May 30, 2007 We, the Undersigned, have all made significant contributions to the work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. As regards the administration of his legacy, we have so far been silent. We can no longer do so. Not only have the dubious methods that Juliane Lorenz employed to lay claim to and secure her status as sole representative of the entire legacy now come fully to light. Not only has she systematically excluded as “undesirable” [Fassbinder’s] closest co-workers from all Fassbinder Foundation activities. Not only does the legal status of the “Foundation” remain unclear to this day—according to German law, the Foundation lacks a board that would ordinarily respond to the many questions relating to Fassbinder’s work. But also, an Annual Report, a mandatory duty of any Foundation, has yet to be made available for examination. Juliane Lorenz has proudly cited the effort that went into her recent DVD “remastering” of Berlin Alexanderplatz. To be clear: she has more than noticeably “brightened” the entire work for commercial reasons. And this despite the fact that Fassbinder stood his ground against the major objections of the production company and the television network to the film’s drastically dark tones, which he felt reflected the deeply-felt pessimism of the Alfred Döblin novel. To falsify and adulterate Fassbinder’s most important work, purely out of commercial interest, is an act of insurmountable presumption and borders on philistinism. We demand, therefore, that Juliane Lorenz withdraw from the management of the Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation. Furthermore, we demand that she turn over all of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s work to, for example, the German Kinemathek Berlin, so that it will be available to the public, free from financial interests. Isolde Barth, actress, director Peter Berling, author, producer Walter Bockmayer, director Rudolf-Waldemar Brem, actor Rolf Bührmann, producer Ingrid Caven, actress, singer Hans Eckelkamp, director, producer, distributor Thea Eymesz, editor Frank Fellermeier, Peer-Raben-Werkstatt Michael Fengler, director, producer Molly von Fürstenberg, producer Ila von Hasperg, editor This Brunner, distributor, Switzerland Hans Hirschmüller, actress Gottfried Hüngsberg, composer Günter Kaufmann, actor Peter Kern, actor, director Udo Kier, actor Renate Leiffer, director’s assistant Ulli Lommel, actor Karl Scheydt, actor Elga Sorbas, actress Ursula Strätz, actress Y Sa Lo, actress Werner Schröter, director
