You might not have heard of Michael Ballhaus before, but you will most likely have seen thousands of his images: Ballhaus has been behind the camera for a few dozen of cinema classics, such as ‘GoodFellas’, ‘The Age of Innocence’ and ‘The Marriage of Maria Braun’. Learning his trade in the 1960s under the auspices of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, with whom Ballhaus shot 16 films, he soon found himself working his way up in America. Many years and productions later, his resume reads like a ‘who is who’ in Hollywood. In Martin Scorsese Ballhaus finally found a second soul mate who he established a long-term working relationship with, resulting in seven outstanding productions, including the Oscar-winning ‘The Departed’, which also marked the voluntary finale of Ballhaus’ career in Hollywood.

With mono.kultur, Michael Ballhaus talked about signs of greatness, his work with Fassbinder and Scorsese and how too big a budget can ruin a film.

In homage to the moving images, this issue comes in a Technicolor landscape format, white on black.

Interview by Edda Bauer / Film Stills by Michael Ballhaus / Design by Claudia Schenk