wim wendersOne of the names that wrote the powerful new German cinema of the 70s in golden letters, the traveling filmmaker has shot in his native Germany and the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Brazil and Japan. Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Schlöndorff, among others–, In Barcelona as a guest of BCN Film Fest. This Thursday he received the honor of the competition, today he will hold a meeting with the students at La Blanquerna (18:00) on Friday, Saturday ‘Paris, Texas’ (Verdi cinemas, 20:00 pm) and A dozen more films restored by his foundation will be screened during the festival.among them ‘Alice in the cities’, ‘American friend’, ‘State of things’, ‘Sky Over Berlin’ and ‘Buenavista Social Club’.
Wenders is 77 years old today, and many still remember him in ‘The American Friend’, which was released 46 years ago. For the producer, “age doesn’t matter, it’s overrated, all that matters is who you are and what you do.” He has not stopped making films since he made his first short film in 1968. “I’ve always wanted to be older than I am, but I finally stopped thinking about it.” The director of The Watch of Time lives up to date with the ups and downs of his career and is faithful to the ideas that have made it a touchstone. The era of blessing among European moviegoers of the 70s is real, when his and Herzog’s films – ‘Aguirre, the Wrath of God’ – and Fassbinder’s – ‘The bitter tears of Petra von Kant’ – became the Spain of the democratic transition. turns into success.
present and future
Age is exaggerated, but time passes. How does Wenders view the present and the future? Look back a little at the dawn of the 21st century: “The terrorist attacks of September 11 changed the world. Covid and incarceration too. The most changed is the sense of seeking the truth and the concept of what is the common good, which seems to no longer matter to the new generations”. His next project reflects these ideas: “There will be a movie about the idea of peace. There is no peace without truth and no common good without peace. But first the director will present Cannes not one but two movies. And happy because “no one knew anything about them.” ‘Anselm’, which we know was shot only in 3D, and ‘Perfect days’, a drama shot in Japan, will reach the audience completely untouched.
Wenders remembered two of the writers he had worked with, Peter Handke and Sam Shepard. For the German novelist, for whom he produced his first film as a director, ‘La mujer zurda’, “I developed, he developed, we worked together five times. It wasn’t easy for me to write the scripts for my films, but when I needed help, I thought of the writers, not the scriptwriters”. Shepard was very different. Wenders describes him as a true traveling adventurer and a great writer. He wrote the scripts for two of his films and acted in one. “He has been one of my best friends for the last 20 years. He had an explosive personality. He was tall, thin, very intelligent, hated airplanes, traveled alone in a car, loved horseback riding, and would disappear for weeks to go to rodeos.
It also reminded me of the shooting of the groundbreaking movie ‘Paris, Texas’ in 1984. “I immediately thought of Nastassja Kinski for the role of Jane. It’s always good to have someone in mind when writing a movie. I called him on the phone and told him he was going to start practicing the Texas accent,” he says with a smile. Wenders had directed the movie in 1975 in False motion, and they were going to repeat it in 1993 in ‘So far, so close!’ Kinski was very vocal about the accent before shooting began. nervous, “but Harry Dean Stanton was even more nervous than he was. They rehearsed his script for days, so he forgot his accent and accent,” the director recalls.
Wenders rebels optimistic about world’s future cinema and from society: “Only optimists can change the world.”