Xaver Schwarzenberger

Although Schwarzenberger began as a cinematographer in Germany in the 1970s and continued into the 90s ably handling both direction and photography, he first achieved prominence and is perhaps still best known for his work for Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Such lensing talents as Dietrich Lohmann (who dominated Fassbinder's 1969-74 period) and Michael Ballhaus (who handled most of the films from 1974 to 1978) are mentioned more frequently in discussions of the prolific output of New German Cinema's most important talent. Yet Schwarzenberger, though he made only five films with Fassbinder (compared with the dozen-plus each of Lohmann and Ballhaus), proved to be an important collaborator as well. He was one of the few who could work almost as fast as Fassbinder, and his superb sense of lighting, composition and color contributed substantially to the rich output of Fassbinder's final years before his death in 1982.