How did you meet Fassbinder ?
I was 19. I was a political sciences student. In order to earn money, I was also working as an assistant in one of Studio Bavaria’s editing rooms in Munich. Somebody recommended I should work with Fassbinder, whom I met by chance. I was his assistant in 1976 on Chinese Roulette, his sound editor on The Stationmaster’s Wife, his editor on Despair’s etc. At that time, new German cinema was well-established and Fassbinder was famous and powerful -he had already made 27 films. He hired me, loved me and gave me a lot of strength. He believed in youth’s energy. Together, we made The Marriage of Maria Braun, The Third Generation, and then Berlin Alexanderplatz…
Ten days before the shooting, while we were on holidays, he told me he would not see the editing before it’s finished. That he would only make one or two shots for each scene and that the editing had to be ready the day after. We proceeded that way for two hundred and fifty four days. At the end of the shooting, the film was almost completely edited. Rainer’s screenplay was very precise, he had been writing it for two years. The atmosphere was very professional and the members of the crew knew each other very well -only the cinematographer, Xaver Schwartzenberger, was new. As for me, I was only 21 or 22 years old but I had already made seven films before. Fassbinder did not take many shots because he wanted to rely on the actors provided the latter were ready. At that time we didn’t had any cell phones or laptops and we couldn’t be disturbed. And there were only a few interviews on the set.
Berlin Alexanderplatz’ DVD edition nevertheless shows a German documentary made on the set.
It was at the very beginning and at the very end. It was a Bavaria initiative. They wanted to make a very simple and nude documentary about Fassbinder’s work. In Germany, a book was released at the same time the film was broadcast. It was published in close collaboration with Rainer and his assistant Harry Baer. It was the first time a book about a TV show was published. Another book, published by Schirmer Mosel, shows Berlin Alexanderplatz’ screenplay: very written, perfectly prepared. I had to follow it scrupulously. Rainer’s screenplays were written in a rather poetic way although people could understand it and use it without any problem. Then I was able to create the rhythm and the sound, because at that time editing and mixing weren’t as dissociated as they are nowadays. Fassbinder was so understanding with someone like me who was learning cinema’s vocabulary. We’ve made fourteen films together. The other directors I’ve worked with, like Werner Schroeter for Two in 2002, were more difficult. Rainer shared his experience with me, recommended books. I found someone who was really at the top of his art. He was very proud of what he had done at only 29 years old.
Fassbinder made as many films as it is humanly possible ; was he also concerned by the question of inheritance?
No. He used to say to me and to his family: after I die, take care of everything. He only wished his papers would not be thrown away, so his mother and I kept everything. The Fassbinder Foundation was created in 1989. His mother financed it with a part of her inheritance. She’s taken care of it for two years, and I’m dealing with it since 1991. One of the Foundation curators is in charge of all the writings, which are exhibited in one room. Rainer was also a writer. Since he was 16, he wrote poems, short stories and plays…
How long did Berlin Alexanderplatz restoration last?
Ten years. It was way more difficult and longer than the shooting. We had to contact Döblin’s inheriters, Stefan and Claude. Then I had to contact the Bavaria studio and talk about the restoration. They asked if I was crazy. I said yes, of course! New York’s MOMA also offered its contribution to us. In 2004, the Foundation for German Art –founded in 1998 when Gerhard Schroeder invented the Ministry of Culture (which was only before a department of the Ministry of the Interior)– also supported the restoration. The Minister of the time had already offered to finance Eisenstein’s Potemkin restoration, but Berlin Alexanderplatz wasn’t a priority because it wasn’t old enough for him. We had to wait for the creation of a special department devoted to restorations. It started on July 15, 2006 and ended on December 21 the same year. The German DVD edition had to be released at the beginning of 2007 for Berlinale’s opening. Then we presented the boxset in New York in April and today in France thanks to Carlotta. A specific extra of the French edition is the presentation of the restoration through the comparison of a number of restored and non-restored images.