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Der Himmel über Berlin

Wings of Desire
Berlinale Classics 2018
© Wim Wenders Stiftung 2017
Damiel and Cassiel, the film’s two main characters, are guardian angels – benevolent, invisible beings wearing long coats. They are unable to intervene in human lives, but they can hear the thoughts of mortals and attempt to comfort them. Damiel falls in love with trapeze artist Marion and wants to become human, even though that means giving up immortality. Peter Falk, playing himself as a former angel, has already taken that fateful step and urges Damiel to leave eternity behind too. The story is told from the point of view of the angels, who see the world in black and white. It is not until Damiel becomes human that the world of colour reveals itself to him … The film was shot on both black-and-white and colour stock. At the time, that required several additional steps in the lab in order to produce a final colour negative, which was several generations removed from the camera negatives. For the digital restoration, the original negative was scanned in 4K, retouched, and colour corrected. So the film can now be shown the way cinematographer Henri Alekan might have envisioned it. – World premiere of the restored version in 4K DCP.
by Wim Wenders
with Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, Peter Falk, Hans Martin Stier, Elmar Wilms, Sigurd Rachman Federal Republic of Germany / France 1987 German, French, English 129’ Colour & Black/White Rating R6

With

  • Bruno Ganz
  • Solveig Dommartin
  • Otto Sander
  • Curt Bois
  • Peter Falk
  • Hans Martin Stier
  • Elmar Wilms
  • Sigurd Rachman

Crew

Director Wim Wenders
Screenplay Wim Wenders, Peter Handke, Richard Reitinger
Cinematography Henri Alekan
Editing Peter Przygodda
Music Jürgen Knieper
Sound Jean-Paul Mugel, Axel Arft
Set Construction Heidi Lüdi
Special Effects Fritz Lehmann, Wolfgang Schmidt
Costumes Monika Jacobs
Make-Up Viktor Leitenbauer

World sales

HanWay Films

http://www.hanwayfilms.com http://www.hanwayfilms.com

Produced by

Road Movies Filmproduktion

Argos Films

WDR

http://www.wdr.de http://www.wdr.de

Additional information

Restoration by
Wim Wenders Stiftung, Düsseldorf; Germany

Digital image restoration and Color Grading: ARRI Media Berlin; Germany
Sound restoration: BASIS Berlin Postproduktion, Berlin; Germany
Under supervision of Donata and Wim Wenders

Photos

Wim Wenders

Born in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1945, he discovered his love for cinema in Paris. Having studied at the University of Television and Film Munich between 1967 and 1970, since 1971 he has directed and produced more than 50 films around the world. He also works as a photographer and writer, and has been President of the European Film Academy since 1996. His work screened recently at the Berlinale in 2011 with the 3D dance film Pina and in 2014 with the 3D project Cathedrals of Culture. He lives and works with his wife, Donata, in Berlin.

Filmography (selection)

1969 Summer In The City 1971 Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter 1972 Scharlachrote Buchstabe 1973 Alice in den Städten 1975 Falsche Bewegung 1976 Im Lauf der Zeit 1977 Der amerikanische Freund 1980 Nick's Film - Lightning over Water 1982 Hammett · Der Stand der Dinge 1984 Paris, Texas 1985 Tokyo-Ga 1987 Der Himmel über Berlin 1989 Aufzeichnungen zu Kleidern und Städten 1991 Bis ans Ende der Welt 1993 In weiter Ferne, so nah! 1994 Lisbon Story 1995 Al di là delle nuvole 1996 Die Gebrüder Sklandanowsky 1997 The End of Violence 1998 Buena Vista Social Club · Willie Nelson at the Teatro 2000 The Million Dollar Hotel 2002 Viel passiert - der BAP-Film 2003 The Soul of a Man 2004 Don't come knocking 2008 Palermo Shooting 2010 Pina 2013 Cathedrals of Culture 2014 The Salt of the Earth 2015 Every Thing Will Be Fine

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2018