WIM WENDERS / BIOGRAPHY
Wim Wenders (born 1945) came to international prominence as one of the pioneers of the New German Cinema during the 1970’s and is considered to be one of the most important figures in contemporary German 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, international photo exhibitions and numerous monographs, film books and prose collections. He lives and works in Berlin, together with his wife Donata Wenders.
Wim Wenders studied medicine and philosophy before moving to Paris in 1966 to study painting. Though ostensibly pursuing an apprenticeship in the studio of the graphic designer and engraver Johnny Friedlaender, he spent his afternoons and evenings in the Cinémathèque Francaise. This “crash course in the history of film” would become the most important stage in his education, as Wenders soon began to think of film as an “extension of painting by other means”.
His career as a filmmaker began in 1967 when Wenders enrolled at the newly founded University of Television and Film Munich (HFF Munich). Parallel to his studies at the HFF, he also worked as a film critic from 1967 to 1970. At this point in time he had already directed various short films. Upon graduating from the academy in 1971, he founded, together with fifteen other directors and authors, the Filmverlag der Autoren, a film distribution company for German auteur films, which organized the production, rights administration and distribution of their own independent films.
After completing his debut feature out of film school THE GOALIE’S ANXIETY AT THE PENALTY KICK (1971) Wenders turned to shooting his road movie trilogy, ALICE IN THE CITIES (1973), WRONG MOVE (1974) and KINGS OF THE ROAD (1975), in which the protagonists try to come to terms with their rootlessness in post-war Germany among other things. His international breakthrough came with THE AMERICAN FRIEND (1977). Since then Wenders has continued to work both in Europe and the USA as well as in Latin America and Asia and has been honored with countless awards at festivals around the world, including: the Golden Palm and the British Film Academy Award for PARIS, TEXAS (1984); the Director’s Prize in Cannes for WINGS OF DESIRE (1987); the Golden Lion in Venice for THE STATE OF THINGS (1982); and the Silver Bear for THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL (2000) at the Berlin International Film Festival. His documentary films BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB (1999), PINA (2011), and THE SALT OF THE EARTH (2014) have all been nominated for an Oscar.
During the 2015 edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement. EVERY THING WILL BE FINE was part of the official program of the Berlinale. His feature film LES BEAUX JOURS D’ARANJUEZ, with a script based on the play from the Austrian writer Peter Handke, was again shot in 3D and celebrated its World Premiere at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival in September 2016. Wenders’ love story
WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG Birkenstr. 47 D-40233 Düsseldorf
Phone +49 211 9666 7480 Fax +49 211 9666 7484 kontakt@wimwendersstiftung.de I www.wimwendersstiftung.de
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SUBMERGENCE, based on Jonathan M. Ledgard’s bestseller, with Academy Award®-winner Alicia Vikander and James McAvoy in the leading roles, premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. He is currently working on his next documentary POPE FRANCIS – A MAN OF HIS WORD.
The medium of photography has accompanied and extended Wenders’ artistic work from the very beginning. The starting point for the pursuit of an independent body of photographic work was the photo series WRITTEN IN THE WEST, which came into being during the preparations for his film PARIS, TEXAS (1984), on Wenders’ journeys crisscrossing the American West. His second large photo exhibition PICTURES FROM THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH led Wenders to countries such as Australia, Cuba, Israel, Armenia, and Japan – always in search of images that seek to capture the essence of a place.
Wenders’ photographs have been exhibited in museums and galleries around the entire world since 1986, in among other places: Centre Pompidou, Paris (1986); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2001); the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (2002); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney (2003); the Shanghai Museum of Art (2004); the Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome (2006); the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (2010); the Deichtorhallen, Hamburg; Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow (2012); the Fundació Sorigué, Lleida (2013); the Villa Pignatelli, Naples; GL Strand, Copenhagen (2014); and Villa Panza, Varese (2015). A comprehensive retrospective of his photographs has been exhibited at the Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf (2015). In October 2017 The Photographers’ Gallery in London dedicated the exhibition “INSTANT STORIES: Wim Wenders’ Polaroids” to this previously unseen body of work.
Among other honorary titles and positions, Wenders has been a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin since 1984, and holds honorary doctorates from the Sorbonne in Paris (since 1989), the Faculty of Theology at the University of Fribourg (since 1995), the University of Louvain (since 2005) and the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Catania (2010). He taught as a professor at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg until 2017. Wim Wenders is a member of the order Pour le Mérite and he has been President of the European Film Academy since 1996.
In the fall of 2012, together with his wife Donata, Wim Wenders established the Wim Wenders Stiftung in Düsseldorf. The establishment of the foundation was deeply rooted in the intention to create a legally binding framework to bring together the cinematic, photographic, artistic and literary life’s work of Wim Wenders in his native country and to make it permanently accessible to the general public worldwide. At the same time, the non-profit foundation model also serves to ensure that his whole body of work may belong only to itself as endowment capital and that it thus remains beyond the reach of any form of private self-interest. All proceeds from the licensing business are used to finance the central purpose of the foundation: the promotion of the arts and culture through the restoration, dissemination and preservation of Wenders’ work on the one hand and through the support of young talents in the field of innovative narrative cinema on the other.
WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG Birkenstr. 47 D-40233 Düsseldorf
Phone +49 211 9666 7480 Fax +49 211 9666 7484 kontakt@wimwendersstiftung.de I www.wimwendersstiftung.de
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FILMOGRAPHY
FEATURE AND DOCUMENTARY FILMS
2018 Pope Francis – A MAN OF HIS WORD 2017 SUBMERGENCE
2016 LES BEAUX JOURS D’ARANJUEZ (3D) 2015 E VER Y THING WILL BE FINE (3D) 2014 THE SAL T OF THE EAR TH
CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE, EPISODE “THE BERLIN PHILHARMONIC” (3D) 2011 PIN A (3D)
2008 P ALERMO SHOO TING
2005 DON’ T COME KNOCKING
2004 LAND OF PLENTY
2003 THE BLUES SERIES: THE SOUL OF A MAN
2002 ODE TO COLOGNE: A ROCK ‘N’ ROLL FILM
2000 THE MILLION DOLL AR HO TEL
1999 BUEN A VIS T A SOCI AL CLUB
1997 THE END OF VIOLENCE
1996 A TRICK OF THE LIGHT (WITH STUDENTS OF THE HFF MUNICH) 1995 BEYOND THE CLOUDS (WITH MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI) 1994 LISBON STORY
1993 FAR AWAY, SO CLOSE!
1991 UN TIL THE END OF THE WORLD
1989 NO TEBOOK ON CI TIES AND CLO THES
1987 WINGS OF DESIRE
1985 TOKYO-GA
1984 P ARIS, TEX AS
1982 THE ST A TE OF THINGS
HAMMETT
1980 NICK’S FILM – LIGH TNING O VER W A TER
1977 THE AMERIC AN FRIEND
1976 KINGS OF THE RO AD
1975 WRONG MO VE
1973 ALICE IN THE CI TIES
1972 THE SCARLET LETTER
1971 THE GOALIE’S ANXIETY A T THE PENAL TY KICK 1970 SUMMER IN THE CI T Y
SHORT FILMS
2012 NOTES FROM A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ARCHITECT (PETER ZUMTHOR AT WORK)
2010 IF BUILDINGS COULD T ALK 2008 “8”: PERSON TO PERSON 2007 WAR IN PEACE
WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG Birkenstr. 47 D-40233 Düsseldorf
Phone +49 211 9666 7480 Fax +49 211 9666 7484 kontakt@wimwendersstiftung.de I www.wimwendersstiftung.de
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LOS INVISIBLES: INVISIBLE CRIMES
2002 TEN MINU TES OLDER: T WEL VE MILES TO TRON A 1998 WILLIE NELSON A T THE TEA TRO
1992 ARISH A, THE BE AR AND THE S TONE RING
1982 RE VERSE ANGLE
ROOM 666
1974 FROM THE FAMIL Y OF REPTILES / THE ISLAND 1969 ALABAMA (2000 LIGHT YEARS)
3 AMERICAN LP’S
1968 SIL VER CITY REVISITED
“POLICE FILM” 1967 SCH AUPLÄ TZE
SAME PLAYER SHOOTS AGAIN
SELECTED PHOTO EXHIBITIONS
2017
2015
“Instant Stories: Wim Wenders’ Polaroids”, The Photographers’ Gallery, London, England
“Land of Plenty”, Galerie Bastian, Berlin, Germany
“Derain, Balthus, Giacometti. An artistic friendship”, Musée d’Art Moderne de la
Ville de Paris, Paris, France
“The space between the characters can carry the load”, Collection Ivo Wessel, Museum Weserburg, Bremen, Germany
PLACES OF THE MIND. WIM & DONATA WENDERS, Polka Galerie,
Paris, France
IN BROAD DAYLIGHT EVEN THE SOUNDS SHINE. WIM WENDERS SCOUTING IN PORTUGAL, Reservatório da Mae d’Água das Amoreiras, Lisbon, Portugal
TIME CAPSULES BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD, Blain|Southern, Berlin, Germany 4 REAL & TRUE 2. WIM WENDERS LANDSCAPES. PHOTOGRAPHS, Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany
WIM WENDERS. AMERICA, Villa e Collezione Panza, Varese, Italy
WIM WENDERS: PLACES STRANGE AND QUIET, GL Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark
WIM WENDERS: URBAN SOLITUDE, Palazzo Incontro, Rome, Italy
WIM WENDERS PHOTOGRAPHS, Fundació Sorigué, Lleida, Spain
PLACES STRANGE AND QUIET
Villa Pignatelli, Naples, Italy; Galerie OstLicht, Vienna, Austria; Deichtorhallen Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, Germany; Haunch of Venison, London, England; MASP, São Paulo, Brazil
JOURNEY TO ONOMICHI
WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG Birkenstr. 47 D-40233 Düsseldorf
Phone +49 211 9666 7480 Fax +49 211 9666 7484 kontakt@wimwendersstiftung.de I www.wimwendersstiftung.de
2014
2013 2010-13
2006-09
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Céline and Heiner Bastian, Berlin, Germany; Omotesando Hills, Tokyo, Japan (with
Donata Wenders)
2001-06 PICTURES FROM THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH
Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia; Scuderia del Quirinale, Rome, Italy; Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus, Denmark; James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA; Millennium Art Museum, Peking, China; Shanghai Museum of Art, Shanghai, China; Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China; Haunch of Venison, London, England; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; City Art Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; Juerg Judin, Zürich, Switzerland; Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain; Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin, Germany
2000 BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB, Rose Gallery, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, USA (with Donata Wenders)
1996 WIM WENDERS: LANDSCAPE AND MEMORY, Gallery of Contemporary Photography, Santa Monica, USA
WIM WENDERS: PHOTOS, Goethe Institute (world-wide) 1994-95 ONCE – Photographs by Wim Wenders
Villa Rufolo, Ravello, Italy; FNAC, Berlin, Germany; Parco, Tokyo, Japan; FNAC,
Paris, France; Villa delle Rose, Bologna, Italy; Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy 1989-94 WIM WENDERS: PHO TOGRAPHS
San Telmo Museum, San Sebastian, Spain; Sala Parpallo Palau Dels Scala, Valencia, Spain; Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark; La Biennale die Venezia “Slittamenti”, Venice, Italy; “Robert Adams – Wim Wenders”, Amerika Haus, Berlin, Germany; Musée de l’Elysee, Lausanne, Switzerland; Kiyomizu Temple, Kyoto, Japan; Shibuya Seibu Dept. Store, Tokyo, Japan; Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles, USA; Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film, Munich, Germany; “Robert Adams – Wim Wenders”, Galerie Marie Louise Wirth, Zürich, Switzerland; PPS. Galerie F.C. Gundlach, Hamburg, Germany
1986-92 WRITTEN IN THE WEST
Städtische Galerie Schwarzes Kloster, Freiburg, Germany; Saint-Yrieix-La-Perche, France; Goethe Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark; Goethe Institute, Stockholm, Sweden; Film Society of Miami, Miami, USA; Palazzo della Triennale di Milano, Milan, Italy; Encontros de Fotografia, Coimbra, Portugal; Centre Pompidou, Paris, France
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2017 Instant Stories. Thames & Hudson, London 2015 Wim Wenders. Una Volta, Contrasto srl, Rome
Wim Wenders: Die Pixel des Paul Cézanne, Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt a. M. Written in the West – Revisited, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich
4REAL & TRUE2. Wim Wenders. Photographs. Landscapes, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich
Wim Wenders. America, Silvana Editoriale, Milan
WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG Birkenstr. 47 D-40233 Düsseldorf
Phone +49 211 9666 7480 Fax +49 211 9666 7484 kontakt@wimwendersstiftung.de I www.wimwendersstiftung.de
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2013 Inventing Peace: A Dialogue on Perception, L.B. Tauris, London Places, strange and quiet, 2nd edition, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern
2012 Pina. The Film and the Dancers, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich 2011 Places, strange and quiet, Hatje Cantz, Ostfieldern
2009 Journey to Onomichi, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich
2007 Wim Wenders, Editrice Il Castoro srl, Milan
2005 A Sense of Place, Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt
2001 Pictures from the Surface of the Earth, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich
Imágenes de la Superficie de la Tierra, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich
On Film, A volume that combines Emotion Pictures, The Logic of Images and The Act of Seeing, Faber & Faber, London
2000 The Heart is a Sleeping Beauty – The Million Dollar Hotel, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich 1999 Buena Vista Social Club, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich
1996 Wim Wenders: Photos, Edition Braus, Heidelberg
1995 Die Zeit mit Antonioni, Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt
1994 Once. Pictures and Stories, Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt Une Fois. Images et histoires, G3J editeur, Paris
Wim Wenders. Fotografías. Edicions Alfons El Magnánim, Valencia. 1993 Electronic Paintings, Rome: Edizioni Socrates, Rome
Einstellungen, Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt
Una Volta, Edizioni Socrates, Rome
1992 The Act of Seeing, Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt 1988 Die Logik der Bilder, Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt 1987 Written in the West, Schirmer/Mosel, Munich 1986 Emotion Pictures, Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt 1985 Tokyo-Ga, Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt
1984 Paris, Texas, Greno Verlag, Nördlingen
HONORARY TITLES AND OTHER POSITIONS
2015 Order of Merit of the State of Berlin, Germany
2010 Honorary Doctorate, Architectural Faculty of the University of Catania, Italy 2005 Honorary Doctorate, University of Louvain, Belgium
2005 Member of the Order Pour le Mérite, Germany
2001 Professor at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg, Germany
1996 President of the European Film Academy
1995 Honorary Doctorate in divinity, Fribourg University, Switzerland
1993 Honorary Professor at the University of Film and Television, Munich, Germany 1989 Honorary Doctorate, Sorbonne, Paris, France
1984 Elected member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany
WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG Birkenstr. 47 D-40233 Düsseldorf
Phone +49 211 9666 7480 Fax +49 211 9666 7484 kontakt@wimwendersstiftung.de I www.wimwendersstiftung.de
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SELECTED AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
2017 Douglas-Sirk-Preis of the Hamburg Film Festival
2017 European Helena Vaz da Silva Award
2016 Großer Kulturpreis of the Sparkassen Culture-Foundation Rhineland 2015 Tribute to Wim Wenders, Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival
Golden Bear for lifetime achievement, Berlin International Film Festival
THE SALT OF THE EARTH: nomination for the Oscar® in the category Best Documentary Feature
THE SALT OF THE EARTH: César for Best Documentary Film
2014 THE SALT OF THE EARTH, Special Prize of the Jury Un Certain Regard, Festival de Cannes
2012 PINA: nomination for the Oscar® in the category Best Documentary Feature 2011 PIN A: Best Documentary , German Film Prize; German Documentary Film Prize,
Dokville (Ludwigsburg, Germany); European Film Academy Documentary Price
ARTE, European Film Awards, Best Documentary 2004 The Robert Bresson Award, Vatican
Master of Cinema, International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg
LAND OF PLENTY: UNESCO Award, Venice Film Festival
2003 THE SOUL OF A MAN, Emmy Award; Audience Award for Best Documentary, São
Paulo Film Festival
2000 THE MILLION DOLL AR HO TEL: Silver Bear , Jury Prize, Berlin International Film
Festival
1999 BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB: Best Documentary Feature, Oscar® Nominee;
European Film Academy Documentary Price ARTE, European Film Award; Best Documentary, German Filmprize; Best Documentary, New York Film Critics; Best Documentary, National Society of Film Critics; Standard Life Audience Award, Edinburgh International Film Festival; Best Documentary, National Board of Review; Golden Space Needle Best Documentary, Seattle Film Festival
1997 THE END OF VIOLENCE: Best Director, German Film Prize
1993 FAR AWAY, SO CLOSE!: Grand Jury Prize, Festival de Cannes; Best Director,
Bavarian Film Award
1992 UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD: Best German Film, Guild Award in Gold 1987 WINGS OF DESIRE: Best Director , Festival de Cannes; Best Director , European
Film Prize; Best Foreign Film & Photography, Los Angeles Film Critics Award; Best Photography, New York Film Critics Circle; Best Director, German Film Award; Best Director, Bavarian Film Award; Independent Spirit Award; Best German Film, Guild Award in Silver
1985 TOKYO-GA: Outstanding film of the year, London Film Festival
1984 PARIS, TEXAS: Golden Palm, Festival de Cannes; Best Director, British Academy
Awards; Prize of the French Film Critics; Best Production German Film Prize
WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG Birkenstr. 47 D-40233 Düsseldorf
Phone +49 211 9666 7480 Fax +49 211 9666 7484 kontakt@wimwendersstiftung.de I www.wimwendersstiftung.de
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1982 THE STATE OF THINGS: Golden Lion Prize and Fipresci Prize, Venice Film Festival; Best Production, German Film Award
1981 NICK’S FILM – LIGHTNING OVER WATER: Best Production, German Film Award 1978 THE AMERICAN FRIEND: Best Director, Best Editing and Best Production,
German Film Prize
1976 KINGS OF THE ROAD: Golden Hugo, Chicago; Festival de Cannes, Fipresci
Award, Festival de Cannes
1975 WRONG MOVE: Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography,
German Film Prize
1972 THE GOALIE’S ANXIETY AT THE PENALTY: Fipresci Award, Venice Film Festival
WIM WENDERS STIFTUNG Birkenstr. 47 D-40233 Düsseldorf
Phone +49 211 9666 7480 Fax +49 211 9666 7484 kontakt@wimwendersstiftung.de I www.wimwendersstiftung.de
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