Wim Wenders shares his advice to budding filmmakers
German cinema icon Wim Wenders is known for his proficiency as a documentarian and narrative filmmaker, rising to prominence in the 1970s with his ‘Road Movie’ trilogy, which features Alice in the Cities and Kings of the Road.
Since then, Wenders has become one of the most prominent filmmakers of his generation, progressing into American-language productions with The American Friend, starring Dennis Hopper, and the Francis Ford Coppola-produced Hammett. Wenders released his magnum opus, Paris, Texas, in 1984, starring Harry Dean Stanton in his first leading role.
Wenders won the Palme d’Or for Paris, Texas, and a few years later, he bagged a Cannes Film Festival Award for ‘Best Director’ following the release of Wings of Desire, keeping up his successful streak. The latter is set in divided Berlin and features performances from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Crime and The City Solution.
In the following decades, Wenders has helmed documentaries such as Buena Vista Social Club and Pina, which follows German dancer Pina Bausch. He has earned three Academy Award nominations for his work and won a Bafta Award for Paris, Texas, cementing himself as an incredibly talented filmmaker.
With many years of experience under his belt, Wenders is more than qualified to dish out advice to budding filmmakers. Speaking on the Louisana Channel, Wenders said: “My advice to a young artist… painter, photographer, filmmaker, video artist… whatever you do, nobody else can do that better than you.”
He continued: “And you have to find what you can do better than anyone else, and what you have in yourself that nobody else has in them. Don’t do anything that you know deep in your heart somebody else can do better. Do what nobody else can do except for you.”
Evidently, Wenders has stuck to his own words of wisdom, consistently making movies that feel distinctive to him. Wenders has been labelled an auteur due to his unique style and exploration of specific themes, such as the relationship between locations and individuals, nostalgia, displacement, and time.
Wenders has never lost sight of his style and cinematic goals. For example, Paris, Texas contains clear echoes of his earlier work, like Alice in the Cities, without simply recycling the same tropes and motifs. The director is one of the greatest contributors to the road movie genre, and it wouldn’t be hard to argue against the fact that Wenders has found “what [he] can do better than anyone else.”
Watch Wenders discuss his advice for the young below.
Wim Wenders: Advice to the Young from Louisiana Channel on Vimeo.
