In the aftermath of its well received screening as part of 2017’s Berlinale, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Eight Hours Don’t Make A Day, an ambitious five-part mini series, is being screened for a second time in Berlin in all its 479 minute glory. Hosted over two evenings at the KulturRaum Zwingli-Kirche, the Berlin Film Society will be screening this family-centric Fassbinder drama on Friday the 31st of March and Saturday the 1st of April.
Synonymous with the New German Cinema movement, Fassbinder was infamously prolific having directed 44 films in just 14 years – his life being cut tragically short at the age of just 37. Eight Hours Don’t Make A Day is typical of Fassbinder’s style. Meticulously deconstructing the superficially utopic atmosphere so prevalent in post-war film productions of the time, Fassbinder observes life from three generations of the same family whose political persuasions range from conservative to progressive.
Commissioned by German television station, WDR, to make a ‘working-class series,’ Eight Hours Don’t Make A Day depicts the working class as being more three dimensional, well-rounded people then was the custom at the time. Incorporating themes of working life, strikes, relationships, daily life and society at large, Eight Hours Don’t Make A Day is an often overlooked gem in Fassbinder’s rather overcrowded gem-filled crown, and greatly deserves a second look.
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