FilmLinc Announces Complete Rainer Werner Fassbinder Retrospective

Fans of German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder who live in the New York area have quite the treat on their hands in 2014. The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced part one of a comprehensive two-part series highlighting the complete works of, works inspired by, and works that inspired Fassbinder called “Fassbinder: Romantic Anarchist.” The majority of the films will be screened on 35mm. 

The first part of the series runs from May 16^th to June 1^st and includes almost all of his work leading up to 1974, and will be anchored by an exclusive one-week run of a restored print of Fassbinder’s film The Merchant of Four Seasons. Other highlights of Part I include all of the titles in the “Early Fassbinder” Eclipse set (Love is Colder Than Death, Katzelmacher, Gods of the Plague, The American Solider, and Beware of a Holy Whore), Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, World on a Wire, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, and Effi Briest.

The second part (to screen in November with a complete lineup TBD) will include his films from 1974 through 1982.

Dennis Lim, FilmLinc’s Director of Programming said of Fassbinder, “In some ways, the time is always ripe for a Fassbinder retrospective. More than three decades after his death, he still looms large, a widespread influence and a singular force. His films are undimmed and untamed by the passage of time—more than that, many of them seem more vital than ever these days.”

As if that’s not enough, the films in Part I of the retrospective inspired by and that inspired Fassbinder’s work include Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows (which will be blu-graded on Criterion on June 10^th), Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven, Ulli Lommel’s Tenderness of the Wolves, François Ozon’s Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Jean-Marie Straub’s The Bridegroom, the Commedienne, and the Pimp, and Albert Serra’s Cuba Libre.

For a full schedule of Part I, click here.