This is a collection of personal interviews with colleagues, friends and family members of the director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. He directed films such as The Marriage of Maria Braun, Berlin Alexanderplatz, Querelle, and Veronika Voss.

The Anarchy of the Imagination colects the most important interviews, essays, and working notes of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, one of the most influential cultural figures to emerge from postwar Germany. Whether reflecting on his won work oir writing about other directors, whether describing his discovery of actress Hanna Schygulla or speaking out in favor of political film making, Fassbinder's perspective is radical, subjective, and challenging. The writing in this volume-nearly all presented here for the first time in English-are an essential part of Fassbinder's legacy, the remarkable body of work in which present-day German reality finds brilliant expression.

Fassbinder's prominence, his creative non-conformity and artistic radicalism led to now legendary films, television series and theatrical plays. Works such as Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, The Marriage of Maria Braun, Eight Hours Don't Make a Day, Berlin Alexanderplatz and Querelle have etched themselves into our collective visual memory. He was exceedingly prolific in his short life, writing, directing or shooting some 45 feature films and 25 plays. Fassbinder was an artist who succeeded in synthesizing radical subjectivity and social analysis in his works. He lived and demanded intensity. His sometimes unwieldy, critical stance that stood in contrast to often affectionate portrayals of people regardless of their respective social backgrounds was unparalleled and also of deeply respectful consistency. Often viewed controversially during his lifetime, Fassbinder's work has lost none of its relevance, intensity and charisma to this day. Texts by: David Barnett, Isabelle Bastian, Ines Bayer, Elisabeth Bronfen, Rai Gandra, Andrea Hartmann, Udo Kier mit Ulrich Sonnenschein, Susanne Kleine, Juliane Maria Lorenz-Wehling, Verena Lueken, Hans-Helmut Prinzler, Hans-Peter Reichmann, Annette Reschke, Ralf Schenk, Wolfram Schutte, Bernd Schultheis, Petra Terhoeven, Michael Toeteberg, Barbara Vinken, Nicolaus Wackerbarth, Wim Wenders