Dennis Hopper in The American Friend, 1977 

The Homage of the 65^th Berlin International Film Festival will be dedicated to German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who will also be awarded an Honorary Golden Bear for his lifetime achievement (see press release of August 21, 2014).

The award ceremony on February 12, 2015 at 10 pm in the Berlinale Palast will include a screening of Der amerikanische Freund (The American Friend, 1977). The film thriller, based on a book by Patricia Highsmith, is set in Hamburg, Paris and New York and tells the story of a fatal friendship between two highly dissimilar men, played by Bruno Ganz and Dennis Hopper.

“The American Friend was Wim Wenders’ international breakthrough film. And we were so impressed by the brilliance of the recently completed digital restoration that we decided to premiere it as part of the award ceremony for the Honorary Golden Bear,” says Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.

Wim Wenders’ early work Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter (The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, 1972) is considered a milestone of New German Cinema. The film will be screened in Berlin with a newly remixed soundtrack. It is one of seven films that will be shown in digitally restored versions in the Homage section of the festival. The restoration work was commissioned by the Wim Wenders Stiftung. A Foundation, set up two years ago in Düsseldorf. In 2014, the original negatives were scanned in 4K and digitally processed, providing the festival with new versions of Im Lauf der Zeit (Kings of the Road, 1976), the director’s cut of Bis ans Ende der Welt (Until the End of the World, 1991/1994), Alice in den Städten (Alice in the Cities, 1974), Paris, Texas (1984) and the documentary Tokyo-Ga (1985) in pristine picture and sound quality.

Wim Wenders will be on hand in Berlin to personally introduce some of the Homage films. In addition, the Deutsche Kinemathek has teamed up with Berlinale Talents for a special event entitled “Wings of Time: A Conversation with Wim Wenders” the evening before the honorary award gala. At the HAU Hebbel am Ufer (HAU1) theatre, the director will sit down for a discussion in English with Rainer Rother, Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen.

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, will honour Wim Wenders in March 2015 with a comprehensive retrospective that will include many of the films shown in this yearʼs Homage programme.
In another nod to the Homage and the honorary award, the ZDF broadcasting group has scheduled a 2015 Wim Wenders retrospective, with the first series of films airing in February on ZDF, as well as on 3sat and ARTE.
For the second year running, support for the Homage and Retrospective sections of the festival will be provided by the classic watchmaker Glashütte Original.
For its Homage to Wim Wenders, the 65^th Berlin International Film Festival will present a programme of ten of his films.

Films in the Homage:

Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter (The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick, West Germany / Austria 1972), 4K DCP

Alice in den Städten (Alice in the Cities, West Germany 1974), 2K DCP

Im Lauf der Zeit (Kings of the Road, West Germany 1976), 4K DCP

Der amerikanische Freund (The American Friend, West Germany / France 1977), 4K DCP

Paris, Texas (West Germany / France 1984), 2K DCP

Tokyo-Ga (West Germany / USA 1985, documentary), 2K DCP

Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire, West Germany / France 1987)

Bis ans Ende der Welt (Until the End of the World, Germany / France / Australia 1991/1994), director’s cut, 4K DCP

The Million Dollar Hotel (Germany / USA 2000), 35mm

Pina (Germany/France 2011, 3-D documentary), 2K DCP