Film Screening Wim Wenders Marathon

Four Films by Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders’ 3D documentary ANSELM, on the artist Anselm Kiefer, opens in Boston in early January. A good occasion to delve deeper into the exceptional director’s work. Wim Wenders (born 1945) came to international prominence as one of the pioneers of German Cinema during the 1970s and is now considered one of the most important figures in contemporary film. In addition to his many prize-winning feature films, his work as a scriptwriter, director, producer, photographer and author also encompasses an abundance of innovative documentary films. We are offering a selection of his early feature and documentary films in a one-day Wim Wenders marathon. Refreshments will be served.

4:00 PM - A Trick of Light A mix of fiction and documentary about the German film pioneers Max, Emil and Eugen Skladanowsky who, like many of their contemporaries, attempted to find ways of recording and showing moving pictures. They held the public premiere of their invention at the Wintergarten theatre in Berlin in 1895 – just two months before that of the Lumière brothers, whose own invention ultimately went on to enjoy much wider public recognition. A group of around 20 students from the University of Television and Film Munich, under the direction of Wim Wenders, were responsible for the production of A Trick of the Light. Although the collaborative project casts an informative eye over the technical developments and the problems involved, the dominant tone is charmingly light and playful, thanks mainly to the fact that the story is told from a child’s perspective.
Director: Wim Wenders
Germany 1996
DVD, 76 min.
German with English subtitles

5:30 PM - Buena Vista Social Club With a small film crew, Wim Wenders accompanied his old friend Ry Cooder, who had previously written the music for PARIS, TEXAS and END OF VIOLENCE, on a trip to Havana. Wenders immersed himself in the world of Cuban music. Over the course of several months, he observed and accompanied the musicians—first at home in Havana and then, weeks later, in April 1998, on their trip to Amsterdam. The music documentary became a cinematic sensation and an international success. Along with an Academy Award nomination for the best documentary film, BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB won this category of the European Film Awards, the German Film Prize in Gold, Germany’s Golden Camera and the Grand Prize for Film in Brazil as well as numerous other awards.
Director: Wim Wenders
Germany/USA 1998/99
Blu Ray, 105 min
English, Spanish with English subtitles


 7:30 PM - The American Friend Jonathan Zimmermann, a carpenter, believes that he will soon die of leukemia. The unscrupulous American Tom Ripley learns of this and exploits Zimmermann’s illness for his own purposes. He introduces Jonathan to the underworld figure Minot, who offers to hire the terminally ill man as a professional hit man. He is to be paid appropriately for his work so he can leave something behind for his wife and their child. What does he have to lose, since he is going to die anyway? A friendship develops between the two very different men, and this ultimately leads Ripley to intervene when Zimmermann proves incapable of carrying out an additional murder. Starring Bruno Ganz and Dennis Hopper.
Director: Wim Wenders
West Germany/USA 1976/1977
Blu Ray, 126 min.
German, English, French with English subtitles

 9:30 PM - Paris, Texas PARIS, TEXAS is considered Wenders’s best-known and internationally most successful film. Celebrated by critics, it won a series of important international awards, including the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1984. This unconventional road movie is based on a script by Pulitzer Prize-winner Sam Shepard and tells the story of Travis, a man who wanders out of Mexico and into Texas one day, in the blazing heat of the “Big Bend”. Travis does not speak a word. He also seems to have largely lost his memory. But he is driven by his wish to find his family again: his young wife Jane whose life he seems to have placed in danger through his pathological jealousy, and his seven-year-old son Hunter. For four years, Travis was thought to be dead. His brother Walt flies from LA to Texas to bring back his lost brother.
Director: Wim Wenders
West Germany/France 1983/1984
Blu Ray, 148 min.
In English

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