When Rainer Werner Fassbinder died in 1982 at the age of 37, he had already released 44 feature films as a director, screenwriter and producer. He had also written 14 plays and staged 25, not to mention the many radio plays and books he authored.

Gisela Fackeldey, Eva Mattes and Katrin Schaake starred in Fassbinder's 1972 film "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant," a tale of homosexuality and the balance of power in love relationships. They were central themes in Fassbinder's work.

Hanna Schygulla, Irm Hermann and Ingrid Caven starred in Fassbinder's 1972 production of "Liliom" at Bochum Theater. It was not until the later 1960s that the director and writer moved from stage to film. Fassbinder continued to work with Schygulla, Hermann and Caven in his films and was married to Caven from 1970 to 1972.

"Fear Eats the Soul" is Fassbinder's 1973 film about an older woman who falls in love with and eventually marries a younger Moroccan man. The film addresses migration, xenophobia and integration. In 1974, it won Fassbinder the Critics' Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Sometimes Fassbinder played in his own films, including as Franz Biberkopf in the 1974/75 "Fox and his Friends." Like "The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant," the film is about homosexuality. The film is dedicated to "Armin and everyone else." From 1974-1978, Fassbinder, who was bisexual, was in a relationship with the actor Armin Meier.

The photo shows page seven of Fassbinder's screenplay for the film "Lili Marleen," which was released in 1981. The German Film Institute & Film Museum in Frankfurt has the Fassbinder manuscript archive, documents that reveal insights into the director's working methods.

Fassbinder and his team in 1970 on the set of "Niklashaus Fart," Fassbinder's first television production. The group of actors and crew members with whom he worked and partly lived on and off were infamous as his "clan." Hanna Schygulla and Michael Ballhaus, a German cameraman, were always part of the gang.

Barbara Sukowa played the title role in "Lola" in 1981, a film that was part of Fassbinder's West German trilogy. The other two are "The Marriage of Maria Braun" and "Veronika Voss." In those films, Fassbinder took a critical look at West German post-war history, showing a largely corrupt nation attempting to forget its Nazi past during the "economic miracle" of the 1950s.

Love, death and coolness: These three elements would characterize Rainer Werner Fassbinder's entire life and work. The young Bavarian director was only 23 when his first feature-length film was released in German theaters. "Love Is Colder Than Death" premiered at the Berlinale, Berlin's international film festival, in 1969.

His 1969 film "Katzelmacher" (a derogatory Bavarian term for foreign workers) features bored couples whose relations are shaken by the arrival of a Greek immigrant. Many of the actors of the cast would associate with Fassbinder over years. He is pictured here with one of his many muses, the actress Hanna Schygulla, celebrating their five German Film Awards for the movie.

Even with his brilliant career debut, not all of his movies would be successful at the box office. Fassbinder would also work as a theater and television director. The exhibition on his career "Fassbinder - NOW," currently running at the Martin Gropius Bau in Berlin, shows rare footage of him working, like here on the set of "The Merchant of Four Seasons" (1971).

Fassbinder's film "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" shows the complications which arise from a relationship between an elderly German woman (Brigitte Mira) and a Moroccan (El Hedi ben Salem) who is more than 20 years her junior. The film was shot in just two weeks in 1973. Despite its shoestring budget, it is one of his most influential works and is still highly relevant today.

Shortly after "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul," Fassbinder surprised his fans with this movie. Breaking with his signature present-day chronicles of ordinary people, he created this period piece based on Theodor Fontane's 1894 novel "Effie Briest." Starring Hanna Schygulla, the film's stunning images are a feast for the eyes.

A married couple's infidelities are exposed by their crippled daughter in "Chinese Roulette" (1976). In this "typical" Fassbinder film, emotions collide as the characters meet in a confined space and reveal relations of power and passion. This psychological drama overflows with powerful images, such as the haunting reflections of silhouettes in mirrors and windows.

Later on in his career, Fassbinder also tackled topics related to German history. "The Stationmaster's Wife" ("Bolwieser" in German) is based on a novel by Oskar Maria Graf, with a story set in a 1920s Bavarian town. Initially broadcast as a television series, it was also made into a shorter feature film. The director would cleverly adapt his work for different media.

By the mid 1970s, Fassbinder's international fame gave him access to bigger opportunities. With a budget exceeding the total cost of his first 15 films, "Despair" was one of the three movies he made in English. It starred world-renowned actors such as Dirk Bogarde and Andréa Ferréol. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, but failed commercially.

After a few minor socially engaged films, such as "Germany in Autumn," which dealt with RAF terrorism, Fassbinder realized in 1979 an ambitious dream by filming a TV series of 13 episodes adapted from Alfred Döblin's 1929 novel, "Berlin Alexanderplatz." Decades before the current series boom, Fassbinder was a trendsetter.

While his great success "The Marriage of Maria Braun" (1979) dealt with the post-war economic boom, Fassbinder took on Germany's Nazi period with "Lili Marleen" (1981), shot in English. The director used a popular framework to tackle this serious theme. Great actors portray an unfulfilled love story: Fassbinder borrowed Hollywood's most effective dramatic tricks in this international production.

"Lola" (1981) is set in West Germany's post-war period of economic boom. By then, Fassbinder had access to everything he could wish for, and top German stars would drew the masses to his films. Things were gloomy behind the scenes, though: The workaholic was increasingly affected by drug and alcohol abuse.

Fassbinder was not only successful as a film director. He would keep working on projects for the theater and television. His controversial and legendary play "Der Müll, die Stadt und der Tod" (Trash, City and Death) was finally presented for the first time in 2009. And Fassbinder was also an actor who'd work for other filmmakers too - here, in "Kamikaze" by Wolf Gremm.

Just a few months before his death, Fassbinder would win the Golden Bear at the 1982 Berlinale with his film "Veronika Voss." Shot in black-and-white and influenced by Billy Wilder's "Sunset Boulevard," the film depicts a drug-addicted German actress in the 1950s. Fassbinder's penultimate work conquered the critics and the audience.

Fassbinder would not live to see the premiere of his film "Querelle," based on a book by Jean Genet. He died on June 10, 1982 in Munich of a sudden cardiac arrest, presumed to be caused by a cocktail of alcohol, cocaine and barbiturates. In his creative frenzy, Fassbinder directed over 40 films within 13 years. His works are known worldwide.

Fassbinder is one of the most important film directors of Germany's post-WWII era. He died in 1982 at age 37, yet in his short life span he made 44 movies. While influenced by his predecessors, his films were unique, earning him a place in international cinematic history and influencing a subsequent generation of directors around the world.

Fassbinder's most important role model was director Detlef Sierck, who was born in Germany in 1897. In 1937 Sierck released "To New Shores" and "La Habanera," featuring star actress Zarah Leander. He was forced to flee Nazi Germany the same year, as his wife was Jewish. After settling in Hollywood, he took on the name Douglas Sirk and made melodramas such as "Magnificent Obsession" (photo, 1954).

In the winter of 1970-71, Fassbinder visited his role model in Ascona, southern Switzerland, where Sirk was living at the time. Fassbinder once said in an interview that Sirk's melodramas, such as "All that Heaven Allows" (1955), made him believe that Sirk loved people and never caricatured them. Fassbinder also once said Sirk made films "that were just as I would have made them myself."

Just as Fassbinder incorporated elements from Sirk's work into his own, European directors, such as Pedro Almodovar, later drew on Fassbinder's style. The Spaniard discovered Fassbinder's films as a young adult in Madrid and was fascinated by them, particularly by how the characters defied typecasting. Above, a scene from Almodovar's "Labyrinth of Passion" (1982).

Almodovar's early films particularly recall Fassbinder's. Strong and hyperactive women, men trapped between masculine expectations and hidden sensitivity — this can be found in both directors' work. Homosexuality and tension between the sexes are also reoccurring themes. They are often portrayed in an exaggerated and loud manner, but also always with humanity. Shown above: "Kika," from 1993.

Fassbinder's biggest fan in the French-speaking world was Francois Ozon. Particularly the French director's early work contained visual and thematic parallels. Works such as "Sitcom" (1998) and "Water Drops on Burning Rocks" (2000; above), which is based on a play by Fassbinder, recalled the German director's films through its use of aesthetics and character selection.

Ozon's 2002 film, "8 Women," also took inspiration from Fassbinder in its female protagonists; they are strong, energetic women who make diva-like appearances and display capricious behavior. All the characters are different, but one thing unites them: pure emotion, sometimes showed openly and other times hidden behind mask-like demeanor.

In the US, film students quickly became familiar with Fassbinder's work, thanks to its early presence in arthouse cinemas. When looking for traces of his influence, director Todd Haynes stands out. He is yet another a fan of the German director, and his female characters often recall Fassbinder's. Above, a scene from the melodrama "Carol" (2015), starring Rooney Mara (l) and Cate Blanchett (r).

The cameraman Michael Ballhaus (left) worked for Fassbinder for years and became renowned for his innovative cinematography. Then he went to the United States and became Martin Scorsese's director of photography. And so in a way, Fassbinder is also present in some Scorsese films.

In Asia, it is the Shanghai-born director Wong Kar-wai whose work most resembles Fassbinder's. Known for his beautiful shots (above, "In the Mood for Love," 2000), Wong once said that he most admired how Fassbinder directed his female actors: "They are strong women, and he constantly wrapped them in melodramatic events. "

Bong Joon-ho, the Korean filmmaker best known for his Golden Palm and Oscar-winning film "Parasite," told German newspaper "SZ" that he too was an admirer of the German director. "Lack, lust and greed influence people and families," he said, adding that Fassbinder had mastered the art of portraying these human traits.

And in Fassbinder's home country directors were also influenced by his work. For example, Fatih Akin cast Hannah Schygulla in the lead role of his film "The Edge of Heaven" (2007); the actress had starred in several Fassbinder films. At the film's premiere, she said that Akin "reminded me of the young Fassbinder" and that she had been impressed by "this wildness, this naivete."

Powerful, full of wild emotions: Fassbinder and Akin's films have much in common. They also share certain themes. Akin, who was born in Hamburg to Turkish parents, often places cultural conflict at the center of his films, such as in "In the Fade" (2017, picture). Fassbinder's 1974 movie "Ali: Fear Eats the Soul" was one of the first films to address cultural tensions.

However, many experts consider a different German director to most reflect Fassbinder: Oskar Roehler. His films bubble over with emotion, sometimes even to an extreme. Characters and dramatic arcs are sometimes overexaggerated or affected. And yet the films present emotional universes that span Germany, as was also the case in Fassbinder's work.

Fassbinder's favorite accessory was the leather jacket. But that's not the young director above; it's the actor Frederick Lau in Roehler's film "Punk Berlin 1982" (2015). The characters in Roehler's films can be imagined as part of Fassbinder's subcultural scene. The movie exudes raw artistry and Fassbinder-esque charm.

It's no coincidence that Oskar Roehler has made a film based on episodes from Fassbinder's life, released in Germany in May 2020. The film, "Enfant Terrible," stars Oliver Masucci as the German director and focuses on Fassbinder's early years.