Wim Wenders

Directing

Wim Wenders

Born 1945-08-14 · Düsseldorf, Germany

Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders (born 14 August 1945) is a German filmmaker and playwright, who is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals. He has also received a BAFTA Award and been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Grammy Award. Wenders made his feature film debut with Summer in the City (1970). He earned critical acclaim for directing the films Alice in the Cities (1974), The Wrong Move (1975), and Kings of the Road (1976), later known as the Road Movie trilogy. Wenders won the BAFTA Award for Best Direction and the Palme d'Or for Paris, Texas (1984) and the Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award for Wings of Desire (1987). His other notable films include The American Friend (1977), Faraway, So Close! (1993), and Perfect Days (2023). Wenders has received three nominations for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature: for Buena Vista Social Club (1999), Pina (2011), and The Salt of the Earth (2014). He received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video for Willie Nelson at the Teatro (1998). He is also known for directing the documentaries Tokyo-Ga (1985), The Soul of a Man (2003), and Pope Francis: A Man of His Word (2018). Wenders has been the president of the European Film Academy since 1996 and won an Honorary Golden Bear in 2015. He is an active photographer, emphasizing images of desolate landscapes. He is considered an auteur director. Description above from the Wikipedia article Wim Wenders, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

The Salt of the Earth poster
8.1

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

The Salt of the Earth

2014

The Million Dollar Hotel poster
5.9

A federal agent searches for a potential killer among the bizarre residents of a dilapidated Los Angeles hotel.

The Million Dollar Hotel

2000

The American Friend poster
7.1

Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.

The American Friend

1977

Zeroville poster
5.0

A young actor arrives in Hollywood in 1969 during a transitional time in the Industry.

Zeroville

2019

Tausend Augen poster
6.2

Hamburg student Gabriele constantly dreams of her boyfriend in Australia. The reality is different, because while she sits in lecture halls during the day, she is a dancer in a peep show at night. The place is run by the mysterious Arnold, who not only has his eye on Gabriele, but is also carrying around a secret that he soon lets Gabriele in on: his strip joint is just a pretext for a much more lucrative business, in which a certain Mrs. Lohmann is pulling the strings. Her boss Arnold, with whom she is having an affair, is doing dirty business. He is threatened by a killer because he wants out.

Tausend Augen

1984

Hitler in Hollywood poster
6.2

A bio-doc about Micheline Presle changes into a thrilling investigation of the long hidden truth about European cinema. This mockumentary thriller uncovers Hollywood's unsuspected plot against the European motion picture industry. Numerous directors and stars appear in the film, making it a choice morsel for all film lovers.

Hitler in Hollywood

2011

Alice in the Cities poster
7.7

German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer’s block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected.

Alice in the Cities

1974

Cannes Uncut poster
5.4

Looks at the glamour, red carpets, movies, craziness, stunts, deals, parties and personalities that have been part of the Cannes Film Festival over eight decades, as well as looking to the future.

Cannes Uncut

2023

Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet poster
6.9

Ten Minutes Older is a 2002 film project consisting of two compilation feature films entitled The Trumpet and The Cello. The project was conceived by the producer Nicolas McClintock as a reflection on the theme of time at the turn of the Millennium. Fifteen celebrated film-makers were invited to create their own vision of what time means in ten minutes of film.

Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet

2002

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer poster
7.6

With exclusive behind-the-scenes access into Herzog’s everyday life, rare archive material and in-depth interviews with celebrated collaborators – including Christian Bale, Nicole Kidman, and Robert Pattinson, we are given an exciting glimpse into the work and personal life of the iconic artist.

Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer

2022

Kleiner Mann ganz groß poster
9.0

Documentary feature about German actor Heinz Rühmann made shortly before his death in 1994.

Kleiner Mann ganz groß

1994

Wrong Move poster
6.7

Six days in the life of Wilhelm: a detached man without qualities. He wants to write, so his mother gives him a ticket to Bonn, telling him to live. On the train he meets an older man, an athlete in the 1936 Olympics, and his mute teen companion, Mignon. She's an acrobat in market squares for spare change.

Wrong Move

1975

Pope Francis: A Man of His Word poster
7.2

Pope Francis responds to questions from around the world, discussing topics including ecology, immigration, consumerism and social justice.

Pope Francis: A Man of His Word

2018

Viaggio in Bergmania poster
7.0

This is a cinematic pilgrimage by two young Turkish directors to their biggest source of inspiration, Ingmar Bergman. Their desire to approach even further to Bergman and to his work leads them to make this journey from their hometown Istanbul to Sweden, the land of Bergman. Their journey passes through not only to Stockholm, Uppsala, Dalarna, Gotland and of course Faro, but will also be an inner journey to their own selves.

Viaggio in Bergmania

2011

Room 666 poster
6.6

During the 1982 Cannes Film Festival, Wim Wenders asked a number of global film directors to, one at a time, go into a hotel room, turn on the camera, and answer a simple question: "What is the future of cinema?"

Room 666

1985

Now poster
8.8

A documentary that shows how young activists from around the globe such as Felix Finkbeiner (Plant for the Planet), Luisa Neubauer, Greta Thunberg (Fridays for Future) and Vic Barrett (Youth v. Gov) are currently challenging the status quo and pushing for social and political change. The film focuses on these young protagonists, addressing the question of what it feels like and what is at stake when you engage in such a life. Experienced activists, as well as experts in a wide variety of topics, will provide background information and forecasts for future developments.

Now

2021

FreeDogme poster
4.0

Marie Berthelius and Roger Narbonne conference call Lars von Trier, Win Wenders, Lone Scherfig, and Jean-Marc Barr and are also linked by digital video. The discussion is about the Dogme 95 film movement and how technological transformations affect cinematic practice.

FreeDogme

2000

A Trick of the Light poster
6.2

A rare gem of cinematic storytelling that weaves docudrama, fictional reenactment, and experimental photography into a powerful, reflective work on the early days of German cinema. The film tells the story of the Skladanowsky Brothers, the German-born duo responsible for inventing the "bioskop", an early version of the film projector.

A Trick of the Light

1995

Nick Cave: Straight To You - A Portrait poster
7.0

A 1993 portrait of rock singer and poet Nick Cave, a versatile artist who gained importance over the years. Jacobson also wrote the scenario that was built around a long conversation with the singer. From Australia and his work with the Birthday Party to his current city, Berlin, with The Bad Seeds.

Nick Cave: Straight To You - A Portrait

1994

Plankton Salesmen poster
NR

A nostalgic look at the birth and death of arthouse film distribution in Russia in the early 2000s. The story of the company Cinema Without Borders and its two founders, Sam Klebanov and Anton Mazurov.

Plankton Salesmen

2017

Close Up poster
9.5

More than 150 silent short films about singers, actors and directors captured during Press Conferences in Cannes, Venice and Berlin, between 1993 and 2002. Presented the first time in 2012 (ten years after the last shooting) in Napoli Film Festival and in 2013 at the Art Institute of California in Santa Ana. An anthropological experiment on the facial expressions of famous people showing the human being aspect. All original footage from Mel Gibson to Peter Jackson, from George Lucas to Catherine Deneuve, from Michael Douglas to Giancarlo Giannini and many others.

Close Up

2012

Love in Hollywood poster
10.0

Various Hollywood people talk about love.

Love in Hollywood

1996

A Fuller Life poster
6.6

Friends and admirers of iconoclastic film director Sam Fuller read from his memoirs in this unconventional documentary directed by Fuller's only child, Samantha.

A Fuller Life

2013

Bruno Ganz - The Longing Revolutionary poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Bruno Ganz - The Longing Revolutionary

2022

Behind the camera

Perfect Days poster
7.8

Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.

Perfect Days

2023

Perfect Days poster
7.8

Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.

Perfect Days

2023

Perfect Days poster
7.8

Hirayama is content with his life as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Outside of his structured routine, he cherishes music on cassette tapes, books, and taking photos of trees. Through unexpected encounters, he reflects on finding beauty in the world.

Perfect Days

2023

Paris, Texas poster
8.1

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.

Paris, Texas

1984

Paris, Texas poster
8.1

A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his family and disappeared four years earlier.

Paris, Texas

1984

Wings of Desire poster
7.8

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.

Wings of Desire

1987

Wings of Desire poster
7.8

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.

Wings of Desire

1987

Wings of Desire poster
7.8

Two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, glide through the streets of Berlin, observing the bustling population, providing invisible rays of hope to the distressed but never interacting with them. When Damiel falls in love with lonely trapeze artist Marion, the angel longs to experience life in the physical world, and finds — with some words of wisdom from actor Peter Falk — that it might be possible for him to take human form.

Wings of Desire

1987

The Salt of the Earth poster
8.1

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

The Salt of the Earth

2014

The Salt of the Earth poster
8.1

During the last forty years, the photographer Sebastião Salgado has been travelling through the continents, in the footsteps of an ever-changing humanity. He has witnessed the major events of our recent history: international conflicts, starvations and exodus… He is now embarking on the discovery of pristine territories, of the wild fauna and flora, of grandiose landscapes: a huge photographic project which is a tribute to the planet's beauty. Salgado's life and work are revealed to us by his son, Juliano, who went with him during his last journeys, and by Wim Wenders, a photographer himself.

The Salt of the Earth

2014

To Each His Own Cinema poster
6.4

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

To Each His Own Cinema

2007

The Million Dollar Hotel poster
5.9

A federal agent searches for a potential killer among the bizarre residents of a dilapidated Los Angeles hotel.

The Million Dollar Hotel

2000

The Million Dollar Hotel poster
5.9

A federal agent searches for a potential killer among the bizarre residents of a dilapidated Los Angeles hotel.

The Million Dollar Hotel

2000

The American Friend poster
7.1

Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.

The American Friend

1977

The American Friend poster
7.1

Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.

The American Friend

1977

The American Friend poster
7.1

Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.

The American Friend

1977

Lumière & Company poster
6.3

40 international directors were asked to make a short film using the original Cinematographe invented by the Lumière Brothers, working under conditions similar to those of 1895. There were three rules: (1) The film could be no longer than 52 seconds, (2) no synchronized sound was permitted, and (3) no more than three takes.

Lumière & Company

1995

Every Thing Will Be Fine poster
5.4

One day, driving aimlessly around the outskirts of town after a trivial domestic quarrel, a writer named Tomas accidentally hits and kills a child. Will he be able to move on?

Every Thing Will Be Fine

2015

Until the End of the World poster
6.7

In 1999, a woman's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash with two bank robbers, who enlist her help to take the money to a drop in Paris. On the way, she runs into another fugitive from the law — an American doctor on the run from the CIA. They want to confiscate his father's invention – a device which allows anyone to record their dreams and visions.

Until the End of the World

1991

Until the End of the World poster
6.7

In 1999, a woman's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash with two bank robbers, who enlist her help to take the money to a drop in Paris. On the way, she runs into another fugitive from the law — an American doctor on the run from the CIA. They want to confiscate his father's invention – a device which allows anyone to record their dreams and visions.

Until the End of the World

1991

Submergence poster
5.5

While James More is held captive by terrorists in Somalia, thousands of miles away on the Greenland Sea, his lover Danny Flinders prepares to dive herself in a submersible into the deep bottom of the ocean, tormented by the memories of their brief encounter in France and her inability to know his whereabouts.

Submergence

2018

Alice in the Cities poster
7.7

German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer’s block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected.

Alice in the Cities

1974

Alice in the Cities poster
7.7

German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer’s block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected.

Alice in the Cities

1974

Alice in the Cities poster
7.7

German journalist Philip Winter has a case of writer’s block when trying to write an article about the United States. He decides to return to Germany, and while trying to book a flight, encounters a German woman and her nine year old daughter Alice doing the same. The three become friends (almost out of necessity) and while the mother asks Winter to mind Alice temporarily, it quickly becomes apparent that Alice will be his responsibility for longer than he expected.

Alice in the Cities

1974