Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s In A Year Of 13 Moons Getting A UK Release

Studiocanal have announced that Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1978 In A Year Of 13 Moons. It will be available to own on DVD and Blu-Ray for the very first time in the UK from March.

The film is the renowned German filmmaker’s most film to date. Made in response to the suicide of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s lover Armin Meier, In A Year Of 13 Moons is a story of unrequited love, a tortured past and a heart-wrenching search for acceptance.

The film features one of cinema’s first transgender heroines, movingly portrayed by Volker Spengler (Satan’s Brew, Chinese Roulette) in a challenging role that critics have faulted due to Fassbinder’s harsh and uncompromising approach to the character. Joining Spengler in the cast are frequent collaborators Gottfried John (GoldenEye, The Marriage of Maria Braun) and, one-time wife of Fassbinder, Ingrid Caven (Suspiria).

In A Year Of 13 Moons traces the final days in the life of Elvira (Spengler), a transgender woman spurned by her former lover, as she reaches out desperately for understanding. Fassbinder crafts both a searing statement on the universal need for love and an elegant exploration of grief in what is arguably his most personal film.

After a breakup, Elvira, a transgender woman who has made an enormous sacrifice for love, struggles to reconcile her past life with her present identity. She recalls her religious childhood, her work as a butcher and her encounter with Anton, a former lover who completely changed her life.

Extras material
–NEW Fassbinder in Focus: A Conversation between Juliet Jacques and Alex Davidson
-Love And Despair: Werner Schroeter On Fassbinder’s In a Year of 13 Moons
-The Roots Of the Wounds: Juliane Lorenz On Fassbinder’s In a Year of 13 Moons
-Introduction by Richard Linklater
-Original German Trailer

In A Year Of 13 Moons will be released on Blu-ray and DVD by Studiocanal’s Vintage World Cinema collection from 24th March [Pre-Order].