"Actor: Volker Spengler"

• In A Year of 13 Moons (Vintage World Cinema) | Blu Ray | (24/03/2025) from £14.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Made in response to the suicide of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's lover Armin Meier, IN A YEAR OF 13 MOONS is a story of unrequited love, a tortured past and a heart-wrenching search for acceptance. The film traces the final days in the life of Elvira (Volker Spengler), a transgender woman spurned by her former lover, as she reaches out desperately for understanding. Fassbinder crafts both a searing statement on the universal need for love and an elegant exploration of grief in what is arguably his most personal film.

• The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection Vol. 2 | Blu Ray | (06/12/2021) from £49.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the enfant terrible of the New German Cinema, wrote, directed, produced and starred in over 40 films in his short but prolific life, before passing away of a drugs overdose in 1982 aged just 37. Rainer Werner Fassbinder vol. 2 brings together a collection of his key works from the mid-section of his career in high definition digital restorations prepared by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation. Among Fassbinder's best-loved works, Fear Eats the Soul sees the director paying homage to the classic melodramas of Douglas Sirk in its poignant portrayal of a relationship between a widowed cleaning lady in her sixties and a Moroccan immigrant in his thirties that causes an outrage with her family, friends and neighbours. Fassbinder's long-gestating adaptation of Theodor Fontane's classic German novel Effi Briest, his most expensive production to date as well as one of his most ambitious, tells the tale of a seventeen-year-old girl who is married off by her parents to a wealthy Baron more than twice her age. Fassbinder himself plays the protagonist of Fox and His Friends, a sweet working class soul whose relationship with wealthy industrialist Eugen, he discovers, is based almost wholly on his unexpected lottery win. Chinese Roulette is a tense psychodrama set in an isolated house during a weekend break in which infidelities are revealed and families break down. Fassbinder's international breakthrough film, The Marriage of Maria Braun charts the rise to prosperity of its tenacious and pragmatic central character across the post-war years as she holds out hope for the return of the young soldier she was married to for less than 24-hours before he was dispatched to the Russian front and later reported dead. Limited Edition Contents High definition digital transfers of all films prepared by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation High Definition (1080p) Blu-rayTM presentations of all films Original uncompressed PCM mono 1.0 sound for all films Optional English subtitles for all films Exclusive 140-page collectors booklet containing archive articles and new writing by Deborah Allison, Geoff Andrew, Margaret Deriaz and Travis Miles. Disc One Fear Eats The Soul Audio commentary by critic and lecturer Mark Freeman My Name is Not Ali, Viola Shafik's 2011 feature-length documentary on the life and death of El Hedi ben Salem, star of Fear Eats the Soul Interview with director of photography Jürgen Jürges Theatrical trailer Disc Two Effi Briest Audio commentary by Ken Moulden Interview with actor Ulli Lommel Interview with director of photography Jürgen Jürges Theatrical trailer Disc Three Fox And His Friends & Chinese Roulette Audio commentary by Hamish Ford on Fox and His Friends Interview with actor Ulli Lommel on Chinese Roulette Original theatrical trailers for both films Disc Four The Marriage Of Maria Braun Life, Love & Celluloid, a 1998 feature-length documentary on Fassbinder, written and directed by his regular editor, Juliane Lorenz Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1977, a candid 30-minute interview with the director The Fassbinder Family, featurette detailing the actors who worked with Fassbinder time and again throughout his career

• Fassbinder Collection Vol.2 | DVD | (12/11/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £40.99

  Until his untimely death aged just 36 Rainer Werner Fassbinder blazed a trail through post-war German cinema leaving a prolific and celebrated body of work that continues to inspire shock and challenge audiences and filmmakers. Veronika Voss: Influeneced by Billy Wilder's 'Sunset Boulevard' Fassbinder's savage satire stars Rosel Zech as the eponymous Veronika Voss a washed-up film star who dreams of returning to the glory days of her past. In a Year of Thirteen Moons: Volker Spengler gives an extraordinary performance as the transgendered Elvira a man who has become a woman in a desperate bid to please a former lover. Relaying various episodes from Elvira's life Fassbinder's powerful film is one of his most intensely personal. The Third Generation: One of Fassbinder's most controversial films 'The Third Generation' is a perverse satire about an incompetent gang of bourgeois terrorists who are motivated more by a desire for action than by their weak political convictions. Germany in Autumn: This fascinating portmanteau film also takes as its subject the political unrest wrought in the autumn of 1977 by the terrorist activities of Red Army Faction. Through documentary dramatised vignettes and archival footage Fassbinder and his collaborators examine the events and explore the motivations behind this crisis point in German history.

• The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection Vol. 3 | Blu Ray | (13/06/2022) from £75.57   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the enfant terrible of the New German Cinema, wrote, directed, produced and starred in over 40 films in his short but prolific life, before passing away of a drugs overdose in 1982 aged just 37. Rainer Werner Fassbinder vol. 3 brings together a collection of his lesser seen works from various stages in his career, featuring high definition digital restorations prepared by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation. The American Soldier sees Fassbinder continue to pursue the cinephilic homage to classic Hollywood crime films of his feature debut, Love is Colder than Death, in a tale of a German-American Vietnam vet turned small-time hoodlum who finds himself on the wrong side of the law in Munich, where he grew up. Unseen between its first television broadcast in 1970 and its rediscovery in 2002, The Niklashausen Journey chronicles the journey of a young peasant in the 15th century and his quest to overcome social injustice, in Fassbinder's allegorical critique of the student movement. Gods of the Plague portrays a newly released ex-con as he reacquaints himself with Munich's criminal underworld to plan the robbery of a supermarket. In Rio Das Mortes, two feckless young friends, Michel and Günther, embark on a hare-brained scheme to look for lost treasure in Peru, against strong opposition from Michel's fiancée. Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven stars Brigitte Mira (Fear Eats the Soul) as a middle-aged housewife who is roused into revolutionary activity after her husband dies in an industrial accident. Based on a story by Asta Scheib, Fear of Fear features Fassbinder favourite Margit Carstensen (The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant) as the young mother plagued with feelings of anxiety and depression as she is left to spend her hours alone surrounded by her judgemental in-laws while her husband spends his days at work. Satan's Brew sees Fassbinder foray into riotous comedy, with Kurt Raab starring as a once famous poet stricken with writer's block who inadvertently assumes the persona of the prewar symbolist Stefan George. Product Features High definition digital transfers of The American Soldier, Gods of the Plague, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Satan's Brew prepared by the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of The American Soldier, Gods of the Plague, Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Satan's Brew Original uncompressed PCM mono 1.0 sound for all films Optional English subtitles for all films Exclusive 140-page collectors booklet containing archive articles and new writing by Jonathan Rosenbaum, Eric Rentschler, David Jenkins, Margaret Deriaz and Earl Jackson. DISC ONE The American Soldier & The Niklashausen Journey Audio commentary by critic Tony Rayns on The American Soldier Audio commentary by critic Olaf Möller on The Niklashausen Journey Fassbinder Shoots Film No 8, a 1971 television documentary by Michael Ballhaus and Dieter Buchmann on Rainer Werner Fassbinder filming The American Soldier Man in the Shadow, an exclusive new in-depth interview with Fassbinder's collaborator Michael Fengler Freedom or Death!, an exclusive new interview with Michael König on The Niklashausen Journey DISC TWO Gods of the Plague & Rio Das Mortes Alter Ego: Harry Baer on Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a 40-minute interview with the star of Gods of the Plague Taking Off, an exclusive new interview with Michael König on Rio Das Mortes Original theatrical trailer for Gods of the Plague DISC THREE Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven & Fear of Fear Audio commentary by critic Olaf Möller on Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven alternate ending New interviews with Renate Leiffer, assistant director on Mother Kusters Goes to Heaven and Fear of Fear New interview with writer Asta Scheib on Fear of Fear Play It Again, Rainer! Fassbinder's Musical Obsessions, a new video essay by Margaret Deriaz on the use of music in Fassbinder's films. DISC FOUR Satan's Brew Audio commentary by critic Tony Rayns The Culture Industry Needs Something Like Me: Views of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a 1976 documentary portrait of the director by Gert Ellinghaus Fassbinder: Love Without Demands, Christian Braad Thomsen's feature-length 2015 documentary portrait of his friend Fassbinder and the people who worked with him. Original theatrical trailer