German filmmaker Wim Wenders will visit India for the first time at the age of 79, presenting a career retrospective titled Wim Wenders – King of the Road – The India Tour. The event, organized by the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) in collaboration with the Wim Wenders Foundation and Goethe-Institut Mumbai, will showcase 18 of his films across five cities from February 5 to 23.
The retrospective spans Wenders’ 50-year career, featuring restored prints of his iconic works in features, documentaries, and shorts. The tour will visit Mumbai, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata, and New Delhi. During the screenings, Wenders will engage with audiences and film students through Q&A sessions.
In a statement, Wenders expressed his surprise at never having visited India before, despite his extensive travels. “It seems astonishing that somehow, India fell off the map. Not just because it is a country with an abundance of landscapes and images to explore, but also because it is a country where cinema is like a religion,” he said.
The tour will include Wenders’ Palme d’Or-winning Paris, Texas (1984), the Oscar-nominated Buena Vista Social Club (1999), and Wings of Desire (1987), for which he won Best Director at Cannes. Although his most recent film, Perfect Days (2023), is not part of the retrospective, the program will feature his 2023 3D documentary Anselm, about artist Anselm Kiefer.
FHF director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur called the event “a dream come true,” noting Wenders’ recent recognition with the 2024 International Federation of Film Archives Award.
The screenings will be free of charge and held at venues such as Mumbai’s Regal Cinema, Kolkata’s Nandan Theatre, and New Delhi’s Habitat Centre. FHF has previously hosted retrospectives of directors like Giuseppe Tornatore and Christopher Nolan.
Bjorn Ketels, director of Goethe Institut Mumbai, emphasized Wenders’ impact as a pioneer of New German Cinema, calling this the first time such a comprehensive selection of his work will be presented in India.
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