Director Wim vendors Sitting alone on the head of a huge mahogany table over cinema in Delhi, showing his new documentary on the German artist Anslam Kifer, Anselum, which warns the world through his work about the dangers of forgetting the past , Particularly fascism. Speaking quietly at the English stop, the German filmmaker was resting in the final stages of his Long India Tour, explaining the adjacent elections in Germany on 23 February, the Russia-Ukraine War, disintegration and disintegration and disintegration between Europe and America. The current political partition between the US is contrary to digital information and sales as the story of the story. (Also read: Wim Wenders Charms Kolkata with the screening of the restored version of Paris, Texas,
Directors of prestigious films like Paris, Texas (1984), Wings of Desire (1987), Buena Vista Social Club (1999) and recent days, say that he explains that he says that he has his camera in India and even in his first visit Are taking Before returning home earlier next month, he tried some shots in Kerala with more photography in Rajasthan. Excerpt from an interview:
Now how is your first visit to India that the long journey starting on February 5 has reached its final stages?
I always wanted to come to India. But I was sure I would not come for a week. If I come, it should be for at least a month. And it became the month of February 2025. I have two more weeks to go. It is still very small. I have a big camera and I am eager to go to Rajasthan because I love places. Now we will have ten days that I have shown my films and have spoken to people mainly, and I like it. I did not take many pictures. Some time in Kerala, yes.
Germany goes to an election for the nation on Sunday. Will you be able to vote?
I voted today. I went to the German embassy in New Delhi. The embassy has actually flew someone in this moment with a full suitcase filled with votes by German citizens in India. It will reach Berlin tomorrow. All this will immediately go to the post office and will reach all the time. So magically my whole concern is that I could not do my vote in any way because I could not return early there, disappeared there.
Elections are being held at a time when European leader is in a state of fear and doubt about Vladimir Putin of Russia and also about the Atlantic …
In fact we are more afraid of the other side of the Atlantic. Now we are more than fear of (US President) Donald TrumpStrange idea of history compared to Putin. At least with Putin we know who he is. We have no idea with Trump because he likes to produce chaos and fear. And he is scary.
Is it more about ideas and society and culture about the Russia-Ukraine war between Europe and America.
It is a cultural division that came in the last few years. Even in America, it is a cultural division among those who have no idea of history and have no idea of decency. America is so divided, it is scary in America. I was in America before coming to India. I was in New York. This is really scary that you have a schizophrenic country. You have a lot of two different Americas. And they do not talk with each other. Does not understand each other. The US with Trump is now in power, is devoid of any culture. Culture, first of all, is knowledge of history. There is no culture without knowledge of history. I don’t think this man (Trump) ever seen in a book. He once said that the vision of a book also yawns him. I don’t think he knows what is in books. He only sees television. And he is out of all his information system television. He only watches Fox TV. This is a big danger we face, lack of culture.
You talk about the dangers of forgetting the past in your new documentary, ANSELM on the German artist Anselm Kiefer, which warns about the threat of forgetting fascism. But it is not only Germany, not only about the rest of the world, right?
This is an event all over the world. Germany is one of many bordering countries. I do not know if there is any other country with so many limits. And half our limits are already with countries which now have far-flung governments. Germany is very protected in itself because Germans have learned lessons and have tried to come up with their history. There is still a threat to a far-flung party, a fascist party. This party is still being fed by Russian publicity.
There is a lot of disintegration in Germany. One of the new disintegration is-it is still big and you see it on a lot of social media-promotes a far-flung party, the idea that Hitler was a communist. This is a new principle, I mean, devoid of any historical truth. Far-wide now tells people that the worst people, the worst people are socialists and communists. By the way, Hitler was a communist ‘, this is what they are telling people. At this time, the absence of knowledge of history in Germany is afraid of me. Apart from this, there is a conspiracy theory in America that Hitler was a Samajwadi Party. In fact, his party was called national socialist. No one knows anymore in America, I think the socialist was the worst enemy of Hitler. They simply try to reduce any decency.
Billionaire businessman Elon Musk, who has a major role in the current Trump administration, lived his conversation with a far-flung party leader in Germany before the election.
Even when the new vice president of America, JD VanceGermany (for the Munich Security Conference last week). He did not meet with our Chancellor. He met only far and wide. He met him, the leader of the far-flung party (optional for the German co-president Ellis Weel). He told the German people about the lack of democratic decency of German rights, liberalists and four-five parties in Germany, who have excluded everyone from working closely with the newly-fascists. Mr. Vance came to Germany to give us lectures that it was anti-democratic and it was the future of Germany, it was a sign of the reluctance of our political parties to cooperate with the far-flung party and them that we needed to know this. What was democracy, again. So this is a joke of all reality. And this is from the textbook of (Nazi Publicity Minister) Goelles: You tell a lot of lies that people do not know the difference in the end,
In your new film, perfect days, the main character Hiyama is a public toilet cleaner that reads a lot of books. Does he represents the suspicion of people about the future of the world today, about bringing children in it?
There is a certain suspicion that people are very busy. The minds of more people are taken too much by all these digital tools that surround us and they are running our lives rather than some help for us. He is a small dictator. Everyone does their dictator in their pockets, except Hirama, who is a very independent person, a beautifully free man. And perhaps that’s why a lot of youth like him. Because they sometimes have a deep long craving to live a very simple life and do not depend on this thing (mobile phone) and stare at it for half a day and with so many people and contact with so many friends Live in But what happened to his real friends? They do not have any more.
So this deficiency of reality is very scary, I think, lack of contact with reality. So many people are in this artificial world and whatever they know is digital knowledge. The whole world has become information for them. They no longer know what are stories because they believe a lot in the story that it is something they are not giving anymore to tell the story. They do not know this anymore.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZZBBX5A1f
A photography exhibition of your actions on Australia’s huge landscape was held at the Goethe Institute in Delhi more than two decades ago. Any photography you do during your road trip in India or whatever story you have found can become a photography or film project and in India like you have shot the right days in Japan?
This is completely under the possibility. Now after these two-three days in Delhi, we are going on the road, just on our own. I do not need to do any interview, just showing any movies, traveling and staying on the street, hopefully take some pictures and hope why I really come to India.
You had two films in 2023, a documentary and a feature film (right day). What is the art for you in this terrible world of refugee crisis, climate destruction, war and fear?
It is the responsibility of more art than ever to respect the truth. As the truth is such an endangered species today, I think today the most good work of art is to stick to the truth. And to remind people that it exists, and there are facts. And history is full of facts, climate crisis is a fact. Mr. Trump prefers to pip his coke with his straw and now said that the ban on plastic straws should be abandoned as plastic straws are a major sign of civilization. Because these people do not know anything. If you do not know anything, you can be as stupid as you want. But if you know, and people will know a little more truth, then they will no longer be allowed to be stupid.
