Wim Wenders: He traveled to India for the first time at the age of 79

Wim Wenders (79) has traveled a lot around the world – but never to India. Until now: At the age of 79, the German filmmaker and photographer is about to make his first visit to the home of Bollywood. The Indian Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) is honoring Wenders as part of the trip entitled “Wim Wenders – King of the Road” – The India Tour” with a retrospective of his works from the past five decades of his work.

In collaboration with the Wim Wenders Foundation and the Goethe-Institut Mumbai, films such as “Kings of the Road” (1975), the Palme d’Or winner “Paris, Texas” (1984) will be shown from February 5th to March 1st. or the Oscar-nominated “Buena Vista Social Club” (1999) screened in the cities of Mumbai, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram, Kolkata and New Delhi. – from his early work “The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty Kick” from 1971 to the documentary “Anselm – The Rushing of Time” about the artist Anselm Kiefer from 2023.

Wenders will be on site at the free screenings and will answer questions from the audience and film students in Q&A sessions. The 79-year-old himself can hardly believe that India has not been part of his extensive travels around the globe: “It seems astonishing that India has somehow disappeared from the map.” “Not only because it is a country where there is a wealth of landscapes and images to discover, but also because it is a country where cinema is like a religion.”

FHF director Shivendra Singh Dungarpur calls the event a “dream come true.” The foundation has previously organized similar retrospectives, including for the British Oscar winner and director Christopher Nolan (54).

Wim Wenders is one of the pioneers of the New German Film of the 1970s and is now considered one of the leading figures in contemporary world cinema. The director was nominated for an Oscar four times, most recently in 2024 for “Perfect Days”. Last year he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the European Film Academy.