Only two German actresses have captured the sustained imagination and enthusiasm of the American filmgoing audience: Marlene Dietrich, who appeared only once in a German film before developing her career in America, and Hanna Schygulla, who chose to stay in Europe, where her career has flourished for more than three decades. Nurtured by the writer-director Rainer Werner Fassbinder—she appears in 18 of his films—Schygulla continued, after Fassbinder’s death, to work with such major filmmakers as Marco Ferreri, Jean-Luc Godard, Margarethe von Trotta, and Andrzej Wajda. Schygulla’s performances are so unmannered that she elevates the films in which she stars, no matter how artificial, to the level of truth. This 11-film retrospective features a special appearance by the great actress on June 9, during which she will perform songs and speak about her remarkable career.
Organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film and Media.
Special thanks to Juliane Lorenz, Fassbinder Foundation, and Juliane Wanckel, Goethe-Institut, New York; and Bioskop, Munich, Cultural Services of the French Embassy, New York, Goethe-Institut, Berlin, Kino International, New York, and Wellspring Media, New York, for the loan of prints.