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The world-renowned filmmaker, celebrated for landmark works such as Wings of Desire and Paris, Texas—the latter earning the prestigious Palme d’Or—was honored at the Lumière Festival in Lyon. This annual accolade recognizes an iconic figure in the realm of cinema.
Visibly moved, Wenders reflected on the serendipity of the name of cinema’s pioneers, the Lumière brothers. “Light is fundamentally the soul of cinema,” he articulated in fluent French. His body of work, he elucidated, endeavored to illuminate the intricacies of human existence and the myriad ways we might enhance our lives.
At the festival, Wenders premiered his two latest creations: Perfect Days, which chronicles the life of a Tokyo public restroom attendant with an ardor for photography, music and literature, and Anselm–The Sound of Time, a homage to contemporary artist Anselm Kieffer.
During a master class, the director, reminiscing about his prolific career, shared insights on the industry’s metamorphosis from sound-enabled cameras to the digital age. He also recounted his early foray into filmmaking, particularly his time at the French Cinémathèque and his introduction to the seventh art, courtesy of Henri Langlois.
Wenders amusingly narrated how an advert for a film school in Munich diverted him from his initial calling in painting. His inception into the world of cinema was not without tumult, from procuring his first camera by selling his saxophone to a brief imprisonment after documenting the May ’68 events in France.
The international acclaim of Paris, Texas cemented his identity as a “German romantic” and delineated his cinematic ethos. While his early endeavors emulated esteemed directors, Wenders eventually discovered his distinctive voice, drawing inspiration from stars such as Ozu, John Ford and Anthony Mann.
Furthermore, the director underscored the paramount importance of authenticity in cinema, especially in a world rife with discord. For Wenders, despite cinema’s current existential crisis which has been amplified by the pandemic, the future of the seventh art remains promising. He passionately entreats the upcoming generation to “reimagine” it.
With AFP