Wim Wenders

“What is generally referred to as American-style films are, in fact, studio productions.”

“Many French directors, having now realised there was no more real criticism, that the standards of the past have gone, are very offended about the quality of film criticism.”

“But I think that the spirit of protectionism would be the grave of European cinema. You cannot protect something by building a fence around it and thinking that this will help it survive.”

“כשהתחלנו לצלם הבנתי שאני חייב לתרגם את נקודת מבטו של המלאך דרך תנועת המצלמה כי היא העיניים שלו. ניסינו לגרום לה לעוף, לרחף, להתבונן במבט אוהב ורך כאילו היא המלאך." ~ על הסרט "מלאכים בשמי ברלין”

“אמנם יש עניינים פוליטיים בישראל שלא מוצאים חן בעיני, אך ככל שאני מכיר יותר ויותר את הישראלים, הקשר שלי איתם הולך ומעמיק.”

“היות פשוט זה הדבר הקשה ביותר בעולם, ואין דבר קשה יותר היום מלשדר פשטות ולהביע אותה, כי העולם נעשה כה מסובך.”

“קולנוע הוא מדיום מאוד חזק. הוא יכול לאשר את הרעיון שדברים נפלאים כמו שהם, או לחזק את התפיסה שדברים יכולים להשתנות.”

“עומד קהל שרוצה מהקולנוע יותר. אנשים רוצים שנייצר עבורם זיכרונות. הם מאסו במזון מהיר, הקולנוע האמיתי לא ייעלם, אבל קשה לו.”

“יש ירידה בכל תעשיית הקולנוע העצמאי, והתחושה היא שהסרטים הופכים להיות יותר פופולריים.”

“כל מה שחשוב בקולנוע הוא בלתי מוסבר.”

“Now it's serious. At last it's becoming serious. So I've grown older. Was I the only one who wasn't serious? Is it our times that are not serious? I was never lonely neither when I was alone, nor with others. But I would have liked to be alone at last. Loneliness means I'm finally whole. Now I can say it as tonight, I'm at last alone. I must put an end to coincidence. The new moon of decision. I don't know if there's destiny but there's a decision. Decide! We are now the times. Not only the whole town - the whole world is taking part in our decision. We two are now more than us two. We incarnate something. We're representing the people now. And the whole place is full of those who are dreaming the same dream. We are deciding everyone's game. I am ready. Now it's your turn. You hold the game in your hand. Now or never. You need me. You will need me. There's no greater story than ours, that of man and woman. It will be a story of giants... invisible... transposable... a story of new ancestors. Look. My eyes. They are the picture of necessity, of the future of everyone in the place. Last night I dreamt of a stranger... of my man. Only with him could I be alone, open up to him, wholly open, wholly for him. Welcome him wholly into me. Surround him with the labyrinth of shared happiness. I know... it's you.”

“So I am getting a little bored with defining one type of film as American and the other European or from somewhere else because the division is no longer true.”

“I'm getting a little bored by the juxtaposition of American and other cinema. I no longer think this division is as true as it might have been in the 1980s, or the early part of the 90s.”

“Take opera for example - to go to the opera you have to dress up in a tuxedo and pay lots of money.”

“I've never been anywhere in my life like it and I only really noticed it when I returned to Los Angeles and then Berlin. Everybody is much better off in these places, there is not poverty like in Cuba, but everybody complains about things.”

“Entertainment today constantly emphasises the message that things are wonderful the way they are. But there is another kind of cinema, which says that change is possible and necessary and it's up to you.”

“Everything is entertainment; criticism is now entertainment and it seems that the French directors have woken up one day and suddenly realised that they were not backed up any more.”

“In this age of consumerism film criticism all over the world - in America first but also in Europe - has become something that caters for the movie industry instead of being a counterbalance.”

“Ibrahim tells his story without a grain of complaint, and this was true for all of the band members. This is very much part of the Cuban spirit and soul.”

“Filmmakers and critics wrote about each other and sometimes very harshly. This no longer exists.”