Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder (May 31, 1945 – June 10, 1982) was a screenwriter and actor. He is one of the most important representatives of the German Cinema.
He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making. In a professional career that lasted less than fifteen years, Fassbinder completed 40 feature films; two television film series; three short subject; four video productions; twenty-four plays and four radio dramas; and 36 acting roles in his own and others’ films. He also worked as an actor and author
Underlying Fassbinder’s work was a strong provocative current. His phenomenal creative energy when working were in violent contrast with a wild, self-destructive Libertinism that earned him a reputation as the Enfant terrible of the New German Cinema, as well as being its central figure. He had tortured personal relationships with the actors and technicians around him who formed a surrogate family. However, his pictures demonstrate his deep sensitivity to social outsiders and his hatred of institutionalized violence. He ruthlessly attacked both German society and the larger limitations of humanity.
Fassbinder died at the age of 37 from heart failure resulting from a lethal interaction between sleeping pills and Cocaine. His death is often considered to mark the end of the New German Cinema.