Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a West German filmmaker, actor, playwright, and theater director who helped birth the New German Cinema movement.
Although Fassbinder's career lasted less than 15 years, he was extremely productive. By the time of his death at age 37, Fassbinder had completed over 40 full-length films, two television series, three short films, four video productions, and 24 plays, often acting as well as directing.
Fassbinder achieved cult status in part due to his frequent appearances in New York gay bars, but his activities also gave him a controversial reputation. He gained global recognition with his 1974 drama Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, and his films became fixtures in art house theaters thereafter. In 1977, he served as a juror at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Fassbinder had a hands-on and rapid-fire approach to filmmaking, in which he usually eschewed rehearsals, went with the first take, and did his own cinematography, lighting, and editing. This allowed him to finish films ahead of schedule and under budget, which helped him secure government subsidies.
Fassbinder had sexual relationships with both men and women. He rarely kept his professional and personal life separate and was known to cast family, friends, and lovers in his films. His lovers were mostly men, but he also had serious romances with women such as Irm Hermann and Juliane Lorenz.
In 1970, Fassbinder married Ingrid Caven, an actress who regularly appeared in his films. Their relationship of mutual admiration survived the complete failure of their two-year marriage. "Ours was a love story in spite of the marriage", Caven explained in an interview, adding about her former husband's sexuality: "Rainer was a homosexual who also needed a woman. It's that simple and that complex."[1]
Below is a scene from Fassbinder's last film, Querelle (1982). While not a typical Fassbinder film, it was his queerest.