Fassbinder: Berlin Alexanderplatz: An Exhibition
Harry Baer: On the making of Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz
21 April 07
Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Hanna Schygulla during a rehearsal, Photo: Roger Fritz
21 April 07, 7 pm
Lecture: Harry Baer: On the making of Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz
In the context of the exhibition Fassbinder: Berlin Alexanderplatz: An Exhibition
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s artistic collaborator and long-time assistant director Harry Baer will present selected scenes from the film based on the script and its cinematic realization.
Harry Baer was born in 1947 in Biberach a.d. Riß. In 1969 he acted in various plays staged by antiteater, Munich, and in films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder including Katzelmacher, Gods of the Plague and Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? From 1970 to 1982 Baer acted in further films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder (The Coffee House, Whity, Beware of a Holy Whore, Rio das Mortes, The Niklashauser Journey, Pioneers in Ingolstadt, Wild Game) and in H. J. Syberberg’s Ludwig – Requiem for a Virgin King. He also worked under directors Uwe Brandner, Volker Vogeler, Franz Xaver Kroetz, Michael Fengler, Daniel Schmid, Hartmut Bitomsky, Niklas Schilling, Fernado di Leo, Luigi Commencini, Peter Keglevic and Bernhard Sinkel.
From 1972 to 1982 Baer was Fassbinder’s assistant director. In 1984/1985 he directed the twelve-part television series Bas Boris Bode for the German television station ZDF. From 1986 to 1993 Baer acted in films by Thomas Jahn, Fred Kelemen and Petra Haffter.
From 1994 to 1996 Baer worked in the PR and media department of the Brandenburg state chancellery, where he headed the film and media section. From 1998 to 2006 he acted in films by Edzard Onneken, Winfried Bonengel, Ulrich Köhler, Edgar Reitz, Tapio Piirainen, Thomas Frydetzki and Wolfgang Eissler.
Publications: Berlin Alexanderplatz, ein Arbeitsjournal (Making-of diary, 1980), Schlafen kann ich, wenn ich tot bin (biography of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1982), Das Mutterhaus: Erinnerungen an die „Deutsche Eiche” (2001)
Exhibitions: Rainer Werner Fassbinder – Dichter – Schauspieler – Filmemacher (1991/1992, exhibition / retrospective / catalogue initiated and produced by Juliane Lorenz and Harry Baer)