''Eight Hours Don't Make a Day'' (german: Acht Stunden sind kein Tag) (also translated as ''(Eight Hours Are Not a Day)'' is a West German television miniseries written and directed by

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema movement. Fassbinder's mai ...

. Commissioned by

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the con ...

, it was broadcast in five episodes between 1972 and 1973. The story follows a group of working-class people in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Episodes

Cast

;All episodes *

Gottfried John Gottfried John (; 29 August 1942 – 1 September 2014) was a German stage, screen, and voice actor. A long-time collaborator of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, John appeared in nine of the filmmaker's projects between 1975 and 1981, the year befor ...

as Jochen Epp *

Hanna Schygulla Hanna Schygulla (; born 25 December 1943) is a German actress and chanson singer associated with the theater and film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. She first worked for Fassbinder in 1965 and became an active participant in the New German ...

as Marion Andreas * Luise Ulrich as Oma Krüger *

Werner Finck Werner Finck (2 May 1902 – 31 July 1978) was a German ''Kabarett'' comedian, actor and author. Not politically motivated by his own admission but just a "convinced individualist", he became one of Germany's leading cabaret artists under the co ...

as Gregor Mack *

Irm Hermann Irmgard Hermann (4 October 194226 May 2020) was a German actress. She worked in film, television, and the stage, appearing in over 160 film and television productions. She was discovered, without formal training, by Rainer Werner Fassbinder who c ...

as Irmgard Erlkönig * Wolfgang Schenck as Franz Miltenberger * Wolfgang Zerlett as Manfred Müller * Rudolf Waldemar Brem as Rolf Schwein * Grigorios Karipidis as Giuseppe Giuliano * Wolfried Lier as Wolf Epp * Hans Hirschmüller as Jürgen Graf * Renate Roland as Monika * Anita Bucher as Käthe Epp * Karl Scheydt as Arbeiter Peter * Rainer Hauer as Werkshallenleiter Volkmar Gross * Andrea Schober as Sylvia *

Herb Andress Herb Andress (January 10, 1935, in Bad Goisern – April 8, 2004, in Munich), born Herbert Andreas Greunz, was an Austrian film and television actor, known particularly for his roles in the Rainer Werner Fassbinder film ''Lili Marleen'' (1981) ...

as Rüdiger * Thorsten Massinger as Manni Andreas *

Kurt Raab Kurt Raab (20 July 1941 – 28 June 1988) was a West German stage and film actor, as well as a screenwriter and playwright. Raab is best remembered for his work with German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, with whom he collaborated on ...

as Harald (4 episodes) *

El Hedi ben Salem El Hedi ben Salem ( 1935 – 1977) was a Moroccan actor, best known for his work with German film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Early life Salem was born El Hedi ben Salem m'Barek Mohammed Mustafa in a small village in Morocco to a we ...

(''uncredited'') as Dunkelhäutiger Arbeiter (4 episodes) *

Ruth Drexel Ruth Drexel (; 14 July 1930 – 26 February 2009) was a German actress, director, and theatre director/manager. Her best-known role was as "Resi Berghammer" in the German television series, ''Der Bulle von Tölz'', in which she played the mother ...

as Frau Miltenberger (3 episodes) * Christine Oesterlein as Tante Klara (2 episodes) *

Brigitte Mira Brigitte Mira (, 20 April 1910 – 8 March 2005) was a German actress. She worked in both theater and film, later in her career with Rainer Werner Fassbinder on many occasions. Believed to have been born in Hamburg, she moved early on to Berli ...

as Marions Mutter, Frau Andreas (1 episode) * Peter Gauhe as Ernst Friedrich (1 episode) * Victor Curland as Meister Fritz Kretzschmer (1 episode) *

Klaus Löwitsch Klaus Löwitsch (8 April 1936 – 3 December 2002) was a German actor, best known in Germany for his starring role in the television detective series '' Peter Strohm''. He appeared in several films directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, begi ...

as Dr. Betram (1 episode) * Rudolf Lenz as Vermieter Mattes (1 episode) * Hans Gromball as Betrüger (1 episode) *

Valeska Gert Valeska or Valeška may refer to the following people: Given name * Valeska von Gallwitz (1833–1888), German writer * Valeska Gert (1892–c. 1978), German dancer and cabaret artist *Valeska Menezes (born 1976), Brazilian volleyball player *Val ...

as Die andere Oma (1 episode) *

Margit Carstensen Margit Carstensen (born 29 February 1940) is a German theatre and film actress, best known outside Germany for roles in the works of film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Theater career Carstensen, the daughter of a physician, was born and rai ...

as Hausfrau (1 episode) *

Ulli Lommel Ulli Lommel (21 December 1944 – 2 December 2017) was a German Film actor, actor and Film director, director, noted for his many collaborations with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and his association with the New German Cinema movement. Lommel spent ...

as Peter (1 episode) *

Eva Mattes __notoc__ Eva Mattes (; born 14 December 1954) is an Austrian-German actress. She has appeared in four films directed by director Rainer Werner Fassbinder (''The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant'', ', ''Effi Briest'' and '' In a Year of 13 Moon ...

as Beschwippste Freundin (1 episode) * Lilo Pempeit as Hausfrau Müller (1 episode) * Heinz Meier as Beamter Meier (1 episode) * Ursula Strätz (''uncredited'') as Peters Frau (1 episode) * Peter Chatel as Mann in der Anzeigenannahme (1 episode)

Restoration

In December 2016, it was announced that the restored version would have its world premiere in the Berlinale Special section of the

67th Berlin International Film Festival The 67th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 18 February 2017 with Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven as President of the Jury. '' Django'', directed by Etienne Comar, opened the festival. The Golden Bear was awarded to th ...

. In September 2017,

Arrow Films Arrow Films is a British independent film distributor and restorer specialising in world cinema, arthouse, horror and classic films. It sells Ultra HD Blu-rays, Blu-rays and DVDs online, and also operates its own subscription video on-dem ...

released this version in a limited edition dual-format

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...

box set A box set or (its original name) boxed set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists and bands ...

in the UK. The UK release runs at the original speed of 25

frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction * Framing (c ...

. In October 2018,

The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cine ...

released it on

and

in the USA, slowed to 24 frames per second.

References

External links

*
''Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day: The Utopia Channel''
an essay by Moira Weigel at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scho ...

1972 German television series debuts 1973 German television series endings Television shows set in North Rhine-Westphalia German-language television shows Das Erste original programming Grimme-Preis for fiction winners Rainer Werner Fassbinder Films scored by Fuzzy (composer) {{Germany-tv-prog-stub