The Cinema Of Wim Wenders

The Cinema of Wim Wenders, the first anthology of scholarly work on Wenders, is a unique anthropology of source materials and selected critical essays on the films of Wim Wenders, a major filmmaker in the so-called New German Cinema movement. His work, probably more than that of any other European director, reflects the tension between the European auteur tradition and the increasing dominance of the American media industry. In both his filmmaking and his critical writing, he explores how the relationship between image and narrative manifests the basic opposition between these two film traditions. This book serves as an introduction to the central concerns of his cinema while situation his work within German film history and the contemporary debates about postmodern film and media theory.

The Cinema of Wim Wenders: The Celluloid Highway is a new study of the films of this most prominent of German directors, and penetrates the seductive sounds and images for which he is best known. The book analyses the individual films in the context of a preoccupation central to all of Wenders' work and writings: why modern cinema - a recording art, solely composed of sounds and images - naturally developed into a primarily narrative medium, a domain traditionally associated with words and sentences? With its emphasis on analysing the films themselves, this book identifies and critically elucidates Wenders' chief artistic motivation: that the act of seeing can constitute a creative act in its own right.

The authors trace the development of one of the most well-known directors of the New German Cinema that flourished in the 1970s and early 1980s. Examining Wim Wenders' career from his early film school productions through his mature works of the 1970s, this book also analyses the most recent works, as well as the themes and preoccupations that unite his oeuvre. As the authors note, Wenders' works have been profoundly influenced by American films, especially the 'road movie' genre. His own work often features characters who are always on the move, in an attempt to capture a glimpse of their identity and place in the world. They also represent a generation of postwar Germans seeking to redeem themselves and the history of their country by turning to American popular culture, particularly its music and movies.

Essays discuss movies and movie directors, including Truffaut, Hitchcock, Ford, Lang, Altman, and Leone

Wim Wenders: Making Films That Matter is the first book in 15 years to take a comprehensive look at Wim Wenders's extensive filmography. In addition to offering new insights into his cult masterpieces, the 10 essays in this volume highlight the thematic and aesthetic continuities between his early films and his latest productions. Wenders's films have much to contribute to current conversations on intermediality, whether it be through his adaptations of important literary works or his filmic reinventions of famous paintings by Edward Hopper or Andrew Wyeth. Wenders has also positioned himself as a decidedly transnational and translingual filmmaker taking on the challenge of representing peripheral spaces without falling into the trap of a neo-colonial gaze. Making Films That Matter argues that Wenders remains a true innovator in both his experiments in 3D filmmaking and his attempts to define a visual poetics of peace.

A volume that combines three influential works on the cinema by Wim Wenders, one of the major international filmmakers of our time Wim Wenders's body of work is among the most extraordinary in modern cinema. It includes such films as Paris, Texas; Wings of Desire; Buena Vista Social Club; and The Million Dollar Hotel. Fortunately, his passion for cinema also extends to writing about it, and in this volume all his published essays on films and filmmaking--as well as his thoughts on such disparate subjects as rock 'n' roll, architecture, questions of German identity, and the influence of America--are brought back into print. Including the essays that previously appeared in Emotion Pictures, The Logic of Images, and The Act of Seeing, On Film discusses Wenders's development as a filmmaker from the time he picked up a camera at age twelve and offers a broad analysis of his guiding passions as he analyzes the full range of his work, film by film, and reveals his views on genres ranging from the American Western to the European avant-garde, along the way answering the deceptively simple question "Why do you make films?" A volume that combines three influential works on the cinema by Wim Wenders, one of the major international filmmakers of our time Wim Wenders's body of work is among the most extraordinary in modern cinema. It includes such films as Paris, Texas; Wings of Desire; Buena Vista Social Club; and The Million Dollar Hotel. Fortunately, his passion for cinema also extends to writing about it, and in this volume all his published essays on films and filmmaking--as well as his thoughts on such disparate subjects as rock 'n' roll, architecture, questions of German identity, and the influence of America--are brought back into print. Including the essays that previously appeared in Emotion Pictures, The Logic of Images, and The Act of Seeing, On Film discusses Wenders's development as a filmmaker from the time he picked up a camera at age twelve and offers a broad analysis of his guiding passions as he analyzes the full range of his work, film by film, and reveals his views on genres ranging from the American Western to the European avant-garde, along the way answering the deceptively simple question "Why do you make films?"