Happy Birthday, Wim Wenders

The filmmaker and photographer Wim Wenders was born August 14, 1945 in Dusseldorf, Germany. Part of the New German Cinema that arose in the 1970s, so much of his work is defined by road trips, journeys, about people transformed by travel. While he first achieved acclaim for his co-called “Road Movies trilogy” of films he made in Germany in the 1970s and An American Friend, his adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley’s Game, Wenders is that rare filmmaker who is perhaps as well known for his documentaries as for his fictional films. He went onto make movies like Paris, Texas and Wings of Desire, which are quite simply, two of the greatest films ever made. Last year Criterion released the 287 minute cut of his 1991 film Until the End of the World, which deserves to be mentioned with his very best work. Among his many documentaries are Buena Vista Social Club, about Cuban musicians, Pina, about the choreographer Pina Bausch, The Salt of the Earth, about the photographer Sebastiao Salgado, and Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, which began when the Vatican wrote Wenders a letter asking if he would interested in making a film about the Pope.