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To celebrate the release of In a Year Of 13 Moons on DVD and Blu-Ray for the very first time in the UK from March 24, we are giving away 2 Blu-Rays!

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.

written and directed by the ground-breaking German director, The film features one of cinema’s first transgender heroines, movingly portrayed by Volker Spengler in a challenging role that critics have faulted due to Fassbinder’s harsh and uncompromising approach to the character. Joining Spengler in the cast are frequent collaborators Gottfried John and, one-time wife of Fassbinder, Ingrid Caven.

In A Year Of 13 Moons traces the final days in the life of Elvira (Spengler), a transgender woman spurned by her former lover, as she reaches out desperately for understanding.

There's nothing like a good miniseries. The ability to take as much time as needed to tell a dense yet self-contained story, marrying the immediacy and formal panache of great cinema to the narrative depth of great TV, has allowed many auteurs in both mediums to create some of their finest and most vital work.

Historically, miniseries have been the province of some of television's most memorable hits, from "Roots" to "Taken" to "Band of Brothers." Series like Ingmar Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage" and Mike Nichols' "Angels in America" are also regularly cited in the upper tiers of master directors' filmographies. In recent years, the format has seen a kind of mainstream revival, thanks largely to the smashing success of titles like "The Queen's Gambit" and "Watchmen."

But countless miniseries from around the world remain that have yet to receive the attention they deserve. Here are 12 examples of...

With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.

Filmmaker, libertine, and decadent visionary Rainer Werner Fassbinder went through more doomed romances in the 1970s, the peak of his epic career, than even the most tragic poet could fit into a lifetime. For one, there was his affair with Moroccan actor El Hedi ben Salem, the star of “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul,” a time marked by alcohol and drug abuse, psychological torment by all parties involved, and which ended with Salem going on a stabbing spree and later killing himself. But then there was Armin Meier, an orphaned butcher whom Fassbinder cast in “Chinese Roulette,” “Satan’s Brew,” and “I Only Want You to Love Me.” After their eventual split, Meier downed four bottles of sleeping pills during the week of Fassbinder’s birthday,...

With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform.

Filmmaker, libertine, and decadent visionary Rainer Werner Fassbinder went through more doomed romances in the 1970s, the peak of his epic career, than even the most tragic poet could fit into a lifetime. For one, there was his affair with Moroccan actor El Hedi ben Salem, the star of “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul,” a time marked by alcohol and drug abuse, psychological torment by all parties involved, and which ended with Salem going on a stabbing spree and later killing himself. But then there was Armin Meier, an orphaned butcher whom Fassbinder cast in “Chinese Roulette,” “Satan’s Brew,” and “I Only Want You to Love Me.” After their eventual split, Meier downed four bottles of sleeping pills during the week of Fassbinder’s birthday,...

Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s national epic tells the story of Germany’s ‘economic miracle’ recovery through the experiences of three strong women, each resilient in a different way. The Marriage of Maria Braun takes us from the bombings to a postwar struggle for survival. Veronika Voss hangs on to her illusions of a glorious stardom that died with the Reich; she’s now the victim of opportunists. And Lola isn’t the only person corrupting an idealist come to bring fairness to the rebuilding of Coburg: even without a conspiracy, the legitimate town leaders are up to their necks in double-dealing. These are the top titles of the prolific writer-director Fassbinder, beautifully restored.

The Brd Trilogy

Blu-ray

The Marriage of Maria Braun, Veronika Voss, Lola

The Criterion Collection 203

1979-82 / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date July 9, 2019 / 79.95

Starring: Hanna Schygulla, Rosel Zech, Barbara Sukowa.

Written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pea Fröhlich,...

Inconceivable! “The Princess Bride” joining the Criterion Collection this October, and it isn’t alone: Brian De Palma’s “Sisters,” Hal Ashby’s “Shampoo,” Cornel Wilde’s “The Naked Prey,” and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Eight Hours Don’t Make the Day” are getting the Criterion treatment as well.

More information (and covert art) below.

“The Naked Prey”

“Glamorous leading man turned idiosyncratic auteur Cornel Wilde created in the 1960s and ’70s a handful of gritty, violent explorations of the nature of man, none more memorable than ‘The Naked Prey.’ In the early nineteenth century, after an ivory-hunting safari offends a group of South African hunters, the colonialists are captured and hideously tortured. A lone marksman (Wilde) is released, without clothes or weapons, to be hunted for sport, and he begins a harrowing journey through savanna and jungle back to a primitive state. Distinguished by vivid widescreen camera work and unflinchingly ferocious action sequences,...

Unreleased in the United States until now, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s epic 1972 mini-series, “Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day,” is finally headed to American shores — with a fresh restoration to boot — thanks to New York City’s own Film Forum. The family drama will enjoy a two-week engagement at the movie house, with all 476 minutes gloriously accounted for.

“Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day” includes some of the German auteur’s favorite stars, including Hanna Schygulla, Gottfried John, Irm Hermann, and Kurt Raab. And yet it’s a change of pace for the typically dark-skewing filmmaker, piling on some of his usual obsessions — class issues, money issues, fraught relationships, very different people pushed up against each other — yet still emerging with a much more optimistic worldview than we normally associate with the prolific Fassbinder. It’s not exactly light, but it’s about as light as he ever got,...

The first thing that strikes you about Janus Films’ brand new poster for Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s rediscovered and restored 1972 TV mini-series—beyond the impeccable ’70s illustration pastiche and unusually muted palette—is that everyone is smiling. Happiness is not something one associates with Fassbinder, and smiling happy faces are not something one associates with Fassbinder posters. But Gottfried John and Hanna Schygulla are positively beaming in this poster, giving it an unlikely I’d Like To Buy the World a Coke vibe. Look closer and yes, there are dourer faces below, scenes of a factory, and what looks like a housing project, but the initial impression is a joyful one. And that makes sense, because the mini-series was an unusually optimistic and upbeat work for Fassbinder: a working-class family soap opera that put its faith in the power of collective action. As Aliza Ma wrote in Film Comment last year,...

The 2017 Berlin Film Festival has revealed its first slate of 14 films for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections, including new work from Aki Kaurismaki (“The Man Without a Past”), Oren Moverman (“Time Out of Mind”) and Sally Potter (“Ginger & Rosa”). The festival will also screen a restored version of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1972 TV series “Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day.”

Read More: The 2016 Indiewire Berlin International Film Festival Bible: Every Review, Interview and News Item Posted During Run of Festival

So far, ten films have been invited to screen in Competition, and four films have been selected for Berlinale Special. These productions and co-productions are from the United State, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Belgium, Poland, Senegal and more.

The 67th Berlin International Film Festival will run from February 9 through 19. Further films will be revealed in the coming weeks. For more information, visit the official website.

Read More: The...

After Sundance Film Festival concludes in late January, the next big cinematic event on the globe is the Berlin International Film Festival. With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, they’ve now announced their first line-up of titles, including Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope (pictured above), Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party (pictured below), and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, as well as a restoration of a Rainer Werner Fassbinder TV show.

Check out the first titles below, and return for our coverage from the festival.

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul)

Hungary

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour

Romania/Germany/France

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti,...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among Competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Festival veteran Kaurismäki will debut new film The Other Side Of Hope about a Finnish travelling salesman who meets a Syrian refugee.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny. Based on the novel by Herman Koch, the film looks at at how far parents will go to protect their children.

Oscar-nominated Holland, who was nominated for the Golden Bear in 1981, will be at the Berlinale with crime-drama Pokot.

Potter returns to Berlin with ensemble comedy-drama The Party starring Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer, Cillian Murphy, Kristin Scott Thomas and [link...

Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Sally Potter among competition lineup.

The first 14 films have been announced for the Competition and Berlinale Special sections of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.

Among directors with movies in competition are Aki Kaurismäki, Oren Moverman, Agnieszka Holland, Andres Veiel, Sebastián Lelio and Sally Potter.

Moverman’s (The Messenger) mystery-drama The Dinner stars Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan, Rebecca Hall and Chloë Sevigny.

Fernando Trueba’s comedy-drama The Queen of Spain, starring Penelope Cruz, will get its international premiere in the Berlinale Special strand.

More to follow…

Competition

A teströl és a lélekröl (On Body and Soul) (Hungary)

By Ildiko Enyedi (My 20th Century, Simon the Magician)

With Géza Morcsányi, Alexandra Borbély, Zoltán Schneider

World premiere

Ana, mon amour (Romania / Germany / France)

By Călin Peter Netzer (Child‘s Pose, Maria)

With Mircea Postelnicu, Diana Cavallioti, Carmen Tănase, Adrian Titieni, Vlad Ivanov

World premiere

Beuys - Documentary (Germany)

By Andres Veiel ([link...

Martin Campbell's Goldeneye rebooted James Bond, introduced Pierce Brosnan in the role, and proved to be a major hit. We take a look back...

This article contains spoilers for Goldeneye.

Goldeneye: a mostly triumphant return after an extended absence. Far from perfect but its flaws are overwhelmed by the sheer brio of the whole thing, especially once former Bond bestie Alec Trevelyan finally shows face. The reliance on gadgets is just about right (the exploding pen got a Skyfall namecheck) and the action is reliably entertaining. At least provided you can enjoy a tank chase through Moscow - which this writer certainly can. Probably the most loved of the Brosnan Bonds, although arguably Tomorrow Never Dies is a more coherent film (we'll be coming to that one next, of course). But this one had a lot riding on it. After six years it was do or die -...

Just try and keep up: the good folks at Cinema Scope are doing their epic annual Tiff capsule review marathon. Dive in. Martin Scorsese will be returning to Shutter Island to make a prequel for a new television series. For Film Comment, our very own Neil Bahadur has a conversation with Pedro Costa about his award-winning Horse Money:

"Bahadur: I remember you mentioned yesterday [at the press conference] how you’re only just starting to like the movie now. Is it usually that way with your films? Or is it specific to this one?

Costa: I think I like this more now. I only like some of the others, or small moments in the other films. This one came out so tense—I see a kind of tension that was very difficult to get. That’s because of Ventura too. Some people can do it like that [snaps fingers] like Straub. Well, not like that [snaps fingers again] because they work a lot.

German actor Gottfried John has died, aged 72.

The character actor was best known internationally for his role of James Bond villain General Ourumov in 1995's GoldenEye.

He was a star of German theatre, film and TV for several decades, and was part of a group of actors who worked with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

His work with Fassbinder included The Marriage of Maria Braun, Lili Marleen and the TV series Berlin Alexanderplatz.

Following his role in GoldenEye, he appeared in a number of international films including Volker Schlondorff's The Ogre, Proof of Life and the 1999 adaptation of Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar.

He also provided the German voice of Shifu in Kung Fu Panda 2, originally played by Dustin Hoffman.

John died in Munich on September 1 after battling cancer. He is survived by his wife Barbara.

Watch Gottfried John in GoldenEye's classic tank chase sequence below:...

German character actor Gottfried John, star of German stage, film and television who found international success as a James Bond villain, died this week of cancer. He was 72. John was one of a generation of German actors to emerge after World War 2 who took German theater and film in a new direction. He was part of the acting troupe surrounding directing legend Rainer Werner Fassbinder and shot several films with him, including The Marriage of Maria Braun, Lili Marleen and the acclaimed TV series Berlin Alexanderplatz. John's international breakthrough came in 1995 playing General Ourumov, the villain in

read more...

Gottfried John, actor most famous for his role as James Bond villain General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov in GoldenEye passed away this morning at age 72, after a long bout with cancer. He is survived by his wife Barbara.

Gottfried John Dead At 72

John was mostly known for his filmwork in his native Germany for such films as Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar, Berlin Alexanderplatz, and his collaborations with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. In America, John was known for his appearence on the TV series Millennium, as well as films such as Proof of Life, The Marriage of Maria Braun and GoldenEye.

Gottfried John and James Bond

John has a significant place among Bond villains. His role as the villainous general was lauded as arguably the best of the Pierce Brosnan era. As General Ourumov, John was raspy and quiet; gruff and solidly powerful — a far cry from many of the Bond...

DVD Release Date: July 24, 2012

Price: DVD $29.99

Studio: Zeitgeist

Alice Krige readies for her students as Institute Benjamenta.

Following more than a decade of creating animated short film, The Brothers Quay made feature film directorial debut with 1995’s cult drama Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life.

Offering the trademark fantastical feel that distinguishes the Quays’ well-known shorts, Institute Benjamenta concerns a dilapidated, moribund boarding school for the training of servants, whose curriculum consists of the endless repetition of a single lesson. Jakob (Mark Rylance, Angels and Insects) enrolls at the Institute, and becomes gradually embroiled in the world of the enigmatic siblings who run the school: the sadistic Johannes Benjamenta (Gottfried John, TV’s Berlin Alexanderplatz) and his sorrowful sister Lisa (Alice Krige, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice). Johannes soon notes that trouble has been brewing ever since the arrival of Jakob. Could this new student be the cause…...

COLOGNE, Germany -- The Berlin International Film Festival will screen all 15-plus hours of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's epic miniseries "Berlin Alexanderplatz", based on the novel by Alfred Doeblin, to mark the 25th anniversary of helmer's death.

Bavaria Film International, which has remastered Fassbinder's original 16mm reels, will premiere the first two episodes of "Berlin Alexanderplatz: Remastered" on Feb. 9 at the Admiralspalast in Berlin.

The series' stars -- Guenter Lamprecht, Hanna Schygulla, Barbara Sukowa and Gottfried John -- will attend along with Doeblin's grandson, Stefan Doeblin.

Famed Berlin musician Max Raabe will host the premiere, accompanied by his 1930s-style Palast Orchestra.

The remastered version of Fassbinder's classic will have its premiere in Berlin as a high-definition projection with Dolby digital sound. The original series was broadcast on German public television in 1980 over 13 episodes and an epilogue.

The series will be screened in its entirety Feb. 11 at the Volksbuehne in Berlin in five segments from 10 a.m. until around 2:45 a.m.

Screened at Locarno International Film Festival In Competition

The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes, directed by the Quay Brothers, is a finely crafted horror film with a devious storyline and hauntingly beautiful production design that together are the stuff of nightmares.

Integrating puppetry, animation and live action, the film has echoes of Phantom of the Opera and Jules Verne's subterranean adventures, and with Terry Gilliam's name on the credits as executive producer it should attract those with a taste for something more than slightly twisted.

As the film opens, opera star Malvina (Amira Cast), who is about to marry her beloved Adolfo (Cesar Sarachu), collapses dead during a performance and her body is whisked away by the mysterious Dr. Droz (Gottfried John) to his villa on a remote island. There, in a baroque grotto, he brings Malvina back to life.

The piano tuner of the title, Felisberto (also Cesar Sarachu) arrives at the decaying Villa Azucena to find there are no pianos to tune. A drippingly carnal housekeeper named Assumpta (Assumpta Serna) shows him a mural in which he is depicted with her on the island. It has a crack across it like the jagged scar of a fault line.

Droz explains that Felisberto is to tune seven automata that he has built on the grounds of the villa so that on the night of an upcoming lunar eclipse he may use them in a masterpiece featuring Malvina that will provide vengeance against the opera world that has rejected him.

The automata are machines that play music with encased figures that move repeatedly, such as a woodsman who cuts his leg while chopping a tree and bleeds into a pond over and over again.

They are moist and have small cogs and intricate flywheels, complex gears and tiny bells, with moving parts that vaguely appear to have been once human. The impression is of stagnant water dripping on the filigreed entrails of a clock with a fungus of spores leaking over remnants of teeth and bone and mucous membrane.

Droz pushes Felisberto/Adolfo to complete his work while the piano tuner seeks a way to flee with Malvina before they are captured forever.

The film is about vanity and pride, and the caging of beauty. Its elaborate fabrication has an intoxicating quality that captures the imagination like all good horror stories.

Although often fascinating, "Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar" doesn't have enough charm, excitement or humor to work outside of the territories involved in its production.

When released in France, this live-action version of the much-loved comic books was a massive success, attracting an audience of more than 9 million and topping the boxoffice figures of "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" in the process.

Aimed straight at youngsters (the French version was for older audiences, with the jokes somewhat cruder) the dubbed "Asterix & Obelix" is likely to meet with only limited success among boys who have read and loved the comic books.

Dubbing of this English-language version was overseen by former Monty Python cast member and experienced writer-

director Terry Jones, who also takes on the voice of Gerard Depardieu's Obelix.

The casting is certainly top-drawer. Alongside Depardieu is Christian Clavier's wily Asterix, while Oscar winner Roberto Benigni is at his manic best as the scheming Roman Detritus. Director Claude Zidi's film is one of the most expensive in French history and is staged impressively. The effects and costumes are fabulous, plus Zidi recruited 1,500 extras for the scenes of Roman soldiers battling Asterix, Obelix and their buddies.

The film is set in 50 B.C., when Gaul (France) is occupied by Julius Caesar's Roman armies. One tiny village in Brittany refuses to surrender; this is where Asterix and Obelix live. Their ability to resist the Romans stems from a magic potion brewed by the druid Getafix that gives them incredible strength. (Obelix, played with muscular charm by Depardieu, fell into a cauldron of the potion as a baby and is so powerful, he doesn't know his own strength.)

Detritus plans to overthrow Caesar and sets about capturing Getafix. Asterix and Obelix attempt to rescue Getafix and eventually enter the Roman camp with Obelix disguised as a Roman and Asterix pretending to be a prisoner.

The scene is then set for an impressively mounted sequence of Asterix fighting off snakes, lions, crocodiles and spiders while trying to cross an arena in a test staged by Detritus. The Gaulish team escapes with ease, of course, teams with Caesar and sees off Detritus and his army.

Zidi does a marvelous job handling the large-scale scenes and hundreds of extras, and the digital effects are well-integrated, giving the fight scenes a sense of the comic book versions. Clavier and Depardieu are excellent as the little-and-large team of Asterix and Obelix, but as in any film in which voices have been dubbed, you miss out on certain facets of their performances.

Benigni typically goes over the top, though in a way that suits the film, and nice performances from Fassbinder veteran Gottfried John as an imperious Caesar and Claude Pieplu as Getafix (who looks identical to his comic book original) help.

ASTERIX & OBELIX TAKE ON CAESAR

Katherina-Renn Prods./TF1 Films Prods./

Bavaria Film/Bavaria Entertainment/

Melampo Cinematografica

Producer: Claude Berri

Director: Claude Zidi

Executive producer: Pierre Grunstein

Screenwriters: Claude Zidi, Gerard Lauzier

English adaptation by: Terry Jones

Director of photography: Tony Pierce-Roberts

Production designer: Jean Rabasse

Editors: Nicole Saunier, Herve de Luze

Costume designer: Sylvie Gautrelet

Music: Jean-Jacques Goldman, Roland Romanelli

Color/stereo

Cast:

Asterix: Christian Clavier

Obelix: Gerard Depardieu

Detritus: Roberto Benigni

Vitalstatistix: Michel Galabru

Getafix: Claude Pieplu

Panacea: Laetitia Casta

Caesar: Gottfried John

Crismus Bonus: Jean-Pierre Castaldi

Benamenture: Marianne Sagebrecht

Running time -- 110 minutes

No MPAA rating...