North American Premiere
In this stunning documentary, acclaimed director Wim Wenders presents the work of contemporary German artist Anselm Kiefer, who for decades has rattled European history and shown a mirror to post Second World War complacency and forgetfulness. Anselm navigates complexities of the artist’s long career, and features works including photographs, monumental installations, large-scale paintings, and ragged, blackened oversized books. The camera follows Kiefer as he bikes through his hangar of an art studio, sets huge canvases on fire, and sits amongst headless mannequins dressed in white Victorian gowns. As an artist, Kiefer interrogates narratives and addresses his country’s Nazi past and fascism’s philosophical underpinnings, and confronts the aftermath of war on the landscape. Gorgeous cinematography captures the inner and outer landscape of the artist, while past and present narratives blur the boundaries between cinema and visual art. An absorbing, tremendously cinematic experience.
Presented in 3D
Presented by
Series Media Partner
Anselm Kiefer, Daniel Kiefer, Anton Wenders
Germany
2023
Portraits
In German and English with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Wim Wenders
Producer
Karsten Brünig
Cinematography
Franz Lustig
Editor
Maxine Goedicke
Production Design
Sebastian Soukup, Karin Betzler
Director
Wim Wenders
Wim Wenders (born 1945) came to international prominence as one of the pioneers of German Cinema during the 1970s and is now considered one of the most important figures in contemporary film. In addition to his many prize-winning feature films, his work as a scriptwriter, director, producer, photographer and author also encompasses an abundance of innovative documentary films. His career as a filmmaker began in 1967. His international breakthrough came with The American Friend (1977), an adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel. Since then, Wenders has continued to work both in Europe and the USA as well as in Latin America and Asia and has been honored with countless awards at festivals
around the world.
Filmography: Alice in the Cities (1973); Paris, Texas (1984); Wings of Desire (1987); Pina (2011); Perfect Days (2023)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Sentimental Value
A once-revered director crashes back into his family’s lives, eager to recruit his daughter for a film role. When she declines, he finds a new muse in an eager but unpolished Hollywood star, sending his botched reconciliation spiraling into chaos.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.
L'Étranger
Recreating 1940s Algeria in vivid, high contrast black and white cinematography, L'Etranger is erotic, enigmatic and brutal in equal measures, a masterful screen version of Albert Camus's insoluble classic of existential alienation.
The Chronology of Water
Kristen Stewart's fearless directorial debut is based on the best-selling memoir by Lidia Yuknavitch (Imogen Poots), a chronicle of her abusive childhood, traumatized adulthood, and escapes through swimming, drugs, sex, and ultimately writing.