DFF Fassbinder Center, Frankfurt
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s literary estate, which includes his surviving writings, production documents, scripts, work and location photographs, posters, promotional materials, a few personal items, videotapes, a wealth of reviews, and scholarly essays on his film and theater work- many of which were published after his early death – is located in Frankfurt am Main since May 2019.
The acquisition of the extensive collection was made possible by the joint support of the Hessische Kulturstiftung, the Kulturstiftung der Länder, and the Kulturamt of the City of Frankfurt am Main, which facilitated the transfer and preservation of materials related to his film and theater work. At the same time, the rich text and photo archive of the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation (RWFF) was transferred to the archives of the DFF on long-term loan. All these materials, housed in two archive rooms, are now available to scholars, curators of exhibitions and retrospectives, as well as for research in symposia and for use in publications, offering valuable suggestions, sources and illustrations. The collection offers the opportunity to discover previously unknown and reevaluated material, shedding light not only on Fassbinder’s film and theatrical works, but also on the historical context of their production and the people involved.
The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation, founded in 1986 by Liselotte Eder, holds the rights to Fassbinder’s estate. For years, the private foundation has been producing and restoring preservation negatives, new prints and Digital Cinema Packages (DCPs) of Fassbinder’s cinematic works. Almost all of Fassbinder’s films are available on high-quality DVD or Blu-ray editions. Only a few television and cinema productions are still unavailable, mostly for legal reasons. Juliane Maria Lorenz-Wehling succeeds Lilo Eder as president of the non-profit Fassbinder Estate Foundation. From 1976 until his death in 1982, she was part of Fassbinder’s team, working as an editor on 14 of his films, as well as a consultant and partner. Since 1991, she has worked tirelessly with the RWFF to secure, preserve and distribute Fassbinder’s work internationally.
The documents in the DFF Fassbinder Center in Frankfurt am Main have been gradually digitized since 2019, not only to protect the sometimes fragile originals, but also to make the texts, now complete with all marginal notes and annotations, accessible as digital copies in our reading room.
Anschrift
DFF Archive CenterEschersheimer Landstraße 12160322 Frankfurt am MainSubway station: Holzhausenstraße
Contact:
Hans-Peter Reichmann (Senior Curator)Tel.: +49 69 961 220 – 302E-Mail reichmann@dff.film
Isabelle Bastian (Collections Curator)Tel.: +49 69 961 220 – 474E-Mail bastian@dff.film
The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection at DFF
Interview with Juliane Lorenz:
Podcast
In the DFF podcast “Alles ist Film”, Hans-Peter Reichmann and Isabelle Bastian talk about the Fassbinder collection at the DFF on the occasion of the exhibition “Method Rainer Werner Fassbinder: A Retrospective” (September 10, 2021 to March 6, 2022) at the Bundeskunsthalle Bonn.
Funded by:
