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| General Info | Milestones | Biography Part 1 | Biography Part 2 | Quotes |
Moved to Oberhausen while still a juvenile; began attending the city's annual short film festival
1966: Began, but did not complete, application to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris (to Wenders' dislike, program required a preliminary course in life drawing); studied privately with Johnny Friedlander; frequented the Cinematheque Francaise; applied to IDHEC but was not accepted.
1966-1967: First short film as director, "Schauplatze/Locations" (16mm, 10 mins); no longer extant.
1968-1970: Worked as critic for journal FILMKRITIK and newspaper DIE SUDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG
1968-1969: First collaboration with director of photography Robby Muller on the student film "Alabama: 2000 Light Years" (35mm, 22 mins).
1969: First collaboration with writer Peter Handke on the independent short "3 American LPs" (16mm, 15 mins); Wenders and Handke appear in the film driving a car.
1970: Feature film directing, producing and writing debut, "Summer in the City"; made as graduation project; first collaboration with editor Peter Przygodda; film is "dedicated to the Kinks." Along with 11 other filmmakers, formed Filmverlag der Autoren/The Filmmaker's Company to insure the distribution of their films.
1971: Professional feature directing and co-writing (with Peter Handke) debut, "The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick"; first of nine collaborations (to date) with actor Rudiger Vogler.
1974: First of three "road movies" with Vogler, "Alice in the Cities."
1975: Second movie of trilogy, "Wrong Move."
1976: Established his own production company, Road Movies Produktion. Completed trilogy with "Kings of the Road."
1977: Won international attention for "The American Friend", starring Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz.
1979: Co-directed (with Nicholas Ray) "Lightning Over Water", detailing Ray's fight to finish his life at work while battling cancer.
1982: Indirectly documented his difficulities making first US feature "Hammett" in "The State of Things", a self-referrential film that contrasts American and European filmmaking styles.
1984: Directed "Paris, Texas", an English-language film with screenplay by Sam Shepard; guitarist Ry Cooder supplied the haunting, plaintive score.
1985: First collaboration with editor Solveig Dommartin, the documentary "Tokyo-Ga".
1987: Made "Wings of Desire", starring Ganz as an angel who wanders Berlin, yearning for a physical, human existence.
1991: Became chair of the newly founded European Film Academy. Expressed disappointment with the 2 1/2 cut of "Until the End of the World" that was released; alternate version (more than twice as long), though still problematic, revealed what the director had been after.
1995: Participated in the "Lumiere and Company" project, shooting a scene with the original hand-cranking camera. Collaborated with Michelangelo Antonioni on "Beyond the Clouds", writing and directing the "frames" between the segments helmed by the Italian master; hired as an insurance policy in case Antonioni's health prevented him from finishing movie; last collaboration (to date) with Robby Muller as director of photography.
1997: Helmed "The End of Violence", scripted by Nicholas Klein; first feature since "Wings of Desire" to secure US distribution; director Sam Fuller portrayed Gabriel Byrne's father.
1998: "City of Angels", loosely based on "Wings of Desire" was released
1999: Helmed the documentary "Buena Vista Social Club", focusing on Cuba musicians tracked down by Ry Cooder; film was nominated for a Best Feature Documentary Academy Award.
2000: Directed "The Million Dollar Hotel", starring Mel Gibson (Bono who collaborated with Wenders and Klein on the screenplay was originally slated to act in film); Bono had performed on the soundtrack for "The End of Violence"; Wenders has directed music videos for the band; released theatrically in the USA in 2001
Source
2001 BASELINE II, Inc. Celebrity Biographies