The famous German director is back with ‘The Palmero Shooting’ shot ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ style. Expatica takes a look at the man behind the director, the ‘accidental’ filmmaker.
Wim Wenders' latest film, The Palermo Shooting, has been hitting German cinemas but has already enjoyed exposure at this year's renowned Cannes film festival in France.
Despite failing to win any awards at Cannes for his latest effort, the director is already known as a heavyweight at such venues, having played a key role in the New German Cinema movement of the 1970s and 1980s with a number of acclaimed films. But that he became a filmmaker at all is one of those classic accidents.
Wenders grew up in Duesseldorf, where he was born on August 14, 1945, four days after the end of World War II. He was not instantly drawn to film: After graduating from a German high school in Oberhausen in the Ruhr district, he studied medicine (1963-1964) in Freiburg and philosophy (1964-1965) in Duesseldorf.
He then dropped out with aspirations of becoming a successful painter, causing a move to Paris in October 1966, but failed the entry test to the Art Academy there. This led him to work as an engraver in the French capital: in his spare time he became a regular at his local cinema, Cinematheque Francais, often watching five films a day. His cinema addiction began here, and in 1967 he went to the Duesseldorf office of United Artists, entering the newly founded Hochschule fuer Fernsehen und Film (Academy of television film) in Munich in the autumn.
From then until 1970, Wenders was engrossed in the world of film, not only as a film student, but also as a critic, submitting film reviews for publications Filmkritik, Munich daily, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Twen magazine and Der Spiegel. He was also politically active at the time, attending a 1968 protest against the assault of political activist Rudi Dutschke, leading to him being detained by the police and receiving a six and a half month suspended sentence for resisting arrest. In 1970, he graduated from the Hochschule fuer Fernsehen und Film with a feature-length film, Summer in the city.
Wenders' professional career as a director began in 1971, with the film The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty Kick, based on a novel of the same name written by Wenders' friend, Peter Handke. His influence on German cinema began in the same year, when, with 14 other German filmmakers, he started a production and distribution cooperative Filmverlag der Autoren (Authors' film company), with the aim of producing their own films without reliance on other companies.
The cooperative, which produced Wenders' films Scarlet Letter, Alice in the Cities, Wrong Move and Kings of the Road, is now regarded as the nucleus of the New German Cinema movement known not only for its focus on social and political issues, but also for its promotion of the ‘Auteur’ film, produced independently from major studios, in which the distinctive style of the director as an ‘author’ can be seen.
The director's contribution to New German Cinema has been heavily exerted through his establishment of a number of production companies, with which he has not only released his own films, allowing him creative control in the process, but those of many others.
Apart from Filmverlag der Autoren, Wenders has also set up Wim Wenders Produktion in 1974 in Munich, and Road Movies Filmproduktion Inc, in Berlin in 1976, a company involved in over a hundred productions and co-productions up until 2003. He also had a production company, Gray City Inc, with Chris Sievernich in New York for a number of years in the 1980's. Through the means of his own companies, Wenders has allowed filmmakers greater independence than those working with large studios focusing on mass appeal and sales.
Wenders' own personal style reflects both a love of unique images and an obsession with the Americanization of Germany since the Second World War. His films often focus on breathtaking photography and focus more on cinematic techniques than plot, leading the stories in his films to often take strange turns with nonsensical conclusions.
Wenders himself has admitted that he often doesn't know what exactly will happen in his films. Breathtaking shots from his films include one of an angel standing on Berlin's Victory Column in Wings of Desire, in which angels observe human life and its complexities throughout the divided German capital, and the final scene of Alice in the Cities of a train rushing into the distance.
Wenders' fascination with images has led him to release a number of photography books, often using images taken during filming. His first was Written in the West, released in 1987 using work from Wings of Desire. This collection would be followed by a number of photo books, collections of essays and reflections on filmmaking. A number of photo books accompanied his films, such as Paris, Texas and Tokyo-Ga.
Having grown up in Duesseldorf, he has experienced a variety of cultural influences, including those of the British and American occupying forces in his hometown and the effect of a stint in Paris working as a painter. These influences play a large role in his films; many of his works use the Westernization of Germany as an underlying theme; American actors, such as Peter Falk, known as the protagonist of the Columbo detective series, feature prominently in his films, and German characters are found speaking broken English and enjoying Western culture, such as American music concerts.
Since 1995, Wenders has mainly lived in America, filming most of his films there in English, the most notable being The End of Violence, Buena Vista Social Club, an award-winning music documentary, and The Million Dollar Hotel.
Wenders popularity is not only evidenced by the commercial and critical success of his films and the attention he has gained from major directors, such as Francis Ford Coppola, but also through his collection of awards over time.
Among his most prominent awards are the Cannes Golden Palm for Paris, Texas, Outstanding Film of the Year at the London Film Festival for Tokyo-Ga , a number of awards for , such as Best Director at Cannes, the European Film Prize and the Bavarian Film Prize, both for the Director category. He has also won prizes for films including Buena Vista Social Club, Far Away, So Close and The State of Things. Wenders has also been a regular panelist and judge for a number of film festivals, most notably at Cannes.
Wenders' latest film, set in both Dusseldorf and Palermo, shows a return to Europe for the director, but otherwise exhibits a number of his signature tendencies. It traces the journey of a successful photographer, Fin, from Germany to Italy. The photographer travels to Palermo for a fashion shoot, but soon falls in love with the city. Fin's new infatuation is tainted, however, by his intense fear of death. He attempts to come to terms with death with the help of art restorer, Flavia, who he meets in Palermo. The film encompasses a reflection of life through the confrontation of death.
Wenders is not only a film obsessed but also a huge music fan. The director has made a number of music videos for popular band U2, and even casts German rock star Campino, famously known as front man of German group Die Toten Hosen, as the lead role in his latest film.
Wender's film includes a soundtrack, which is heavily incorporated throughout, and a cameo role by veteran rock star Lou Reed, who Wenders once described as the greatest living poet in the rock world. Another big film attached to the film is Dennis Hopper, the Hollywood veteran who this time plays an unusual role death.
The Palermo Shooting, though unable to snatch any awards at Cannes, is a draw at cinemas, due both to Wenders' well-established name among film fans and the popularity of those involved in the film. And regardless of its reception, it will add to Wenders' bizarre and eclectic catalogue of work.
Wim Wenders talks about rock music in his movies
Wenders described how he shot the film as "rock 'n' roll style," improvising the scenes as he went along.
"I wanted to make a film about death, but you can't really do that,” he said in Berlin in October. “It isn't done. But there is a lot of music about death. So I decided to make my film about death rock 'n' roll style.”
“We just shot scenes spontaneously,” he added. “We just started before the script was complete. I wouldn't normally do that. That meant taking a risk."
Which is something this filmmaker obviously enjoys.
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The famous German director is back with ‘The Palmero Shooting’ shot ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ style. Expatica takes a look at the man behind the director, the ‘accidental’ filmmaker.
, such as Best Director at Cannes, the European Film Prize and the Bavarian Film Prize, both for the Director category. He has also won prizes for films including Buena Vista Social Club, Far Away, So Close and The State of Things. Wenders has also been a regular panelist and judge for a number of film festivals, most notably at Cannes. 
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