Locarno 2005

Abstract

WIM WENDERS IN LOCARNO AND BUTTE "The cinema has replaced the church" - ran the headline atop an interview with Wim Wenders in the Zürcher Tages-Anzeiger on the second day of the 58th Locarno International Film Festival (3-13 August 2005). Although this flip phrase was part of a rather innocuous dialogue with the German cult director about himself and his film career, Wenders felt obliged nonetheless to excuse himself before a large ecumenical gathering on the occasion of Interfilm's 50th anniversary. Besides, he was about to be handed the Interfilm Honorary Award for his achievements as a film director. "That headline was not my idea," he said. And added: "I felt especially honoured in the laudatio when my work was compared to that of the German philosopher Walter Benjamin." Queried as to whether "cinema has really replaced the church," Wenders could only smile. Every cineaste in the room knew...