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| Wim Wenders (1945 - ) |
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He moved to Paris, but could not gain entry into two art schools. He became an intern with at artist in Paris and describes this period as the loneliest of his life. Here, he discovered cinema. In under a year, in absolute solitude every evening, he watched a 1000 of the best films from the world. This ended up becoming an unparalleled training ground for one of the greatest living masters of the cinematic medium. Back in Germany, he enrolled in a newly established film school and made many short films. Typical of his style, he made a feature length film (Summer In The City) for his final year course, even when it was not required. This, he did, after realizing that by cutting costs and by shooting everything exactly once, he could extend his short film budget into a feature film. This, spontaneous thinking and action, would later become typical of Wenders and he would make many films like this. While working on this film he collaborated with Peter Przygodda and Robby Muller, his editor and cinematographer, who’d form a team for many of Wenders’ other films. His next film was ‘The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty’, adapted from a short story. The producers of the film were so impressed with Wenders that they signed him for ‘The Scarlet Letter’ based on Nathaniel Hawthrone’s novel of the same name. This to Wenders was a harrowing experience, and yet was well received by the world. Following this disappointment, Wenders moved to New York, where he started developing a film that would later begin ‘Alice In Cities’, dealing with what he would later quote reviewers, “the three As: Alienation, Angst and America.” The film was shot both in America and Europe. After this he made a few films in America. ‘Wrong Move’, ‘King of the Road’ and ‘The American Friend’. The last film caught the eye of Francis Ford Coppolla who commissioned him to make a film for his new production house. The film was ‘Hammett’, which, was heavily re-edited and re-shot by Coppolla, and took a total of four years before releasing in 1982. During the making of ‘Hammett’, Wenders was in Portugal visiting the set of another film. When the films’ shooting was stalled due to a lack of prints, he had some prints flown from Germany for the shoot. Like a bolt of lightning, an idea stuck him and he asked the director Raul Ruiz if he could borrow the entire cast for a film. Thus began the Golden Lion winner at Venice Film Festival, ‘The State of Things’, born out of Wenders’ frustration at working in America, and uses Wenders typical spontaneous and intuitive style of filmmaking. It was again during the making of ‘Hammett’, that Wenders met Sam Shephard, who handed him the manuscript of a yet unpublished work. From this was made one of Wenders’ most creatively and commercially successful work, ‘Paris, Texas’. The film won him three awards at the Cannes Film Festival including the prestigious ‘Golden Palm’, a BAFTA for best direction and a Golden Globe nomination. This film marked the end of his American phase, and he headed to Japan to make a documentary ‘Tokyo-ga’. He returned to Germany, and made a film that would reaffirm him as a legend, ‘Wings Of Desire’, the story of angels amidst humans, one of whom renounces immortality for the love of a woman. Shot in both: black and white, and colour, the film won the two most coveted prize at The Cannes Film Festival, The Golden Palm and the Best Director, and was nominated and won a host of others worldwide. Wenders’ maverick nature is visible in the film ‘Until the End of the World’, that was cut from 270 minutes to 179 and 158 minute versions. Wenders’ spent another year with his editor, to make a film that in his own words was ‘the real film’. It was five hours long and has only been shown to select audiences. ‘In Faraway, So Close’ became like a sequel to ‘Wings of Desire’ but was not received too well by audiences or critics. ‘Lisbon Story’ was shot in Portugal, and added to his repertoire of road movies. A co-direction with Michelangelo Antonioni followed in ‘Beyond the Clouds’. He returned to America with ‘End of Violence’, a meditative film dealing with the nature of violence and alienation and was nominated for a Golden Palm at Cannes Film Festival. He has made ‘Buena Vista Social Club’ and ‘The Million Dollar Hotel’, and many other short films and segments of films ever since. Wim Wenders has made music videos, held exhibition of his photographs, wrote books, been the president of a film academy and shot films in more parts of the world than many others before him. Critics point out the pitfalls of his improvisational filmmaking style saying they often lead to many ideas floating around. His fans however, see an ingenuous artist, who refuses to be bound by rules and stereotypes and has walked a new path, becoming an inspiration for a host of filmmakers for all eternity. © Palador Pictures Pvt. Ltd., 2008 Wim Wenders' Filmography: • Chacun son cinéma ou Ce petit coup au coeur quand la lumière s'éteint et que le film commence (2007) (segment "War in Peace")
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