Odesa International Film Festival presents a retrospective of Wim Wenders, a legend of European cinema and a master of cinematic journey

"Journey as a way of thinking" - this is how we can describe not only Wim Wenders' filmography, but also the very essence of his view of cinema. In each of his frames, there is a distance between man and the world, memory and instantaneity, word and silence. His characters never know where they are going, but they never stop. Wenders became a chronicler of the road that does not always lead to itself, but always reveals something.

The 16th Odesa International Film Festival will present a special retrospective dedicated to the 80th anniversary of Wim Wenders, one of the most influential European directors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The program covers the key stages of his career: from experimental cinema to deep philosophical reflections on the nature of art, memory, and time.

The selection introduces the author, who consistently explored space and was able to turn the road into the main character of European cinema. The retrospective includes eleven works:

Same Player Shoots Again (1968)

One of Wenders' first short films is a visual experiment with repetition and color, which presupposes his further search for rhythm, structure, and color drama. The film was shot in black and white, and then repeated five times and colored each time in a different color.

Silver City Revisited (1969)

A student work that combines landscapes, sound, memory and visual mood. The attempt to create an audiovisual collage that conveys the artist's emotional state became a harbinger of further documentary research.

The Goalkeeper's Fear of the Penalty (Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter, 1971)

After being sent off, goalkeeper Josef Bloch loses touch with reality. Aloof and silent, he wanders through an unfamiliar city, spends the night with a cinema cashier, and the next day emotionlessly takes her life. Without trying to escape, Bloch goes out of town to his former lover and awaits arrest.

This is a psychological portrait of alienation and anxiety. As in many of the director’s later works, the hero is on the move, but the direction of this movement is unknown: he is not running away, not searching, but simply existing on the edge of perception.

Alice in the Cities (1974)

From Glückstadt to Bonn, from Frankfurt to the snow-covered Zugspitze. Young Wilhelm Meister sets out on a journey in search of meaning, voice and freedom. In his hometown, he is suffocated by despair, so he sets out on a journey during which he aspires to become a writer, to find himself through words and space. But with each step, the truth becomes more and more obvious: movement does not always equal change, and the attempt to “live and write” often turns out to be one and the same challenge.

False Movement (1975)

A young man sets out on a journey through Germany in search of himself and his writing. But instead of inspiration, he finds anxiety, silence, and alienation. This film is a reflection on the role of the artist in a society experiencing post-war amnesia, and the second stage of Wenders' road trilogy.

In the Course of Time (Im Lauf Der Zeit, 1976)

A story about an unexpected male friendship. Bruno, who repairs film projectors, travels across the border and meets Robert, a man who is running away from himself. Together they travel through forgotten cinemas, contemplating loss, memory, and loneliness.

The State of Things (Der Stand der Dinge, 1982)

Abandoned by a producer, a film crew is stranded on the shores of the Atlantic, waiting for film, money, or simply a sign. Director Friedrich Munro, cinematographer, screenwriter, and actors are all suspended in the void between takes.

This is a remake of a fantastic disaster film that itself became a disaster. Munro goes to Los Angeles to find a producer who is hiding from responsibility and the mafia. Cinema really turns out to be a deadly dangerous business.

Room 666 (Chambre 666, 1982)

A reflection film shot in a hotel room in Cannes. Wenders asks questions about the future of cinema and listens to the answers of Godard, Herzog, Spielberg, Fassbinder and other filmmakers. A kind of time capsule that captures the state of cinematic thinking at the crossroads of eras.

So Far, So Close! (In weiter Ferne, so nah! 1993)

A united Berlin, a new reality and angels descending from heavenly contemplation into the human world. Daniel decides to become mortal in order to experience feelings, pain, love and the burden of choice. His path intertwines with other former angels who now live among people.

This is a film about how perspective changes when you stop being an observer. About joy and loss, about the burden of corporeality and the freedom of conscious choice in a world that is just learning to be whole.

Lisbon Story (1994)

Sound director Philip Winter receives a postcard from Lisbon with an urgent request, encrypted in mysterious film abbreviations: "I can't continue m.o.s.! S.O.S.!". He goes to help his friend, director Friedrich Munro. He shoots the film "from scratch", in the style of Buster Keaton, as if the entire history of cinema has not yet happened. But his experiment gets stuck, so Philip has to "pull" the image out of the sound silence.

Illusion of Light (Die Gebrüder Skladanowsky, 1995)

A poetic story of the inventors of the Skladanowsky brothers, who worked in parallel with the Lumières. The film, shot in the style of silent cinema, recalls the charm of the very fact of the “moving image”. It is a love letter to the history of cinema.

Wenders’ retrospective at the 16th Odesa International Film Festival is an invitation to embark on a journey. Without GPS, without a guarantee of arrival, but with a unique sense of the path. The path as an independent meaning, where each film will become a stop, each hero will be the embodiment of inner emptiness or hope, and each viewer – a traveler who has a chance to hear themselves.

The Odesa International Film Festival is supported by:

Ukrainian State Film Agency

The European Union and Creative Europe Desk Ukraine

Adam Mickiewicz Institute “Instytut Adama Mickiewicza”

Polish Institute in Kyiv

German Films

Official Sponsor – ARARAT

Official Automotive Partner – BMW Ukraine

General Partner of Film Industry Office – UPHub

Official jewelry partner - Carrera Y Carrera

General Technological Partner -Hisense

Official partner bank – Pivdenny