The famous German arthouse director and photographer has established a foundation in his hometown of Dusseldorf that will make his work accessible to the public. This year, the first Wim Wenders Scholarships have been awarded to young filmmakers and video artists to help them further innovative cinematic storytelling. German art magazine Monopol talked to him about his legacy project:Mr. Wenders, how did you get the idea to create the foundation?
There have been several reasons. For one, I have had many talks with Pina Bausch over the years, who had always been thinking of creating a foundation to preserve her work. And then, suddenly, it was too late and she couldn’t do it anymore. After her death, her son succeeded in creating the Pina Bausch Foundation in Wuppertal. But still, it made me reflect upon the fact that there are things that shouldn’t be postponed. Then, in 2012, after many years I was presented with the first and probably only chance to reacquire the major part of my complete film works all at once.
Personally I haven’t had the capital for that, but even if I had been able to raise the funds I didn’t find it that worthwhile to become the private “owner” of this big package of around 50 films, some shorter, some longer. I thought it was much better if that work could be forever removed from private access and, in a way, belonged only to itself and therefore to the community. Only the legal form of a foundation could provide this kind of protection. So my wife and I decided to create the Wim Wenders Foundation.
Does the foundation also contain your photographs, poems and books?Not yet, but this is the plan. Gradually, not only will my film archive but also my photographs, artwork and writings be included in the WWS.
Why did you choose Dusseldorf as a location and not, let’s say, Berlin?
Dusseldorf is the place where I was born and where my family had lived for many generations. I feel strongly connected to the city and the province of North Rhine-Westphalia.
