{"id":181511,"date":"2018-05-16T17:38:13","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T15:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/berlin030.de\/?p=181511"},"modified":"2018-05-16T17:38:13","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T15:38:13","slug":"wim-wenders-mit-keinem-film-habe-ich-je-so-vielschichtige-reaktionen-erlebt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/berlin030.de\/en\/2018\/05\/16\/wim-wenders-mit-keinem-film-habe-ich-je-so-vielschichtige-reaktionen-erlebt\/","title":{"rendered":"Wim Wenders: ‘I’ve Never Experienced Such Nuanced Reactions with Any Other Film’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirty years ago, Wim Wenders won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with ‘Wings of Desire’. Now, he’s presenting a carefully restored version of his cult classic about two angels in a divided city. Screenings at this year’s Berlinale sold out rapidly \u2013 clearly, there\u2019s still a huge appetite for this classic. <\/strong><\/p>\n

In June, Wenders, now 72, will also be presenting his documentary, ‘Pope<\/em>Francis \u2013 A Man of His Word’. [030] staff member Dieter O\u00dfwald spoke with the director.<\/p>\n

Mr Wenders, what sort of nostalgic feelings does one have when watching a film that’s three decades old?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wenders<\/strong>: I\u2019ve seen ‘Wings of Desire’ again and again at retrospectives, so I wasn\u2019t entirely unprepared. But when you go back to the original negative, as is needed for such a restoration, it really is a shock. It\u2019s like going back to the film\u2019s ground zero. At the same time, it was also something of a ground zero for Berlin back then. We were lucky enough to capture the final vestige of a city before it vanished. I was 42 at the time; now I\u2019m over 70 \u2013 revisiting all of it is a true journey through time.<\/p>\n

How much work went into this restoration?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wenders<\/strong>: It took about a year. Eight specialists at ARRI MEDIA worked on the complex image processing, retouching and grading. Another four audio experts from BASIS Berlin handled the sound. Then there were Laura Schmidt, the managing director of our foundation, two other staff, as well as my wife Donata and myself, all actively involved in the process. The project cost around \u20ac150,000.<\/p>\n

You’ve already got quite a bit of experience with restorations. Why did you wait so long with ‘Wings’? \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Wim Wenders at the Berlinale 2015. – Photo: \u00a9 Alexander Janetzko<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wenders<\/strong>: The sixteen films we\u2019ve restored over the past four years were essentially practice, a learning process we needed so we could now present our masterpiece with ‘Wings of Desire’. That\u2019s because the negative creation was already extremely complicated back then. The film was shot mostly in black and white but included colour scenes in all rolls, and this particular dramaturgy required special handling. To combine these materials, we had to make several duplicate prints from the original, meaning the first print shown at Cannes – and all subsequent prints – were six generations removed from the original negative. For the restoration, we were determined to use that original negative, which had been lit by Henri Alekan and passed through his camera \u2013 and which no one had seen since.<\/p>\n

Is such material even usually preserved at all?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wenders<\/strong>: Only in the rarest of cases. Naturally we were worried whether we’d actually find all the material complete. Our entire undertaking hinged on it. Thankfully everything had been preserved, as we discovered through painstaking work. A lot was stored at the lab, other reels with thousands of snippets we found at the Munich Film Museum \u2013 even the outtakes were there in full. In the end we found all the negatives and reassembled the entire film, frame by frame, including dissolves and opticals, like a massive puzzle.<\/p>\n

Does the artist then become a tinkerer? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wenders<\/strong>: In this case, our work was about the precise translation from the analogue medium to the digital. I don\u2019t primarily see myself as an artist, but also as a film craftsman and I enjoy working with other craftsmen \u2013 and many trades were involved in this restoration.<\/p>\n

How does it feel seeing mistakes you made during shooting back then? Or do you just ignore them?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wenders<\/strong>: Of course you see things and think, you could have done better! At the same time I remember why things happened the way they did. For example, we could only shoot a scene with Peter Falk at the last minute as he had to leave the next day. A lot of it was improvised and might have looked different with better planning. On the other hand, that’s exactly what gives the film its flair \u2013 it was made without a script. Often we only decided in the evening what to shoot the next day. ‘Wings’ came about like a poem, with a new line added every day.<\/p>\n

Some people found the poetry somewhat ‘convoluted’ at the time. Did that bother you?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wenders<\/strong>: The film met with some resistance at the time. In many ways, that might have been to do with Peter Handke\u2019s language. Or perhaps the ‘spiritual’ background with the angels. I know plenty of people who didn\u2019t like ‘Wings of Desire’ at all back then, but now count it among their favourite films. It\u2019s a film that was somehow ahead of its time. Sometimes you make films that come too late. And others that come too early.<\/p>\n

It’s notable how often migrants already appear in the background, even back then…<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Wenders<\/strong>: You see a lot more in this restored version. It’s remarkable how many details have been lost in prints six generations down. I myself have spotted quite a few things in the background now that really surprised me.<\/p>\n