Auf Wiedersehen, Werner Schroeter

German filmmaker Werner Schroeter, one of the significant queer cinéastes from Germany in the 1970s, died yesterday, just a week after turning 65. Though relatively unknown in the United States, Schroeter began making films in the late-1960s, often collaborations with another important (though still little known in the US) queer filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim. In 1980, his film Palermo or Wolfsburg [Palermo oder Wolfsburg], currently (as of February 2010) the only film of his available on DVD in the US, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Schroeter also appeared in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Beware of a Holy Whore [Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte] as the cinematographer and had a brief role in Fassbinder's television mini-series Welt am Draht [World on Wires]. Since then, Schroeter worked consistently in both Germany and France. His films include the lavish, multilingual musical Der Rosenkönig [The King of Roses], a film adaptation of Ingeborg Bachmann's novel Malina (scripted by Elfriede Jelinek) with Isabelle Huppert and Mathieu Carrière, the documentary Love's Debris [Abfallprodukte der Liebe / Poussières d'amour] in which Huppert and Carole Bouquet interview some of the director's favorite opera singers and Deux, also with Huppert. His last film Nuit de chien, which stars Pascal Greggory, Bruno Todeschini, Amira Casar, Jean-François Stévenin and Bulle Ogier among others, screened at both the 2008 Toronto and Venice Film Festivals.

Fassbinder's Elusive Sci-Fi Miniseries Welt am Draht on DVD in Germany!

Rainer Werner Fassbinder's three-and-a-half-hour-long mini-series Welt am Draht (World of Wires or World on a Wire in English), an adaptation of Daniel F. Galouye's Simulacron-3 (also adapted for the Hollywood dud The Thirteenth Floor), will finally crawl out of obscurity in Germany this coming February. It will screen at the 2010 Berlinale, fully resorted with the supervision of co-cinematographer Michael Ballhaus, and a DVD release from Arthaus/Kinowelt will follow on 18 February in Germany. Welt am Draht stars Klaus Löwitsch, who would later work under Fassbinder in The Marriage of Maria Braun, Despair (another of RWF's elusive features) and alongside him in Shadow of Angels (again, rare); Günter Lamprecht, Gottfried John, Margit Carstensen, Ulli Lommel and Kurt Raab co-star, with Werner Schroeter, Peter Kern, Rudolf Waldemar Brem, Eddie Constantine and Ingrid Caven (in an uncredited role) in smaller roles. Unfortunately for those who don't speak German, the Arthaus disc will not contain English subtitles, so keep your fingers crossed that an English-friendly edition follows shortly afterward. More details about the DVD release (in German) can be found at Kinowelt's site.

The First Werner Schroeter DVD Release in the US? DVD Update 17 November

By my research, Facets' upcoming release of Werner Schroeter's Palermo or Wolfsburg [Palermo oder Wolfsburg] through Filmgalerie 451 will be the first Schroeter film to see a DVD release in the US. Schroeter's three-hour epic won the Golden Bear at the 1980 Berlin International Film Festival. In addition to Palermo or Wolfsburg, Facets will release through Polart Tadeusz Konwicki's Salto, which stars Zbigniew Cybulski (Ashes and Diamonds), and reannounced Ning Ying's For Fun, all for 23 February.

here! Films will finally be releasing Brillante Mendoza's Serbis and György Pálfi's Taxidermia in March, on the 9th and 23rd respectively. No word yet on whether the DVD of Serbis will be uncut, as here!/Regent cut some of the explicit sex from the film for its US theatrical run. Also, for those of you with Sundance Channel OnDemand, Steven Soderbergh's Che and Steve McQueen's Hunger are both available for free right now before Criterion releases them both on DVD and Blu-ray next year.

- Paranormal Activity, 2007, d. Oren Peli, Paramount, also on Blu-ray, 29 December
- The Brothers Bloom, 2008, d. Rian Johnson, Summit, also on Blu-ray, 12 January
- Bright Star, 2009, d. Jane Campion, Apparation/Sony, 26 January
- On the Line [Río abajo], 1984, d. José Luis Borau, Vanguard, 26 January, w. Victoria Abril, David Carradine
- Soul Power, 2008, d. Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Sony, also on Blu-ray, 26 January
- St. Trinian's, 2007, d. Oliver Parker, Barnaby Thompson, Sony, 26 January
- Black Dynamite, 2009, d. Scott Sanders, Apparation/Sony, also on Blu-ray, 2 February
- New York, I Love You, 2009, d. Fatih Akin, Yvan Attal, Randall Balsmeyer, Allen Hughes, Shunji Iwai, Jiang Wen, Shekhar Kapur, Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Natalie Portman, Brett Ratner, Vivendi, also on Blu-ray, 2 February
- Palermo or Wolfsburg [Palermo oder Wolfsburg], 1980, d. Werner Schroeter, Filmgalerie 451/Facets, 23 February
- Salto, 1965, d. Tadeusz Konwicki, Polart/Facets, 23 February
- Serbis, 2008, d. Brillante Mendoza, here! Films, 9 March
- Ciao, 2008, d. Yen Tan, here! Films, 23 March
- Taxidermia, 2006, d. György Pálfi, here! Films, 23 march

2 Films by Eduardo de Gregorio, DVD Update

Les Films du paradoxe are releasing two films directed by Eduardo de Gregorio, frequent co-screenwriter for Jacques Rivette, on 18 June: Sérail [Surreal Estate] and La mémoire courte [Short Memory]. I mentioned the releases before, but now I have cover artwork for both. I still can't find any specifics of the releases, but I'd expect not to find English subtitles on either one... but then again, you never know. Another notable release from Les Films du paradoxe for 2009 is Werner Schroeter's 1996 documentary Poussières d'amour, in which Isabelle Huppert and Carole Bouquet interview some of the director's favorite opera singers. Check this link for more titles; the links for the two de Gergorio films above include their trailers.

A little Late

The Venice Film Festival ended over the weekend, and I forgot to post the rundown of the awards; to be honest, I wasn't really following the goings-on this year. Darren Aronofsky apparently has jumped back into the critics' good book after the disastrously-received The Fountain, winning the coveted Golden Lion. The rest of the awards are as follows:

Golden Lion: The Wrestler - dir. Darren Aronofsky - USA

Silver Lion (for Best Director): Paper Soldier - dir. Alexei German Jr. - Russia

Special Jury Prize: Teza - dir. Halie Gerima - Ethiopia/Germany/France

Best Actor: Silvio Orlando - Il papà di Giovanna (dir. Pupi Avati) - Italy

Best Actress: Dominique Blanc - L'autre (dir. Patrick-Mario Bernard, Pierre Trividic) - France

Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor: Jennifer Lawrence - The Burning Plan (dir. Guillermo Arriaga) - USA

Best Cinematography: Alisher Khamidhodjaev, Maxim Drozdov - Paper Solider - Russia

Best Screenplay: Halie Gerima - Terza - Ethipoia/Germany/France

Special Lion to Overall Work: Werner Schroeter
Luigi de Laurentiis Award for a Debut Film: Pranzo di Ferragosto - dir. Gianni Di Gregorio - Italy