German auteur director Wim Wenders will be feted with the Career Achievement Tribute by the Miami International Film Festival, which will be held from March 3 to 12.
Wenders joins a distinguished roster of Festival honorees including actress/director Liv Ullmann, Spanish director Carlos Saura and Brazilian director Hector Babenco.

“We are proud to pay tribute to this legendary director, writer, and producer whose contribution to the spirit of independent cinema continues to inspire filmmakers around the globe,” announced Nicole Guillemet, the Festival’s Director . “Wim’s passion for storytelling, and his ongoing support of young directors and writers are really what the Miami International Film Festival is all about.”

Wenders burst on the international scene in the late 1960s, with the flowering of New German Cinema that also included such colleagues as Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Volker Scholondorff. Seminal works from this period, including KINGS OF THE ROAD, THE AMERICAN FRIEND and WINGS OF DESIRE, have become acknowledged modern film classics.

Working in both fiction and documentary formats, Wenders’ 30 film career has been eclectic and has reflected the artistic influences of European cinema and classic Hollywood films to create a unique mix of style and subject matter.

Wenders remains an active presence on the international film scene. His latest film DON’T COME KNOCKING, collaboration with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Sam Shepard, will have its International Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival later this month. The film, which reteams the director with the writer of his classic modern Western, PARIS, TEXAS, stars Shephard as a faded western movie star looking for his past. The film co-stars Shepard’s wife Jessica Lange, Tim Roth, Eva Marie Saint and Sarah Polley.

Two Wenders films will screen at the Festival. DON’T COME KNOCKING will screen on March 8, followed by the tribute to Wenders. As a special treat, Wenders' documentary portrait of classic Cuban musicians, the widely acclaimed BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB, will screen on the closing day of the Festival at the historic Tower Theater in Miami’s Little Havana community.

The Miami International Film Festival, which celebrates its 23rd edition, has become one of the country’s most celebrated film showcases, with particular attention to Spanish language cinema and films from Latin America. The Festival will announce it full program of galas, special events and competition sections on January 10th, including the film projects selected for Miami Encuentros, a co-production market that brings together Latin American producers with American and European professionals.

Sandy Mandelberger
Industry Editor