1German Film Festival 2012: Focus Wim Wenders

2 2012 GERMAN FILMGERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012

2 2012 GERMAN FILM

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012FocuS WIM WENdERS28 August – 8 september

32 German Film Festival 2012: Focus Wim Wenders

WELcoMEAfter last year’s success with our German Film Festival FOCUS Werner Herzog, the Goethe-Institut dug deep into the catalogue of films by Wim Wenders for the 2012 edition of our FOCUS Festival. You will have the chance to revisit four decades of Wenders’ work – from the earliest to the classic, from the most obscure to the most poetic – there will be something new to discover even for the most die-hard Wim Wenders fan.

We hope to see you at all our films, but if you should only have time for two of them, we recommend “Wings of Desire”,

and please don’t miss “Lisbon Story” – with the most beautiful soundtrack by Portuguese group Madredeus with vocalist Teresa Salgueiro.

In collaboration with the New Zealand Film Archive, the Goethe-Institut is delighted to be able to bring these and other films by Wim Wenders to the big screen for a Wellington audience. We wish to thank all those, both in Germany and Wellington, who have worked hard and helped to bring about the German Film Festival 2012.

Your Goethe-Institut Team

“In the begInnIng I just wAnted to MAkE MoVIES, but wIth the pAssAge of tIme the journey Itself wAs nolonger the goAl, but whAt you fInd AT ThE ENd. NoW I MAkE FILMS To dIScoVER SoMEThING I dIdN‘T kNoW,very much lIke A detectIve.” — WIM WENdERS

AdVERTsprAche.kuLTuR.dEuTSchLANd.

www.goethe.de/nz

photo by Wolfgang B

ellwinkel

54 German Film Festival 2012: Focus Wim Wenders

WIM WENdERSA highly influential contemporary film director, Wim Wenders is one of the most significant representatives of the New German Cinema of the 70s. He was drawn to filmmaking from an early age and his directing career started at the University of Television and Film in Munich. He has produced numerous movies, documentaries and short films. Alongside a successful film career, Wenders has published a number of photography books and essays and a large selection of his photos “Pictures from the Surface of the Earth” has been exhibited internationally.

Born in Düsseldorf in 1945, he shot his first short film, “Schauplätze” in 1966/67. He finished his degree with his first feature length film “Summer in the City” (1971) and became a founding member of the German film distributor “Filmverlag der Autoren”. Two years later, Wenders made his artistic breakthrough with the acclaimed road movie “Alice in the Cities” (Alice in den Städten), which won the German Film Critics’ award in 1974. In this film, as in most of his later feature films, Wenders presented his protagonists as introspective escapists who find personal refuge in random travels, pop music or melancholic idleness.

He established his own production company “Road Movies” in Berlin in 1975. A year later, Wenders finished “Kings of the Road” (Im Lauf der Zeit). The journey of two men along the inner German border bemoans the closing of provincial cinemas and also reflects the social atmosphere of mid-1970s West Germany. “The American Friend” (Der amerikanische Freund, 1977) attracted the interest of Francis Ford Coppola who asked him to direct the film noir homage “Hammett”. During shooting breaks on “Hammett”, Wenders worked on “The State of Things” (Der Stand der Dinge, 1982) which tells the poetic story of a stranded film team. The audience is caught up in the magic which evolves through his poignant images of abandoned landscapes in Portugal. “The State of Things” was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival 1982.

Perhaps his best known film, the highly acclaimed “Paris, Texas” (1984), depicts the connection between the old and the new world, whilst “Wings of Desire” (Der Himmel über Berlin, 1987) soon gained cult status. The poetic angel allegory filmed in divided Berlin premiered at the 1987 Cannes film festival and won Wenders the award of “Best Director”.

In 1984 Wenders became a member of the Berlin Akademie der Künste and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Sorbonne University in 1989. In 1990 he received the German Federal Cross of Merit, in 1991 the Murnau Award and in 1996 he became president of the European Film Academy.

He returned to the Berlin of angels with “Faraway, So Close!” (In weiter Ferne so nah, 1993) and to the Lisbon of failed movie projects with “Lisbon Story” (1994). Wenders then followed his old companion Ry Cooder, who wrote the music for “Paris, Texas”, to Cuba to film “Buena Vista Social Club” (1998), a video documentary about the old men of the Son Cubano – the film became an overwhelming world-wide success and ushered in a revival of the Cuban “Son” music.

“Don’t Come Knocking” (2005), a road movie in the tradition of “Paris, Texas”

about an ageing Western star searching for his children, also received critical praise. The film premiered at the 2005 Cannes film festival and won the 2005 European Film Award in the category “Best Cinematography”.

At the 2011 Berlinale Film Festival, Wenders presented his extraordinary project “Pina”. Shot in 3D, the dance film showcases choreography by his long-time friend, the late Pina Bausch. A magnificent, Oscar-nominated celebration of dance, the film won the European Film Award 2011 for Best Documentary.

Wenders is currently a professor of Film at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg.

Acknowledgements:

www.goethe.de www.filmportal.de

“I’VE TuRNEd FRoM AN IMAGEMAkER Into A storyteller. only A story cAN GIVE MEANING ANd A MoRAL To An ImAge.” — WIM WENdERS

76 German Film Festival 2012: Focus Wim Wenders

“whAt Is most enjoyAble About the cInemA Is sImply workIng wIth A LANGuAGE ThAT IS cLASSIcAL IN ThE SENSE ThAT ThE IMAGE IS uNdERSTood by everyone.” — wIm wenders

pArIs, teXAs

Tuesday 28 August – 6:30pm

Opening Night – by invitation only

Germany 1984, colour, 149 mins, English

Screenplay: Sam Shepardcinematography: Robby MüllerEditing: Peter PrzygoddaMusic: Ry CooderWith: Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, Dean Stockwell, Aurore Clément, Hunter Carson, Bernhard Wicki, Socorro Valdezproduction: Road Movies Filmproduktion, Argos Films S.A.

Rating: PG

plot summAry“Paris, Texas” is probably Wim Wenders’ most successful and critically acclaimed film winning a number of international prizes including the Palme D’Or in Cannes for Best Film in 1984.

Travis’ family broke up years ago and since then he has seen neither his wife Jane nor his son Hunter. After the separation, Travis disappeared for four years without a trace. He turns up in a small town in the middle of the Texan desert with no memory of his past. With the aid of his brother – who also raised Hunter – he gradually begins to recover his speech and slowly begins to build up a relationship with his estranged son. Together they finally set off to look for Jane, who they find in a peep show in Houston, Texas.

Photo: Donata Wenders

98 German Film Festival 2012: Focus Wim Wenders

doN’T coME kNockING

Wednesday 29 August – 7:00pm

Germany & France, 2005, colour, 120 mins, English

Screenplay: Sam Shepardcinematography: Franz LustigEditing: Peter Przygodda, Oliver WeißMusic: T-Bone Burnett, Patrick WarrenWith: Sam Shepard, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth, Gabriel Mann, Sarah Polley, Fairuza Balk, Eva Maria Saint, George Kennedyproduction: Reverse Angle Production GmbH, Arte France Cinéma

Rating: M – offensive language

plot summAryWhile working on a new film, Western actor Spence is suddenly struck by the feeling that he might not have much longer to live. Driven by impulse, the ageing womaniser jumps on his horse and rides off. Planning to reconnect with all the people who played an important role in his life, Spence first visits his mother with whom he has had no contact for 30 years. Chased by a detective hired by the film production company, he continues to travel across the USA. When Spence learns from two of his former love interests that he has fathered two children in his wild days – a boy and a girl – the ensuing encounters with his unknown offspring turn out very differently.

ThE AMERIcAN FRIENd dER AMERIkANISchE FREuNd

Thursday 30 August – 7:00pm

Germany 1977, colour, 121 mins, German/ English (with English subtitles)

Screenplay: Wim Wenders, based on the novel “Ripley’s Game” by P. Highsmithcinematography: Robby MüllerEditing: Peter PrzygoddaMusic: Jürgen KnieperWith: Bruno Ganz, Dennis Hopper, Lisa Kreuzer, Gérard Blain, Nicholas Ray, Samuel Fuller, Peter Lilienthal, Daniel Schmid, Jean Eustache, Sandy Whitelaw, Lou Castelproduction: Road Movies Filmproduktion, Wim Wenders Produktion, Les Films du Losange, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Rating: M – medium level violence

plot summAryJonathan, formerly a restorer, and now a picture-framer, lives in Hamburg. He suffers from leukemia and knows he is dying. Tom Ripley, an American art dealer, makes him a very dubious offer: to kill a man in Paris in return for money with which he, a terminally ill man, could safeguard the future of his wife and child. When Ripley’s French client also offers him the chance to get a second opinion from a leukemia specialist in Paris, and even pays him an unrequested advance, Jonathan flies off to Paris… On his return a second murder is inevitable. Ripley himself is now in need of Jonathan’s help.

1110 German Film Festival 2012: Focus Wim Wenders

kINGS oF ThE RoAd IM LAuF dER ZEIT

Friday 31 August – 7:00pm

Germany 1976, b/w, 170 mins, German with English subtitles

Screenplay: Wim Wenderscinematography: Robby MüllerEditing: Peter PrzygoddaMusic: Axel LinstädtWith: Rüdiger Vogler, Hanns Zischler, Lisa Kreuzer, Rudolf Schündler, Marquard Bohm, Hans Dieter Traier, Franziska Stömmer, Peter Kaiser, Patrick Kreuzerproduction: Wim Wenders Produktion, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)

Rating: R–16

plot summAryFor the past two years Bruno has been travelling through the small towns and villages along the East German border in his van. Along the way he repairs the projectors in the dilapidated local cinemas. One morning he sees a man driving his VW into the river Elbe. The man, Robert Lander, climbs out of his sinking car with his suitcase and swims ashore. Bruno takes him with him and so begins a journey through a provincial, unseen Germany. By the end of their journey, they derive comfort from the fact that “in the course of time” (the literal translation of the film’s German title), their lives have taken on shape and significance. It is a quiet, almost lyrical film which disdains psychological motivation, suspense and dramatic tension.

A TRIck oF ThE LIGhT dIe gebrüder sklAdAnowsky

Saturday 01 September – 4:30pm

Germany 1996, color and b/w, 77 mins, German with English subtitles

Screenplay: Carlos Alvarez, Sebastian Andrae, Sorin Dragoi, Peter Fuchs, Carsten Funke, Florian Gallenberger, Markus Hansen, Henrik Heckmann, Veit Helmer, Germán Kral, Björn Kurt, Bodo Lang, Matthias Lehmann, Stephan Puchner, Britta Sauer, Marcus Schmidt, Wim Wenderscinematography: Jürgen JürgesEditing: Peter Przygodda, Barbara Rohm, Germán Kral, Eva Munz, Veit HelmerMusic: Laurent Petitgand, Daniel FavreWith: Manfred Wopalka, Nadine Büttner, Christoph Merg, Otto Kuhnle, Udo Kier, Bodo Lang, Alfred Sczczot, Marianna Kavka, Lucie Hürtgen-Skladanowsky, Ludwig Lichtproduction: Wim Wenders Produktion, Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF, München), Veit Helmer Filmproduktion

Rating: G

plot summAryThis film by Wim Wenders and students of the Munich Film Academy deals with the birth of cinema in Berlin, where the brothers Skladanowsky built a projector, the “Bioskop”, at the same time as the Lumière Brothers in France and Edison in America, and thereby co-invented “moving pictures” in their very own, poetic, poor, endearing and rather “un-German” way. The film starts a hundred years ago and it ends today, with Max Skladanowsky’s daughter Lucie who still remembers her father and those early days of cinema very well. The film was shot mostly on an old hand-cranker from the twenties, silent, and in the best slapstick tradition.

1312 German Film Festival 2012: Focus Wim Wenders

lIsbon story

Saturday 01 September – 7:00pm

Germany 1994, colour, 100 mins, German/ English (with English subtitles)

Screenplay: Wim Wenderscinematography: Lisa RinzlerEditing: Peter Przygodda, Anne SchneeMusic: Madredeus, Jürgen KnieperWith: Rüdiger Vogler, Patrick Bauchau, Vasco Sequeira, Ricardo Colares, Joel Ferreiraproduction: Road Movies Filmproduktion, Metro Filme

Rating: PG

plot summAryPhilip Winter, a sound engineer and creator of sounds, receives a message from director Friedrich Monroe urgently requesting him to come to Lisbon. After a series of mishaps, Winter finally arrives in the Portuguese capital and finds Friedrich Monroe’s apartment, only to discover that the director has vanished, leaving behind an old camera, with hand crank, a cutting table and silent documentary film material about Lisbon. When an alarm clock rings it becomes clear that Monroe cannot have left his apartment more than a few hours earlier. Winter, fascinated by the city and a Portuguese singer, decides to wait for his friend and to look himself for the sounds to accompany the film.

ALIcE IN ThE cITIES ALIcE IN dEN STädTEN

Thursday 06 September – 7:00pm

Germany 1973, b/w, 108 mins, German with English subtitles

Screenplay: Wim Wenders, Veith v. Fürstenbergcinematography: Robby MüllerEditing: Peter PrzygoddaMusic: Can, Chuck Berry, Gustav Mahler, Deep PurpleWith: Rüdiger Vogler, Yella Rottländer, Lisa Kreuzer, Edda Köchlproduction: Wim Wenders Produktion, PIFDA 1

Rating: PG

plot summAryPhilip, a journalist from Munich, is supposed to be writing an article about the American landscape for his publishers, yet all he has to show from his four-week tour of the United States are a few Polaroid photos. He wishes to return to Germany but his agent in New York refuses to give him an advance. Because of an airline strike he can only book a ticket to Amsterdam and it is at the airport that he meets two other travellers heading to Amsterdam, Lisa and her nine year old daughter Alice. When Lisa has to cancel her flight, she asks him to take Alice with him and promises to come for her soon. Thrown together in this way, Philip and Alice become friends.

1514 German Film Festival 2012: Focus Wim Wenders

ThE STATE oF ThINGS dER STANd dER dINGE

Friday 07 September – 7:00pm

Germany & Portugal, 1982, b/w, 120 mins, German/ English (with English subtitles)

Screenplay: Wim Wenders, Robert Kramercinematography: Henri AlekanEditing: Barbara von Weitershausen, Peter PrzygoddaMusic: Jürgen KnieperWith: Patrick Bauchau, Viva Auder, Isabelle Weingarten, Samuel Fuller, Rebecca Pauly, Jeffrey Kime, Camilla Mora, Geoffrey Carey, Alexandra Auder, Roger Corman, Paul Getty, Allen Goorwitz, Artur Semedoproduction: Road Movies Filmproduktion, Wim Wenders Produktion, Pro-ject Filmproduktion im Verlag der Autoren, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF)

Rating: M – offensive language

plot summAryFriedrich, a German director, is making a film in Portugal in a deserted, storm- battered seaside hotel. Joe, the camera-man, tells the director that they have run out of film and are unable to continue film-ing, while the producer has just left for Los Angeles. At first, the crew seeks solace in various pastimes, but slowly the interrup-tion breaks the team down into individuals dealing with unexpected solitude. Friedrich eventually tries to find the missing pro-ducer. Up until then he had always had more belief in life itself than in telling stories, and it was precisely this conviction that led the American investor to run off. In the end, the director finds himself seriously embroiled in a story – that of the producer Gordon.

WINGS oF dESIRE der hImmel über berlIn

Saturday 08 September – 7:00pm

Germany 1987, colour and b/w, 123 mins, German/ English (with English subtitles)

Screenplay: Wim Wenders, Peter Handkecinematography: Henri AlekanEditing: Peter PrzygoddaMusic: Jürgen KnieperWith: Bruno Ganz, Otto Sander, Solveig Dommartin, Curt Bois, Peter Falkproduction: Road Movies Filmproduktion, Argos Films

Rating: PG – coarse language

plot summAry“Wings of Desire” follows two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, who watch over the people below from their lofty vantage points high above Berlin. Untouchable and at first rarely touched, the angels observe life in divided Berlin. Visible only to chil-dren, they are unable to truly intervene. Damiel falls in love with Marion, a trapeze artist who appears able to escape the con-fines of earth’s gravity and who often per-forms wearing angel’s wings. To become truly close to Marion, however, emotion-ally and physically, he must give up his ethereal existence. A hugely acclaimed and multi-award winning movie including Best Director for Wenders at Cannes 1987.

1716 German Film Festival 2012: Focus Wim Wenders

RooM 666 chAmbre 666

Documentary, France & USA, 1982, colour, 50 mins, various languages (with English subtitles)

Screenplay: Wim Wenderscinematography: Agnès GodardEditing: Chantal de VismeMusic: Jürgen Knieper, Bernard Herrmann With: Jean-Luc Godard, Werner Herzog, Yilmaz Güney, Michelangelo Antonioni, Steven Spielberg, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and othersproduction: Wim Wenders Produktion, Gray City Inc

plot summAryLocation: Cannes, room 666 at the Hotel Martinez. Godard, Fassbinder, Spielberg and other famous directors answer the question: “Is cinema a language about to be lost, an art about to die?”

We will screen this film as a loop in the TV Lounge at the New Zealand Film Archive, open from 9am – 5pm, Monday – Friday.

tImetAble/progrAmme GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012

Tuesday 28 August

6:30pm Paris, Texas(149 mins)by invitation only

Wednesday 29 August

7:00pm Don’t Come Knocking (120 mins)

Thursday 30 August

7:00pm The American Friend(121 mins)

Friday 31 August

7:00pm Kings of the Road(170 mins)

Saturday 01 September

4:30pm A Trick of the Light(77 mins)

7:00pm Lisbon Story(100 mins)

Thursday 06 September

7:00pm Alice in the Cities(108 mins)

Friday 07 September

7:00pm The State of Things(120 mins)

Saturday 08 September

7:00pm Wings of Desire(123 mins)

Image: The New Zealand Film Archive © Dave Murphy

TV LouNGE progrAmme

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LocATIoNThe New Zealand Film ArchiveTe Anakura Whitiahua84 Taranaki StreetCorner Taranaki and Ghuznee StreetsWellington 6011

Phone: +64 4 3847647Website: www.filmarchive.org.nz

Tickets: $ 8/6

progrAmme chANGES We reluctantly reserve the right to change the schedule by amending dates or replacing films. Any necessary changes will be advertised at the festival venue and on the Goethe-Institut New Zealand website.

ImprIntGoethe-Institut New Zealand150 Cuba StreetPO Box 9253Wellington 6141

Phone: +64 4 3856924Email: info@wellington.goethe.orgWebsite: www.goethe.de/nz

The Goethe-Institut is the Federal Republic of Germany’s cultural institution; it operates 149 institutes in 92 countries. In New Zealand the Goethe-Institut has been based in Wellington since 1980.

design & Layout: The International Office

Film texts: Hans Günther Pflaum, Wolfgang Jacobsen, German Films & Marketing GmbH, www.filmportal.de, www.goethe.de

Images © Reverse Angle Library GmbH

Special thanks to: Filmbereich Goethe-Institut, Duncan Forbes, Elaina Hamilton, Brendan Moore, Sharon Rhodes, Mark Sweeney, Amanda White

A LANGuAGE WITh hEARTLearning German is your passport to the heart of Europe!www.goethe.de/nz

Get your free copy of our guide to scholarships, exchanges and other opportunities fromgerman@wellington.goethe.org

2 2012 GERMAN FILMGERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012

GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012GERMAN FILM FESTIVAL 2012

2 2012 GERMAN FILM