Focus on Wim Wenders

Alice in the Cities

1 hr. 50 min. | Drama | N/A

Traveling journalist and photographer Philip meets a deceptive American at the airport and reluctantly has to agree to briefly take care of her daughter Alice. Unconscious, Philip befriends a girl and they both go on a trip to various European cities in search of the girl's grandmother. Traveling with the protagonist, W. Wenders wittily ironizes the influence of American pop culture on post-war Europe.

"Alice herself is a cinema because she sees the world in an analogous way. Unlike photography, cinema can capture movement. It can show a person in space and in the flow of time. That’s why Philip discovers his identity in Alice. Human childhood restores the energy of spontaneous creativity, the ingenuity of an unpolluted imagination, ”says film critic Filippo D'Angelo about" Alice in the Cities ".

This film is considered one of the most sensitive films and is often compared to Chaplin's Child. Alice in Cities was Wenders' first film, part of which was filmed in America. In 1974, the film was awarded the German Critics' Prize. Alice in Cities is the first film in the Wenders Road trilogy. The trilogy was continued by "Bad Walk" and "Kings of the Road".

Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders

Wim Wenders was born in Germany in 1945. He is well-known filmmaker, author, photographer. After two years of studying medicine and philosophy and a yearlong stay in Paris as a painter he attended the University of Television and Film in Munich from 1967 to 1970. Made his feature directorial debut with Summer in the City (1970). He gained recognition with very successful features Alice in the Cities (1973), The American Friend (1977), Paris, Texas (1984), Wings of Desire (1987) and Faraway, So Close (1993). Wenders has directed several highly acclaimed documentaries, most notably Buena Vista Social Club (1998), Pina (2011). Michael Glawogger was born in Graz, Austria, in 1959. He studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and the Film Academy Vienna. Whores’ Glory completed his trilogy of essayist documentaries in 2011. He is currently on a one year travel around the world for his new documentary Untitled.      Michael Madsen was born in Copenhagen,Denmark in 1972. He studied art history and works as a filmmaker and conceptual artist. Founder and artistic leader of the Sound/Gallery in Copenhagen. His documentary Into Eternity (2010) provides a glimpse into the world’s first final nuclear waste facility.    Robert Redford was born in Santa Monica, USA, in 1936. He is an actor, film director, producer, and environmentalist. In 1981 he received an Oscar for his directorial debut Ordinary People and in 2001 an honorary Oscar.      Margreth Olin was born in Norway, in 1970. She studied journalism and documentary filmmaking in Bergen and Oslo. She directs and produces documentaries and feature films and stages theatre plays. Her work focuses on social and political issues. Her first feature The Angel was the Norwegian Oscar entry in 2010. Her most recent documentary Nowhere Home received the Norwegian Film Award 2013.   Karim Aïnouz was born in Brazil, in 1966. He studied architecture in Brazil and film in New York. He directs fiction and documentary films and teaches script writing. His art installations have been exhibited widely. His directorial debut Madame Sata screened in Un Certain Regard in Cannes in 2002.
Languages
German
Subtitles
Lithuanian, English
Original title
Alice in den Städten
Produced
1973: Germany

Film information

Director
Wim Wenders
Screenplay
Wim Wenders, Veith von Fürstenberg
Music
Can
Cinematography
Robby Müller
Cast
Rüdiger Vogler, Yella Rottländer, Lisa Kreuzer, Edda Köchl
More information
www.imdb.com