Still from the Fassbinder Film "Kamikaze 1989" (1982) The filmmaker, actor, and theater director Rainer Werner Fassbinder was one of the most productive and controversial artists in West German film and theater in the 1970s and early 1980s. Both his life and work were characterized by an explosive mixture of elements drawn from the counterculture and commercial media alike. This photo shows Fassbinder in his 1982 film “Kamikaze 1989.” Photographer unknown.