Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Das Kleine Chaos (1967)



Rainer Werner Fassbinder's second 16mm short--made while still a theatre director in Munich---shows the young filmmaker clearly under the influence of the French nouvelle vague [complete with a poster of Juliette Greco], yet already hinting at the recurring themes of his mature work. Theo (played by Christoph Roser, who financed the film in return for a staring role), Marite (Marite Greiselis), and Franz (played by Fassbinder) turn their love of American noir into a crime spree, even if one reflecting on the moral nature of violence and crime, and in typically Fassbinder fashion, the chaos of postwar culture [after breaking into a woman's house to rob her and putting a Wagner record on the phonograph, Fassbinder's character asks his hostage: "Do you love the Fuhrer?"]. Fassbinder himself appears under his frequent character alias of 'Franz'---inspired by his love of Alfred Doblin's novel 'Berlin Alexanderplatz.'

Paul Glabicki

Five Improvisations (1979)




An intricate series of hand-drawn animations--taking in a myriad of cinematic and cultural references---are arranged into five variations improvised during the act of shooting in Glabicki's film. An example of his diagrammatic style, it captures the filmmaker's emphasis on temporal and rhythmic play, as well as the generative focus of his drawings.