Mystery" the Berlin techno label BummBumm Records wants to go on a rave tour. Karl Schmidt aka Charly himself was once an aspiring artist on the scene, until he retired after a nervous breakdown five years ago. Since then he lives in a supervised withdrawal WG in Hamburg. Now, as a driver and custodian for the party-loving DJs and their producers, he becomes part of "Magical Mystery", trying to lead a self-determined life after years of patronizing and well-intentioned advice.